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Made Up in Mary Kay

On the door of Dunster C-43 hangs a small pink business card for Mary Kay cosmetics--perhaps a unique sight at Harvard.

Inside is Aisha C. Haynie '00, who hung a yellow flyer on her door last week inviting friends and neighbors to drop by: "Please join me for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the debut of my new business."

The Store Next Door

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Over the summer, Haynie decided to join Mary Kay's fleet of 500,000 consultants. The company, founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963 claims it is the best-selling cosmetic brand in the nation and nets more than $2 billion annually in retail sales.

So how does a Harvard student become a Mary Kay representative?

It all began one August day in North Carolina. Haynie was in her hometown, shooting the breeze at her hairdresser's. It turned out that two of the stylists there sold Mary Kay cosmetics, and her own stylist was a faithful customer.

Haynie was intrigued, especially when she discovered the company carried makeup shades for women of color--something she hadn't been aware of.

"I had never worn Mary Kay--I had never thought about Mary Kay," she says. "But I was always interested in cosmetics."

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