“Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay” Mary Lisa Gavenas
2026/Viking
$35/448 pages
Mary Kathlyn grew up in a poor family with very few possessions, but plenty of hustle. She was a good student who was set to graduate high school a year early.
Instead, she left school and married a teenage husband who was largely absent from her life, leaving the family’s survival up to her. Before she divorced him at age 18, she had three kids to feed and clothe, and she needed money.
Mary Kathlyn took a job selling psychology books before leaving her children with her mother to sell cleaning products door-to-door. She refined her patter and added her own spin to the company guidebook. She bounced from job to job, honed her skills, and worked her way up.
By 1963, Mary Kay, as she later called herself, had worked at several companies and had three divorces under her belt. She was widowed twice. She also started her own business, one that would change the lives of millions of women.
There are two things you’re going to like best in this book. First, author Mary Lisa Gavenas tells the story of skincare mogul Mary Kay Ash, her career, and a life that would have crushed anyone lesser. To call it an inspirational story is an understatement.
Second, to put this biography into perspective, Gavenas offers readers a sense of the social times and the people that surrounded Mary Kay, which makes her struggles and resolve even more impressive.
“Selling Opportunity” is a pink Cadillac of business biographies, and you’ll love it to the finish.
