THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407290069
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 176 lines
GRAB A cosmetic bag, ring the doorbell, smile.
Hello, I'm selling Mary Kay cosmetics.
Will this person buy enough lotion, or lipstick, or eye makeup to help me pay the bills this month? Maybe she'll take a sample and call me back.
Joan Chadbourne knows the routine well enough to make her the neighborhood queen of cosmetics. It's made her a couple of million dollars.
She's turned champagne lipstick into the champagne life.
Chadbourne's Hampton home sits off the road at the end of a pebbled, circular driveway.
The giveaway is the sleek pink Mary Kay Caddy in the drive. Not a Pepto pink but a nice crystal pink - that's a lot of blush sitting at the foot of that porch.
MK NSD83 reads the license plate - Mary Kay National Sales Director 1983.
The rambling house is filled with oil paintings and antique books. A housekeeper leads the way to Chadbourne, who sits behind a dining room table covered with Mary Kay fare - earrings, crystal broaches, watches, booklets, Jefferson Pewter cups.
Her smile is friendly and sincere. No sales pitch, no nonsense. Just Chadbourne.
``This week has been such a week. A water pipe above my office burst and so I had to move everything out here. Plus, my daughter, Tara, got her driver's license this week,'' said Chadbourne, who puts her hands to her face and shudders. ``So she's out. Her friends are calling and she's not here. Don't know when I'll see her again.''
As Chadbourne talks about her 22 years with Mary Kay, selling close to $2 million worth of goods, ascending to Mary Kay's highest position, the mystery starts to unfold. It takes a lot to leave a career of cancer research for cosmetics and build a sales force of 1,500, a six-figure income and earn many admirers in the process. There's a mystique in becoming a success at helping women look their best.
``In the academic field, you get an A. But you can't make people buy this; you need to know how to communicate with them and find out what they need,'' Chadbourne said.
``I like working with women, in particular. Helping them build self-confidence, their self-esteem. Helping them find themselves.''
Chadbourne settles on a sofa by a window overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, about to disclose how to make it in the world of Mary Kay.
The most valuable asset, so evident in Chadbourne's manner, is enthusiasm.
``I've always been active in different things. I started a stamp club when I was in the second grade,'' Chadbourne said, laughing.
``I can't believe I did that now, but we'd get together and discuss stamps.''
Chadbourne, 51, grew up in Ontario, Canada, and was president of the student council, a cheerleader and a natural with math and science.
``It didn't bother me that there weren't many women in the field. Prior to my mom being married, she was a hospital manager. I had an aunt who was a school administrator,'' Chadbourne said. ``It made me aware of women having careers.''
She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's in embryology and biochemistry. She married in 1966, and her husband's sales job kept the couple moving.
By 1971, they were living in Greenville, S.C., and Chadbourne drove 100 miles a day to teach at Clemson University. She wasn't happy.
``Clemson was once an all-military school, and they had a lot of gender discrimination,'' Chadbourne said. ``I had a master's degree doing research in another professor's lab. There were only three women there, and we'd hear the dirty jokes, profanity, anything to get rid of us.''
Besides the hassle, Chadbourne said the job had become mundane.
``You have to repeat, repeat, repeat for things to be statistically correct and it was, well, boring.''
A friend invited her to a Mary Kay skin product demonstration. Chadbourne attended, bought the basic skin care set and left. A few months later, another friend had become a consultant and suggested Chadbourne join the ranks.
``I quickly informed her I was not going to peddle cosmetics because I had spent all this time getting my master's degree. . . and I was going to begin my Ph.D,'' Chadbourne said. ``But for the next month she kept dropping off reading material.''
Chadbourne resisted until her husband received transfer orders again. They were moving to Gloucester County, where the ``job market was depressed and depressing,'' Chadbourne said.
``I was offered $6,000 a year with a master's degree.''
She mulled over the flexibility of Mary Kay. Chadbourne called up her friend. She signed on as a beauty consultant while the moving van was in the driveway.
