By Valencia Campbell

Gloria Mayfield Banks has nodoubt that she made the rightchoice in pursuing a career withMary Kay-one of the nation'sleading cosmetics companies.According to Banks, what raiseseyebrows about her choice ofprofessions is that she graduatedwith a MBA from HarvardUniversity's Business school.

Before coming to Mary Kay,Banks was a top sales personwith IBM, worked as aMarketing Manager with StratusComputers and even worked asan Assistant Director ofAdmissions at Harvard's BusinessSchool. Her road to the top of theMary Kay Company, however,began with a friend's invitation toattend a skin care class. “I fell inlove with the products,” saidBanks. “At that time, I was goingthrough a divorce and could usesome extra money. I had a one-year old and a two-year old.Although I still had my full-timejob at Harvard, I enjoyed havingthe extra money and having fun,too. Within five months, I earnedthe use of a luxury car with MaryKay,“ she said.

Banks points out that she reallylikes being around powerfulwomen. That is, women who liketo make things happen. “I camefrom an environment with men atthe top. I knew that I could oper-ate in the good old boy network.Now, I wanted to see how thingswould be with a bunch of womenin sales,” she added. She foundthat the difference was “theywere all interested in helping oth-ers feel fabulous.”

Banks apparently was arisk-taker, too. She decidedto quit her job at Harvardand go out on her own. “Ihave dealt with domesticviolence but no one knewwhat was going on in myhome. I had a desire forsomething higher,” saidBanks. “I did not want togive up my quality of lifeeither.”

Now, Gloria mentorsothers on how to buildtheir business with MaryKay. She has a high six-figure income and has notworried about lookingback. She has remarriedand her husband owns asuccessful contractingcompany in Yonkers aswell.

According to Gloria, alarge part of her success isdirectly linked to the cul-ture of Mary Kay. “Theyput faith first, family sec-ond, and career third. Theirgolden rule is 'treat every-body the way you want tobe treated.'”

“This is permeatedthroughout the company,”declared Banks. “We havea sales force of over650,000 in the UnitedStates, she indicated.Apparently, a lot of other peoplewant to be a part of this outstand-ing company.

It seems that Mary Kay is real-ly on the forefront of treating itsemployees well and giving backto the community. For example,the company gave all of its con-sultants that were affected by

Hurricane Katrina new beautykits free. In addition, they gavethe consultants a check reflectiveof what their typical commissionswould be over a four-month peri-od. According to Banks, the costto the company was about $2.5million dollars.

Aside from that Banks indicat-

ed, “I am stillamazed at how muchMary Kay did andhow quickly theyreacted to other vic-tims of HurricaneKatrina. The compa-ny gave $5 milliondollars in cash andproduct donations.We were one of thefirst companies toinitially commit onemillion dollars to therelief effort.”

“Since our compa-ny is headquarteredin Dallas, we did alot there too. Wegave $40,000 in freeday care to theYMCA ” Banksexplained. That wasnot all. Banks had along list of otherthings the companyhad done for thecommunity. MaryKay, Inc., donated $$100,000 to domesticviolence sheltersaffected by the hurri-cane. Another$107,000 went to theDallas Habitat forHumanity. Mary Kayemployees and volun-teers help put over

1,200 survivor kits together forhurricane victims. Those kitsincluded basic staples such astoothpaste and shampoo. Othermajor contributions from thecompany included donating 18-wheelers to help the SalvationArmy with transportation andpaying for planes to get doctors

to areas impacted by the hurri-canes.

Gloria's passion for a highercalling in the work that she doeshas reaped tremendous rewardsfor her, both financial and per-sonal. “Although I entered MaryKay for some extra cash, I likethe recognition, the personalgrowth and what comes withcompetition,” she said.

“I loved being mentored and Ilove mentoring others. Peoplecan see the impact of my valuesby the way I live my life and thework that I do. We share ourinformation. This environment isjust so great. You know mydaughter sees all of these power-ful people. She sees me gettingrecognition. She has a ton ofpride. When she grows up, sheknows she can develop herselfjust like the women she seesaround her,” noted Banks.

