Mary Kay: A Leader in the Beauty Product Industry

2025 · VOA Learning English

This speaker is a general-american model. Each line below can be recorded and scored against it.

Transcript

1. Mary Kay Cosmetics is an international company that sells beauty products.

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2. One woman started the business in the 1960s with an investment of $5,000.

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3. Mary Kathlyn Wagner was born in the state of Texas in 1918.

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4. For much of her childhood, she cared for her sick father while her mother worked long hours at a restaurant.

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5. Mary Kay married Ben Rogers when she was 17 years old. They had three children before he left home to serve in World War Two.

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6. When he returned, their marriage ended. Mary Kay looked for a job so she could support her children.

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7. She began selling different kinds of products. One night, Mary Kay was showing products at the home of Ova Heath Spoonemore.

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8. Ms. Spoonemore began giving her guests some homemade skin care products.

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9. The products were developed by her father, J.W. Heath, in Arkansas.

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10. Mary Kay tried the skin care products and liked them. She bought the rights to Heath’s skin care products and started her own company.

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11. She paid $500 for the legal rights to the products. And in 1963, The Mary Kay Cosmetics company began operating in Dallas, Texas.

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12. The idea was to sell skin care products through demonstrations in homes and offices.

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13. Independent sales representatives bought beauty products from the company and sold them at higher prices.

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14. Mary Kay decided that each representative who brought other saleswomen into the company would receive part of the new person’s earnings.

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15. That way, experienced sales representatives would be willing to train new ones.

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16. Mary Kay Cosmetics became one of the most successful direct sellers of skin care products in America.

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17. It continues to have sales offices and representatives in many different countries.

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18. Mary Kay aimed to grow sales based on the idea that it is best to compete against yourself. That means every individual is trying to beat their own sales records.

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19. Prizes for high sales marks included special paid holidays and jewelry. Until a few years ago, a pink Cadillac was a top prize.

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20. After her third husband, Mel Ash, died of cancer in 1980, she wanted to help find a cure for the disease.

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21. At first, she helped organizations raise money for research.

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22. Later, she started the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides money to support research on cancers affecting women.

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23. In 2001, the company and foundation expanded their goals to help prevent violence against women. Mary Kay Ash also wrote three books.

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24. She worked in her business until she suffered a stroke in 1996. She died in 2001.

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25. Sales representatives say Mary Kay developed a way for women to earn money and still spend time with their families. I’m Anna Matteo.

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