dailypress.com:
Last week, Kathy Eckhardt picked up the keys to her 12th pearlized pink Mary Kay Cadillac.
In fact, the car is the 15th automobile Eckhardt has earned through the cosmetics company.
Mary Kay has been good to her, she said.But it’s more than the perks she’s earned — perks that include European trips and diamond rings. It’s about the confidence and business sense the former housewife earned by being an independent sales director for the company, she said.
“I found that being at home could do a number on your self-esteem,” said Eckhardt, who lives in Williamsburg with her husband, Dave, a retired computer scientist.
The trip from homemaker to beauty consultant to independent executive senior sales director overseeing about 160 beauty consultants started 30 years ago, and has carried on through some tough economic times.
But even when the economy tanks, like it has now, she has stayed afloat. She had to. Her business — she functions as an independent contractor for Mary Kay — was on the line.
“When it’s your business, you have a lot of freedom and flexibility,” she said. “You have to decide how much you’re going to work.”
So she’s earned the use of 15 cars over the years. The car is provided on a two-year lease. Eckhardt earned the latest car — sticker price: $44,900 — because her unit, made up of about 160 consultants, makes between $500,000 and $650,000 in sales a year, she said.
Logo from Mary Kay.