It was 35 years ago that a 45-year-old mom sat at her dining room table with her son and launched a project that would change their lives and those of generations to come. Their project would also place Dallas at the center of a beauty empire.
Would her “project” find a home in Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman’s? Nope. She went to the dining room tables of hundreds of thousands of women and men whom she would never know.
That mother of beauty innovation was Mary Kay Ash, and her legacy providing a beauty undertaking for females to exercise their entrepreneur muscles has only strengthened over the decades.
Despite her official birthday being May 12, Mary Kay’s family, both professional and personal, celebrated her 100th birthday on Wednesday, July 12, with a Suits for Shelter reception for folks on the forefront of preventing domestic violence and Mary Kay friends and family at Tootsies showing her commitment to women facing domestic abuse. Instead of photos of the great lady or teary recalls, organizers arranged to have five of the late Mary Kay’s hand-beaded and sequin gowns on display on the upper level of Tootsies. They looked right at home with the mannequins
Before upstairs for the presentation, spotted around the ground level were Nancy Gopez’s supported by a metal cane after her hip surgery…while husband Ryan Rogers got her a glass of water, Maleiah Rogers laughed that instead of wrinkles, she had added pounds since last year. It must have been her purse that provided the added pounds because she looked picture perfect… Mary Kay VP Anne Crews was celebrating her 35 years with Mary Kay…WFAA’s Cynthia Izzaguire arriving just as guests like Joy and Nathan Moore, Paige Flink, Melissa Sherrill, Mike Lunceford, Jan Langebein, Amy Ridings, Annabelle Baxter, Margot Aliffi, Sheryl Adkins Green, Katy and Lawrence Bock and Dallas District Attorney Faith Johnson were moving upstairs for the raffle pull and the mystery box shopping spree.
Once upstairs, guests purchased the mystery boxes, checked out the Mary Kay gowns and continued to play catch up. Tootsies Store Manager Nerissa von Helpenstill, who was celebrating her 8th year at Tootsies, saying that the store’s fashions had taken a turn to be more contemporary in the past two years. Her trusty sidekick/Tootsies Sales Manager Dustin Holcomb was MIA. Seems he was on his way home from a Port Aransas vacation… Another missing male, who has been part of the event in the past was Crayton Webb, who left Mary Kay last September to head up Sunwest Communications. As for his MK duties, they were divvied up with Kirsten Gappelberg taking on his responsibilities as director of corporate social responsibility and sustainability and The Mary Kay Foundation and Kelly Medley being named director of corporate communications and public relations. Kirsten laughed that as much as Crayton was missed, they realized that the three letters following his new email Sunwest Communications address — CEO — made them know that he was indeed happy.
Once the presentation began, Ryan reminded the guests that the purpose of the gathering was to support his grandmother’s commitment to helping those escaping domestic violence. By creating the month-long Suits for Shelters program, it allows people to donate clothes for women trying to make a new life for themselves and their children.
Then the big moment of the evening took place. It was a raffle for the $5,000 donation for one of the shelters. The winner was Mary Kay staffer Kris Johnson, who had to make a Solomon-like decision of which organization would receive the donation. Her choice? The Family Place.