For several years, Mary Kay Russia has led the way within Mary Kay in celebrating International Women's Day.  This year, many of our subsidiaries in Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific as well as the United States will also celebrate the holiday created to honor the economic, political and social achievements of women.  While the holiday is one of the most important in Russia and widely celebrated in several countries, it's relatively unknown in others.  

 
Did You Know?

• International Women’s Day has been observed for 100 years. It’s considered the biggest celebration in Russia next to Christmas.
• International Women's Day was honored the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in 1911.
• At the first celebration, more than one million women and men attended International Women's Day rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.
• It’s celebrated the same as Valentine’s Day and Mother's Day in the U.S. with men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, female colleagues, etc … with flowers, candy and perfume.
• The day celebrates the achievements of all women around the world.
• International Women's Day is an official holiday in 14 countries, including Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
• 2011 is International Women’s Day’s Global Centenary (1911-2011).
• As a result of this global celebration, The United States designates March as 'Women's History Month.'

Join Mary Kay Inc. today in celebrating all that women have contributed to our world.  Tell a woman just how great you think she is!

February has been named Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention month.  Previously it was only recognized for one week.  I hope that moving from one week to one month serves to better spread the awareness of an issue that faces too many of our young people today.

Mary Kay Inc. and the Mary Kay Foundation have a long-standing commitment to bring an end to domestic violence, and we became active in 2009 in the teen dating violence area.  We've partnered with the non-profit group Break the Cycle to sponsor an interactive DVD called Ending Violence that can be easily used by school systems throughout our nation.  Ending Violence helps to teach middle and high school students about healthy relationships and dating violence. Currently, one in three teens will experience abuse in a dating relationship and one in four eighth and ninth grade students report being victims of dating violence.  We hope that by raising awareness in young people we can reduce or eradicate that number. You can see a sneak peek of the DVD program here:

While the creation of the Ending Violence program was a great start, it will only work if we get it in front of as many middle and high school students as possible.  Here's where you can help. Currently, Oklahoma, Texas and Rhode Island are the only states that require domestic violence education programs in schools.  You can do your part and demonstrate your support for this teen dating violence curriculum in our schools by signing the petition at www.enddatingviolence.com.

I encourage you to learn more about the Ending Violence program, and all the wonderful work that Break The Cycle does as the leading voice for teens on the issue of dating violence.  Visit www.breakthecycle.org, and talk to a young person you know about this issue.  By working together, we can make a difference.

If you read the comments to my previous post "Wishes for the New Year" you will gather that I will be retiring from Mary Kay Inc.  I'll be here until April 30, and will continue to blog until then.  I am working on "willing" the Reflections blog to another women here at the company that will feel as passionate about it as I do.  I'll share additional thoughts on retirement as the day draws nearer, but in the meantime I did want to acknolwedge the comments from our readers and thank them for their kind words and well wishes.

I'm having a hard time believing that 2009 has come to an end, and that means it is time to work on goals and dreams for 2010.  I haven't yet created my own personal goals for the new year, but I do have a few things I've been thinking of that I would wish for others, more specifically, other women.

Ten things that I would wish for all Women in 2010

1.  That you respect and love yourself

2.  That you are loved and respected by others

3.  That you discover the personal freedom that comes when you are controlling the things you can, and letting go of the things you can't

4.  That you free yourself from the burden of debt

5.  That each day you learn something new

6.  That what is important to you is clear

7.  That you are able to invest your time in what is important to you

8.  That you can reconcile anything that is keeping you from moving forward

9.  That you will have the courage to always speak the truth, even when it's not easy

10. That you will find true happiness

May 2010 bring you great joy, many new discoveries, and may you move one step closer to becoming the woman you were meant to be!

It was snowing this morning in Dallas, which is quite unusual  for us this time of year.  If we get any at all, it's mostly in January or February.  With the dense cloud cover, everything in the house was a little darker than normal when I got up to get ready for the office.  I pulled out a new pair of black and white tweed pants to wear, with a solid black jacket and my black boots.  I thought it was the perfect outfit for a cold and snowy day.  As I do each morning, I took a last minute glance in the bathroom mirror to make certain that everything was in its place before I walked out the door for my morning commute.

As I was driving across town in the car, now outside in the daylight, suddenly the black and white tweed pants began to mysteriously change to brown and white.  How could that be?  I tried to remember back to when I purchased the pants, wondering if I had intended to buy black and white or brown and white.  What color did I think I was buying?  I couldn't remember, but unconciously this morning, they were definitely black and white.   As I continued the drive in, I had convinved myself that it was simply a reflection of the tan interior in my car that was casting the brown color on my black and white tweed pants.  Still, I wasn't completely sure.

