Mary Kay’s Enduring Commitment to Enriching Women’s Lives and Positive Social Impact

Originally published in Mary Kay's 2024 Sustainability Report

Mary Kay’s mission of enriching women’s lives as well as its approach to sustainability and corporate social responsibility exemplify what positive impact means for women and their families, local and global communities, and the next generation of STEM women leaders.

“I’ve often said that we are doing something far more important than just selling cosmetics; we are changing lives.”

Mary Kay Ash 

PINK CHANGING LIVES® 

The shape of our hearts 
Every day, Mary Kay makes a global commitment to improve the lives of women and their families. Through our Pink Changing Lives program, we empower women, transform lives, care for the planet, and inspire others. Pink Changing Lives is entirely funded by a portion of designated product sales in participating Mary Kay markets. Through Pink Changing Lives, Mary Kay supports women-related cancer research and programs, helps ending domestic violence, finding solutions to environmental issues, and fighting poverty around the world. In 2023, Mary Kay featured a limited-edition heart-shaped makeup brush through the program. Since 20008, the program has raised over $18 million.

SINCE 2008:

• 6 MILLION women and families positively impacted
• 3,250 partner organizations around the world
• $18 MILLION DONATED

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

When women advance, everyone wins 
In 2019, Mary Kay joined forces with six United Nations agencies to form the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA), a groundbreaking partnership with a commitment to alleviate barriers to women’s entrepreneurship. Since the launch, WEA has engaged 600,000+ women and 110+ partners in global and regional high-level events and programs. The Digital Innovation Challenge for Women Entrepreneurs asked women-owned and -led startups to create solutions in support of the UN’ SDGs. The contest received 250 submissions from 50 countries and held a pitch event during the Commission on Status of Women (CSW67). On International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, Mary Kay became a signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) in the Asia Pacific region. The WEPs provide a holistic framework for companies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community and drive positive outcomes for society and business. 

NEXT GEN 

Fostering the next generation of STEM women leaders 
Mary Kay is committed to providing higher education grants and STEM learning opportunities to build a robust pipeline of female talent in STEM focused fields. Since 2020, the company has awarded 29 grants totaling $195,000 to young women from over 13 countries. In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Mary Kay hosted a STEM Youth Summit at the Richard R. Rogers (R3) Manufacturing and R&D Center, our global facility in Texas. At Mary Kay, 63% of our R&D team are women. 

COMPANY SPONSORED FOUNDATIONS

Since 1996¹, Mary Kay and its four company sponsored foundations have contributed nearly $225 million in documented monetary and product donations to organizations fighting cancers affecting women, helping to end domestic violence, providing education for women and girls, protecting the planet, and so much more across the globe.

DID YOU KNOW?

In 2023, Mary Kay Ash was recognized by USA Today as one of the “100 Women of the Century” who have significantly impacted their communities and country.

¹_{While the company has provided philanthropic support to charitable causes for many decades, official documentation began in 1996 with the founding of the Mary Kay Ash Foundation® (U.S.)}