Who is Gloria Mayfield Banks?

Gloria Mayfield Banks is an Elite Executive National Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics. She holds this position with only four other women worldwide. She is the only African American to hold this position. She is a multi-millionaire with over $7 Million in commissions. She has earned 8 Pink Cadillacs and too many trips, jewelry, and other prizes to mention. She has earned 24 Gold Medals with the company. She started her Mary Kay career in 1988 to supplement her income. That decision has made such a huge difference in her life as well as the consultants and Sales Directors that work under her. Not to mention the customer base that has had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her and doing business with her.

Gloria was born in Detroit, Michigan. She now lives in Ellicot City, Maryland. She got her undergraduate degree from Howard University. She went on the get her MBA at Harvard University. Gloria spent 10 years working in Corporate America for companies such as IBM and Polaroid as sales reprentatives. She was the Assistant Director of Harvard Business School Admissions when she found the Mary Kay opportunity. She was introduced to Mary Kay through a friend. She had just gotten out of an abusive marriage with two small children and wanted to supplement her income. She decided to sign up to sell Mary Kay part time to make that extra money. Two years later she quit her full time job to sell Mary Kay full time. Her family thought she was crazy to leave her job to sell lipstick! Today her business has grown to over $24 million in retail sales with over 6,000 consultants and 6 National Sales Directors working under her. Her highest total commissions for one month so far has been $96,000. She has been able to put her children through college with zero debt.

Gloria is a regular on “The Big Idea” with Danny Deutsch as well as been featured in many publications such as PINK, Black Enterprise, Fortune, Glamour, Women Connect and Working Woman. She is a great example of a successful female black entrepreneur. She is the subject of a case study at Harvard Business School called the “Gloria Hilliard Mayfield at Mary Kay Cosmetics” case study. She travels the country speaking on self esteem, sales training, and motivation.

• Become a People Magnet –Be on purpose with drawing people to you. Look presentable, smile with your teeth showing, and be pleasant to talk to. Make other people want to be around you. Work on your appearance. Update your hair style, your makeup, your wardrobe and be outstanding.

• Make short term, clear, strategic goals backed by BIG thinking – Everyone has dreams. Most of them are BIG dreams. She suggests to start off by setting smaller more attainable goals. Make the goals visible by doing a daily to do list. Set the goals and knock them out one by one. Accomplishing these smaller goals that lead up to your BIGGER goals and dreams will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to continue on toward success.

• Create a powerful circle of influence – Surround yourself with positive and successful people. She says, “Show me your friends and I will show you your future.” Only take advice from those that you would be willing to trade places with. Do not keep friends or acquaintances that are negative and constantly complaining. It does nothing good for you to be around that. It only makes you negative and prevents you from accomplishing your goals.

• Continue to learn – Always be a student. Study books, study the internet, and study people.

• Work the numbers – It doesn't matter what your product is or what you are trying to sell. You have to put it out there to as many people as possible. If you get rejected, don't take it personal. They are rejecting the product, not you. Get out and try again. You have to continue to put your product out there to as many people as possible to get the best results.

Gloria Mayfield Banks is an inspiration for all women. She is so energetic and one of the best story tellers I have ever heard. I think that is part of her success as a speaker. She is hilarious and can have the whole entire room laughing at her in minutes. She still manages to get her point across and you remember it when she tells it. She doesn't hesitate to tell it like it is and will call you out immediately if you are not going down the right path. Her enthusiasm is contagious. As a Mary Kay consultant myself, I get my motivation from Gloria Mayfield Banks. Whenever I am down or not feeling like doing anything with my business, I put on a CD of Gloria. If you didn't already know Gloria Mayfield Banks, I am happy to introduce you to her. She is simply the best.

"Your attitude is everything. Find the joy in what you are doing and work hard to succeed in it."