When I arrived at the Mary Kay building, I went straight to the ladies room to settle the matter once and for all, only to find out that my black and white tweed pants had a brown zipper and brown lining!  Alas, yes, I fear I have gone out in public today wearing a black jacket, black boots and brown and white tweed pants.  I have many outfits that very effectively mix brown and black for a fashionable look, but I don't think I'd put this one in that category.  Oh, well.

So here's what it made me think about.  Just as my pants looked diffferent in different lighting conditions, so do our behaviors and the things that happen to us in life. Context is a huge factor in how we perceive things, and how others perceive our words and actions.  What seems right in one situation might turn out badly in a different situation.  Always be considerate of the context. Take the time to look around, and think about what is going on, before you act. 

P.S.  I was very tempted to wait until tomorrow to post this blog, thinking the fewer people that saw me today the better.  I'm not a celebrity, so the chances of my error in judgment winding up in the tabloids is slim to none, but I've seen too many examples recently that prove if you don't fess up, someone else will do it for you and then you have a lot of explaining to do. So, I decided to go ahead and face it.  Not to mention the fact that it gave me a great analogy to talk about the importance of context.

I've heard it said many times over the years that "people don't join companies, they join people" and likewise, "people don't leave companies, they leave people."  I think this is true to a great extent. 

An example of this is when Mary Kay Ash founded our company on Friday, September 13th, 1963.  There was no "company"  that she could share.  The story hadn't been written yet.  There was no brand, no product success, no past sales history that would provide the confidence or the impetus to join her.  There was only her, her 20 year old son, Richard, and a shelf full of pink jars in a small rented space in an office complex.  Yet, join they did.  Women signed up based on "brand Mary Kay Ash", the person.

I don't believe much has changed since then in this aspect.  Certainly our company's rich history and success over the past 46 years, our quality products that continue to be among women's favorites and our world famous founder provide a context for women today who are looking for great beauty products or a business opportunity.  However, women today still buy our products and decide to begin a business because they like the Independent Beauty Consultant who has connected with them, helped them with their product needs and become a trusted advisor.

It's interesting that in today's times, so many things have become much less personal, but at the same time, the importance of the personal relationship in many businesses is becoming increasingly important. 

No matter what business you're in, "brand You" may be the most important brand of all.  Have you taken the time to define your brand, and how you show it to the people that you want to do business with.  Are they buying what you're selling?  If not, perhaps it's not the company you represent or the product you sell, perhaps it's YOU that they aren't buying.

A few years ago, there was a museum exhibit in Texas called “It Ain’t Braggin’ If It’s True.”  Will you please indulge me while I take a moment to brag about the Mary Kay independent sales force and their customers? 

Last year, Mary Kay undertook its first cause marketing program called Beauty That Counts™.  The funds raised were used to help women and children around the world.  In Korea, the funds were used to build children’s libraries for orphans and disabled children.  In Mexico, the funds were used to support programs dealing with domestic violence.  In the U.S., a portion of the funds were used to underwrite a multi-media curriculum addressing the issue of teen dating violence. Some of the funds were also used to support a new and innovative program focused on children and the healing powers of nature.  The program is building five outdoor “nature explore classrooms” at women’s shelters in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, California and Georgia.  Those five classrooms are either opening or about to open this week in recognition of October and Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The nature explore classrooms provide an outdoor environment to help children who have witnessed abuse in their home.  Scientific studies show that children who are exposed to nature have a greater chance of dealing with difficult situations like witnessing abuse.  Nothing like this existed before–these nature explore classrooms are the first to be built at women’s shelters. They will provide a quiet, safe and nurturing place for children to learn, play and heal.  Can you imagine the difference this will make for the children and the women at these shelters?

It was the support of Beauty That Counts™ from the Mary Kay independent sales force and their customers that provided the support for the nature explore classrooms.  I always say the people associated with Mary Kay, whether they be independent sales force members, employees or customers, are great people.  This is just more proof of that.   I know I’m bragging, but it’s true. 

