Taylor Moore-Fehring, 27, grew up watching her mom earn a succession of pink Cadillacs as a top Mary Kay Inc. sales director.
"She has been with the company for 34 years, and she's won a Cadillac every two years. She has gotten 16 or 17," Moore-Fehring said.
The Richmond resident is following in the footsteps of her mother, Debi Moore, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., and is a senior national sales director for the cosmetics and skin-care company.
Moore-Fehring picked up her first pink Cadillac this week. Her sales unit of 130 people in 11 states had retail sales of more than $96,000 in six months.
That's a lot of TimeWise moisturizer, Satin Hands lotion and Ultimate Mascara -- three of Mary Kay's best-sellers.
"It's an amazing feeling. I grew up in a pink Cadillac," Moore-Fehring said. "This is my fourth earned car."
Mary Kay offers top earners a succession of jazzier cars as they reach sales targets, culminating in the trademark pink Cadillac.
Top earners get the use of the car for two years, or they can opt to get cash compensation instead.
Mary Kay bills itself as one of the largest direct sellers of skin care and cosmetics. Sales techniques include giving clients free facials and throwing skin-care parties offering customers a chance to try before they buy.
According to the Direct Selling Association, direct sales in the U.S. totaled more than $29.6 billion in 2008, down slightly from $30.8 billion in 2007. Last year's data are not available yet.
Home and family-care items, wellness products and personal-care items were the largest product groups, the association says.
Most direct selling was face to face (77 percent), while remote sales via phone, e-mail or the Internet accounted for more than 20 percent.
The majority of direct sellers work at it part time (91 percent), and most are female (86.4 percent).
Moore-Fehring, who started selling part time, left a corporate public-relations job four years ago to sell Mary Kay full time.
She moved to Richmond in June with her husband, Keith Fehring, a first-year medical resident at VCU Medical Center.
The car, she said, is kind of a "trophy on wheels."
"It's a symbol of all the women I have helped change their lives," Moore-Fehring said.
Nationally, about 1,600 Mary Kay high earners have pink Cadillacs, while an additional 4,400 have earned use of other vehicles in the career car program.
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or TLSmith@timesdispatch.com.
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