Despite Gloria's hectic sched-ule, she finds times to travel,scuba dive, and go to the movies.She has been featured in suchnational magazines as WorkingWoman, Black Enterprise andGlamour.

Gloria Mayfield Banks has man-aged to break several companyrecords. As she moved up the lad-der quickly from consultant to herpresent position as National SalesDirector, those around her saw herteam doing millions of dollars insales year after year. Gloria gives alot of credit to the teamwork fos-tered by the company.

“Also, I attract well-educatedpeople who choose to do this.They want to go out and get itall,” she says.

The Prince George’s County Times, December 2 - 8, 2005 Positive stories about positive people!Page 6

WASHINGTON, DC-

The untold story of AfricanAmerican midwives—beginningwith 17th-century practitionersusing child-birthing methodsfrom Africa and ending with a21st-century nurse midwife whouses some of those practicestoday—is the backbone of a newexhibition that places theseskilled women at the center ofhealth and social support systemsin black communities past andpresent.

“Reclaiming Midwives: Pillarsof Community Support” openedNov. 13 at the Smithsonian’sAnacostia Museum and will beon view through April 2, 2006.

“Reclaiming Midwives”assembles more than 150 itemsto share the history of AfricanAmerican midwives providingcare extending beyond birth toinclude general health and socialsupports. The exhibit features 351950s-era photographs by archi-tectural and fine art photographerRobert Galbraith, 86, and Libraryof Congress photographs datingto the late 1800s.

The Smithsonian’s AnacostiaMuseum is at 1901 Fort PlaceS.E., Washington, D.C., and isopen from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.daily, except Dec. 25. Admissionis free. Information: (202) 633-4820.Tours: (202) 633-4844.Web site: www.anacostia.si.edu.

Anacostia Museum exhibit explores thehistory of African American midwives

Gloria Mayfield Banks–Winning big with Mary Kay

Gloria Mayfield Banks, a graduate of Harvard’sMBA program, left a position as Assistant Directorof Admissions at Harvard University to join MaryKay, where she moved up the ladder to her positionas National Sales Director. -Photo by Kara Alford

hoods in Tookie's old South LosAngeles haunts numbers in thehundreds. The pattern is similarin other cities. Police say it'sbecause the witnesses and vic-tim's relatives and friends won'tcooperate, but often they do andarrests still aren't made, andwhen they are, the punishmentappears less severe than the pun-ishment meted out to blacks ifthe victims were white or non-blacks. The four victimsWilliams' is convicted of killingwere white and Asian. The senseamong young black males thattheir lives are severely marginal-ized fosters disrespect for thelaw and implants the troublingnotion that they have an open

license to pillage and plundertheir community.

Williams was long gone fromthe scene by the time the Cripsdevolved and morphed into thehundreds of factions nationally,and internationally, that havesince become major players inthe gun and drug plague. Thememory of the thug life thatTookie helped spawn, as muchas the public demand by prisonofficials, California AttorneyGeneral Bill Lockyer, LosAngeles County DistrictAttorney Steve Cooley, andpolice officials, that Tookie paywith his life for the murders hewas convicted of, is why Tookieis still roundly condemned bymany.

But Tookie feels deeplyresponsible for the Frankensteinmonster that he helped create,and has profusely and openlyapologized to the families of thevictims of gang violence in let-ters and taped messages. Hiscontrition is not too little toolate, but it is still slight consola-tion to the victims that his vio-lent quest for identity and man-hood claimed.

The Tookie that thousands arefighting to keep from aDecember 13 date with the exe-cutioner is not the same Tookiethat decades ago wanted tosmash everyone. Yet there arestill thousands like him that do.A very much alive Tookie whounderstands their anger andalienation could help lesson theirnumbers.

Why ‘Tookie’ Williams?Continued from page 5