Thank you for all you do to help Mary Kay end domestic violence.  Click here to learn more about the nature classrooms. http://www.marykay.com/content/company/pr_pressreleases_classroom.aspx

to Anne Crews.  Anne is our first guest blogger here on Reflections, and I'm so delighted she agreed to share with our readers this month.  October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and Anne is a Mary Kay warrior when it comes to her commitment to personally do all she can to put a stop to this dreadful thing that plagues so many of our families.  All of us at Mary Kay are very proud of the work we doin this area.  It takes a lot of money to make a difference all across our country and all around our world, and none of it would be possible without our wonderful independent sales force and their loyal customers.  Through their purchases of our skin care and color cosmetics, as well as their generous donations to the Mary Kay Foundation, all this is possible.  We owe them a great deal of gratitude, and hope that they are as proud as we are of the work that has been done to help enrich the lives of women in need.

I invite you to click on the link below to hear directly from Mary Kay's resident warrior on the domestic violence front, Anne Crews. 

http://reflections.marykay.com/crews/archive/2009/10/02/pink-changing-lives-part-one.aspx 

Thank you Rhonda for giving me the opportunity to share information about the work that we are doing to end domestic violence.

Many of you know that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  But what you may not know is that ending violence against women is one of the primary initiatives supported by Mary Kay Inc. and The Mary Kay Foundation.  Around here, we call our efforts at doing well by doing good Pink Changing Lives^SM.

From the moment Mary Kay Ash founded our company in 1963, she always felt our primary mission was to enrich the lives of women.  This is one of the reasons Mary Kay felt strongly that as an organization, we needed to support women’s shelters and those dealing with domestic abuse.   I worked with Mary Kay for years and can tell you when she felt strongly about an issue, she acted on it.  And as a Company, so do we.  We feel strongly that violence against women must be stopped.

Mary Kay Inc. and The Mary Kay Foundation have made a long-term commitment to support shelters and programs aimed at preventing, or at least, mitigating domestic violence.  In total, we have donated more than $22 million to women’s shelters and programs addressing domestic violence.    But it’s so much more than just writing a check.  Along with the money we dedicate to this issue, we also look for unique opportunities that can truly make a difference to women dealing with abuse.  Some of the few things we’ve done include:

• Donating $20,000 to 150 women’s shelter in the United States in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  That is a total of $3 million per year to women’s shelters.
• Lobbying Congress for the federal Violence Against Women Act and its renewal; lobbying State Legislatures to help educate teenagers about dating violence. 
• Providing grants to fund the salary of a special prosecutor for family violence crimes, in the District Attorney office. 
• Underwriting an interactive DVD and curriculum addressing teen dating violence.
• Building outdoor nature environments at five women’s shelters this year to help children heal from the trauma suffered from being in an abusive home.  Look for more details about this exciting project later this month.

As an organization, we don’t feel like we’ve gone above and beyond.  We feel like we are simply doing our part.  Mary Kay Inc. and The Mary Kay Foundation will continue to work towards the goal of ending violence against women.

I saw a great quote on Twitter yesterday.  Unfortunately, an author wasn't cited, so I don't know who to attribute it to, but it really got me to thinking about what happens to us when things don't go our way.

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted"

If that is true, which I believe it is, then I know without a doubt that Mary Kay Ash would have said that she had lots of "experience"!  For example, when she was a salesperson herself (before founding our company), she had set her sights on winning a beautiful handbag that she had seen a previous sales leader earn.  She set that as her goal, and worked hard all year long to earn one for herself.  She achieved the level of sales required, but she didn't get what she wanted.  Instead, she was rewarded with a flounder light (evidently it's something you use to attract fish when you're trying to catch them).  From that experience, she decided that if she ever got the chance to award prizes to other sales women, they would be the kind of Cinderella prizes that women really wanted, like that original handbag that she wanted.  And that is exactly what she did, and we still do today.

I often Heard Mary Kay say that "If we ever decide to compare knees, you're going to find that I have more scars than anyone in the room.  That's because I have fallen down and gotten up so many times in my life."  Yes, Mary Kay Ash was very familiar with experience.  One of her most famous and oft-repeated and re-Tweeted anecdotes is "We fail forward to success," most assuredly derived from all those instances when things did not go her way.  Even with all the "failure" she experienced, Mary Kay went on to accomplish what no other woman in business has been able to match.   Some of this success can surely be attributed to her hard work and willingness to make the sacrifices she needed to, but it also came from "knowing how to lose".

I can think of so many times when things didn't go the way that I wished for them to, or the way that I imagined them to, and I'm certain there were times when I was a really sore loser.  But looking back on those times now, I know I'm stronger, wiser and more helpful to others who need advice and coaching than I would be had it not been for the experience, and I'm thankful to have had a role model in Mary Kay.  I guess the real lesson I've learned is that my way may not be the best way after all, and I've learned to appreciate those times when things don't go my way, because I know that I'm going to grow as a result of the "experience."