“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
     These are wise words from the late Mary Kay Ash, an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.  And the foundation by which Ocean Springs resident DeeDee Hooks has built a successful career as a senior sales director for the company.
     Hooks is one of more than 10,000 independent sales directors in the United States currently selling Mary Kay products through home and office demonstration. And one of just eight operating on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

     She joins several of these local sales directors – Christina McGillivray, also of Ocean Springs; Jeanine Murphy of Gulfport; and Christine Williams of Hurley – at the top of their ranks when it comes to achieving quarterly sales goals set by the company.
     The accomplishment is huge in the Mary Kay business and has recently earned the group of lady entrepreneurs leading status among their counterparts as well as shiny new pink Cadillacs.
     “When you earn the use of a Mary Kay career car, it’s like a trophy on wheels; especially the pink Cadillac,” said Christine Williams, who has been with the company for over 20 years earning eights cars and three Cadillacs. “Everyone on the road knows what the pink Cadillac represents. It’s one of the highest honors you can achieve in Mary Kay. “If the Mary Kay pink Cadillac could talk, it would say, ‘Boss Babe behind the wheel!’”
     Jeanine Murphy, a senior sales director who has earned eight company cars during her 16 year-stint with Mary Kay, echoed Williams’ sentiments.
     “Earning the use of a Mary Kay car makes me feel on top of the world,” said Murphy. “It’s fun to have the support of the community with all the waves, thumbs up and congratulations as I drive around in my Pink Cadillac.”
     For Christina McGillivray, who spent 12 years with the company before her debut as a sales director in 2018, earning the pink Cadillac has inspired her to keep reaching new heights in her Mary Kay career.

     “The Pink Cadillac is a dream come true,” McGillivray said. “It’s also the first brand new car I’ve had the privilege of driving. It feels good to know that me and my family are in a safe and reliable vehicle. The car speaks for itself as a symbol of success and represents our whole unit. It has given me confidence to grow my business even bigger.”
     More than 2.4 million independent beauty consultants sell Mary Kay products worldwide. There are currently about 600,000 Mary Kay consultants in the United States, with less than two percent of them ever becoming sales directors. And an even lesser number of those sales directors, only approximately 1,000, now driving pink Cadillacs.
     In 1969, Mary Kay Ash awarded the first pink Cadillacs to the company’s top five independent sales force members. Now over 50 years later, the Mary Kay Career Car program has become one of the best-in-class car incentive programs in the world.

     Those who reach their goals receive the car for two years, meaning, they get to pick a new model every two years.
     “I am so thankful I made that $100 decision,” said Hooks, referring to the amount she paid to join Mary Kay as an independent beauty consultant nearly 23 years ago.
     Hooks’ decision to start her own Mary Kay business wasn’t made without hesitation.  
     “When I started my Mary Kay business, I was a stay-at-home mom, a chicken farmer, and married with two young boys…I was not a glamorous girl,” she said. “…I knew I wasn’t a salesperson, so I thought I could never do this business. But what I learned was I didn’t have to sell. I just had to share and teach people how to wash their face.
“…I earned my first career car seven months later and became a sales director 13 months after I signed my agreement.”
     To date, Hooks has earned a total of 11 company career cars, two of which have been pink Cadillacs. Her consistency and commitment to her Mary Kay business has also afforded her the glitz and glam, and other perks, that comes along with living what she likes to refer to as the “Pink Dream.” And she’s proud to be able to share her love for Mary Kay with others, including her daughter-in-law, Charly Hooks of Magee, who rang in the New Year as a new Mary Kay sales director recently earning her first company career car – a Chevrolet Malibu.
     “Gains in this business are truly a team effort,” DeeDee Hooks said. “It takes the contributions of your entire team of consultants to reach and surpass company goals. And it feels so good when it happens.”

