Short Hills Hilton

For Mary Lord, Success is in Her Makeup

Mary Lord found her dream job in an unexpected place: a cosmetic bag.

The Chatham business woman and busy mom was honored Monday evening at the Short Hills Hilton for her recent promotion from independent beauty consultant to director with Mary Kay.

The successful saleswoman began her journey in the beauty business almost by accident.

A former global account manager who had ventured as far as Amsterdam and Asia during the 16 years in her previous career, Lord said after getting married at 38 and "being blessed with three cherubs," she couldn't bear to return to corporate America.

"Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does bring choices," said Lord, who was open to the possibility of finding a job that offered flexbility and bit of extra income.

"My friend was an independent beauty consultant and asked me be a model for training at the Mary Kay training session," she said. "I went and fell in love with the products. I always used high-end products and was surprised at how Mary Kay made my face feel, and was shocked at the reasonable price point."

Building a Foundation

Lord said her curiosity was piqued at the thought of having a fun and flexible part-time job, but she also appreciated the way the women seemed to be having such a good time while being so supportive of one another.

"It seemed like a cult at first," she said, making one of many statements obviously intended to make the audience laugh. "I was wondering, what's in that pink lemonade?"

After going for an interview, Lord received a call from sales director Deb Robina, who asked her what her time schedule looked like.

"I was thinking, I was planning to put James down for a nap, nurse Caroline, give her a bath and then I had a date with my new BFF Oprah," Lord said, joking.

The effervescent entrepreneur began her business as all indepedendent consultants do: with a $100 starter kit and unlimited potential.

Lord admits she had to get past her initial ambivalence about "selling lipstick," but once she did, she tapped into her new social network: Her children's friends' moms.

"I thought, I'll do this for one year and quit before my New York City friends find out," she said, laughing again. "I started my business in 2005, and worked in my spare time three to five hours a week. As my children grew, so did my business and I worked 10 to 15 hours a week.

Op-Ed: Letter of Thanks - Millburn-Short Hills, NJ Patch

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the Millburn-Short Hills Chamber of Commerce, I would like to offer sincere thanks to the many Township departments, community groups and individuals for helping to make the Investors Savings Bank 32nd Annual President’s Cup Night Race, held on Monday, June 20th such an overwhelming success.  More than 1,300 runners from the tri-state area and beyond registered for this year’s 5k run, making it one of the largest field of runners in the race’s 32 year history.

The success of this type of event is truly dependent on the participation and cooperation of so many within the Township. Thank you to the Millburn Township Police Traffic Department, under the leadership of Sergeant Dave Bonney. They did an outstanding job of traffic control, ensuring the safety of both the runners and the many spectators along the race route. Thanks to Anthony Boffa and his crew at the Department of Public Works and to the staff at Charlie Brown’s Restaurant who did a tremendous job with cleanup so that by Tuesday morning the downtown once again was spotless.  Thank you to Mayor Haimoff and the Millburn Township Committee and Administration for its ongoing support of this event, which has become one of the most outstanding 5k races in the state.

As always, a very special thanks to Mike Conforti, Dean Shonts, and the outstanding staff at The Sneaker Factory.  They are responsible for the behind the scenes organization that takes place for almost a year prior to the race and the weeks leading up to the exciting day.  It is their expertise that has nurtured this race and enabled it to become one of the best managed 5K races in the region.

Thanks to the Millburn-Short Hills Chapter of the American Red Cross for coordinating the much needed Town Hall water stop for runners and to the First Aid Squad who made first aid assistance available.

A sincere thank you to Claudia and Michael Karp of Weichert Realtors and to  Joanne Tedesco-Kloud and her volunteers from Weichert for manning the High School water stop.  Another special thanks to Millburn High School for allowing us to run on school property and for providing the necessary equipment. In addition, we thank Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse for allowing us to use their parking lot for race registration and sponsor area.

The Chamber of Commerce would like to offer a special thank you to Investors Savings Bank for serving as the event’s major corporate sponsor and for providing enthusiastic volunteer assistance throughout the evening.  Millburn Branch Manager Donald O’Dea and his team distributed tee shirts and helped with many other event logistics.  Another thanks to The Mall at Short Hills which was, once again, a major event sponsor.

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