The couple arrived in Virginia with a moving van and her starter kit. The only people they knew were the real estate agent and his receptionist - but that was enough.
``The estate agent's wife held my first skin care class and the receptionist held the second,'' Chadbourne said. ``My poor husband, bless his heart, had about three facials a day the first few weeks.''
Chadbourne made $150 at her first demonstration. A few weeks later, she flew to the 1972 Mary Kay conference in Dallas, the homeland of Mary Kay Inc., dragging her husband along.
``I told him if Mary Kay was a hoax, he didn't have to buy me a birthday, anniversary or Christmas gift for 10 years.''
He was soon convinced.
Hundreds of women with success stories, pink Cadillacs, minks, diamonds, ready to get even more for selling makeup.
Chadbourne was awed.
``I remember meeting and being mesmerized by Mary Kay herself,'' Chadbourne said.
``She's such an inspirational person.''
She attended seminars, he attended husband classes and both returned with the goal of Chadbourne becoming the first director in Southeastern Virginia.
Chadbourne hunted for clients, but it was difficult.
``No one had really heard of Mary Kay and people wondered if we would be here in six months if they wanted to order something else,'' Chadbourne said.
She went to an art festival and set up a raffle box that offered a free skin care set as a prize - 150 women dropped their names in the box. She had potential clients. Chadbourne knew there were a few scattered Mary Kay souls in the area, and she started recruiting consultants to form a unit. She interviewed 25 people before she took on her first.
Chadbourne and the recruits would drive to Washington for training and meet weekly to exchange notes from the different classes. After building a team of 12, Chadbourne became Tidewater's first director in 1973.
As director, she earns a commission from her unit's sales and by 1978, the group had sold $100,000 worth of products - enough to make Chadbourne a Cadillac driver.
She also helped establish Mary Kay Canada that year and had her daughter. Her second child, Philip, was born 20 months later.
Chadbourne opened training centers in the area and in 1983, became national sales director after developing 20 directors throughout the state. She continued to have a small clientele but concentrated on developing directors and moving up the Mary Kay ladder.
In 1990, she hit the $1 million dollar sales mark with a growing sales staff. She had ``offspring'' in 36 states. She was named an executive senior national director at the end of the year after developing her third national director.
The crystal pink Seville sitting by the steps is her 11th car, given as a reward to top salespeople.
``How has it affected my children? My daughter sells some products. She once had an real bad acne problem on her back, and we had something that worked. She sells it to her friends,'' Chadbourne said.
``As far as my son, I remember one time when I took my son to elementary school, he asked his friend: `Where's your mom's pink car?' ''
A big part of being successful in Mary Kay is paying attention to the basics - the technical and the personal. For $95, beginners get a starter kit with all the samples they need. There are training classes and books to read.
``We have strong business ethics. We don't steal other people's customers and we maintain a professional image - no pants to do business,'' Chadbourne said.
``You must have a go-give attitude, not a go-get. Don't think about how much you will make, but how you'll make them feel better and look better.''
And this is when it gets beyond warm and cool colors. When Chadbourne sees women who need extra money and helps them find it through this business. They need flexible hours for their children. Chadbourne spends most of her time now developing training programs and meeting new recruits to show them that Mary Kay is more than a stroke of lipstick.
``It's wonderful to see people come into their own. . . many of the women who work are teachers and nurses. They don't make a lot of money, but they can make enough through Mary Kay to put their kids through college, straighten out the teeth or whatever,'' Chadbourne said.
``I believe one of my strengths is getting people to come up with their own solutions. I think that empowers people and builds confidence.'' ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff color photos
Joan Chadbourne, 51, holds some jewelry she will give to her top
salesperson. The senior national sales director has received a few
perks of her own for Mary Kay sales: 11 pink Cadillacs.
Chadbourne uses ribbons of achievement to motivate sales units.
Photo
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
Mary Kay saleswomen use guides to help meet customers' needs.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY COSMETICS by CNB