Hooks was introduced to Mary Kay by a friend who was hosting her first party as a new independent beauty consultant. The senior sales director says she was “very reluctant” to attend the party but wanted to help. And today, Hooks said she still can’t believe her thriving Mary Kay business was born through a party invitation and her own personal mission to buy her family a ski boat.
     “That’s the reason I joined Mary Kay,” Hooks said. “At that time, my family wanted a ski boat so I thought I could work my Mary Kay business for six hours a week or less and buy my family that boat. So, the next day, I set out for the best adventure of my life. I joined, worked my business consistently each week, six hours or less, and six months later we had that boat.
     “I have earned Diamond rings, quarterly prizes,” Hooks continued, “as well as lifelong friendships, self-esteem, flexibility to be able to work around my grandbabies, the privilege to help people feel beautiful and important, to watch my team set goals and reach them and the ability to have an income that allows me to work from home and build my own dreams, not the dreams of others. It’s been the most rewarding experience.”
     Jeanine Murphy’s work as a sales director has earned her trips to places like the Bahamas and Vallarta Mexico.
     Before Murphy started her Mary Kay business, she worked for 25 years in a well-paying position as district manager at Waffle House.
     “I picked up a Mary Kay starter kit in April of 2004, in hopes to create the same level of income,” Murphy said. “I chose a home-based business because I had no formal higher education and did not even receive a high school diploma.
     “When I first began building my business, I really thought it would not work. I was hopeful, but deep down I thought it wouldn’t work for me. But what I found in this 16-year journey is that I was wrong, and it did work. I have been able to be a part of so many women creating their dreams and becoming true Boss Babes.”

     Murphy has helped to develop five leading consultants to the position of Car Driving Sales Directors. And Murphy’s daughter, Jayme McGill of Long Beach, took on the helm as sales director in 2020 after starting her business seven years ago.
     Christina McGillivray joined Mary Kay in 2006 after working in the food and beverage industry. She was employed for 10 plus years by Phoenicia Gourmet in downtown Ocean Springs where she still helps on busy weekends and holidays.
     An opportunity to spend more quality time with her family was the driving force behind her decision to start selling for Mary Kay.
     McGillivray said her work as a senior sales director has allowed her the freedom to “work from home and be with my children every day. I finally get to be that mom who can be wherever my kids need me to be.”
     McGillivray said she also enjoys the opportunities her job at Mary Kay provides to enrich women’s lives. ‘… I find that women in society these days face many emotional battles and having a positive inner circle is crucial to self-growth and success,” she said. “You can’t put a price on making someone feel beautiful.”
     Christine Williams switched careers 21 years ago, leaving corporate America as an accountant to begin her journey with Mary Kay as a stay-at-home, single mom caring for her young son who is now 28 and a chemical engineer and graduate of Mississippi State University.
     “Having my own Mary Kay business has given me the freedom and flexibility to be my own boss and to be in charge of my own schedule,” Williams said. “I never have to ask off and worry about having to be there for my family if they need me.
     “In building a Mary Kay business, I love seeing others succeed and provide for their families.”
Williams added that the most impressive aspects of the company, for her, is its undeniable respect for its employees and its willingness to provide for them and others during tough times.
     “When the pandemic started last March and hand sanitizers were almost impossible to find, the CDC reached out to our Mary Kay Corporate Headquarters in Dallas, Texas, knowing that Mary Kay products are manufactured in the United States. The CDC asked if it would be possible for Mary Kay to manufacture hand sanitizer for those on the front lines and hospitals due to the shortage. Hand sanitizer was not one of our products we offered at the time, but Mary Kay was more than willing to help our country out in a time of need. Mary Kay immediately started producing hand sanitizer and was able to donate all of it to hospitals and those working on the front lines.”
     Williams said her team of consultants also stepped up to provide Mary Kay’s Satin Hands products to area hospital staff as a gift for all the hand washing and care they were doing to remain in compliance with Coronavirus health and safety measures.

     “Mary Kay is more than just a cosmetics company,” Williams said. “It is truly a company that treats us like family. Even back when the Mississippi Gulf Coast was hit by Hurricane Katrina, Mary Kay was there to take care of us.”
     Williams said she and many of her counterparts, including Hooks, Murphy, and McGillivray, have surprisingly experienced an increase in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.
     “Mary Kay just really rose to the challenge whenever the pandemic started and really just helped us adjust to the new climate and be able to work our business virtually, and just provided things like reduced shipping for us and innovative ways for us to be able to reach out to our customers. It has been remarkable.
     “I think we’ve all realized that if we can thrive during a pandemic, then there’s nothing that can stop us.”

Amanda Compton-Ortiz

Amanda Compton-Ortiz holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Mississippi. She relocated from North Mississippi to Long Beach in October 2016. Amanda has worked for more than 20 years in journalism, leading and reporting for various community news publications throughout the state. She has received numerous awards for her editorial contributions from the Mississippi Press Association and placed among 224 universities competing across the United States and Canada for Reach, a personally created magazine for women.