307Z Fall 2026 Fall for the Book: The True Tale of Mary Kay and the Rise of MLM Empires

You’ve seen the pink cars, you’ve met the consultants, and you’ve purchased the pink products. Now learn the fascinating rags-to-riches tale of Mary Kay Ash, the beauty business mogul who revolutionized direct selling. In Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, Mary Lisa Gavenas draws on fifteen years of research to examine the dutiful daughter born in Depression-era Texas who built a powerhouse business growing from a 500-square-foot storefront to an empire of 3.5 million representatives in over 35 countries. Lit Hub calls Selling Opportunity “Ever gripping, wry, and immersive, this biography is for the many readers who love the specific cultural histories that reveal the grander truths of our time.”

Mary Lisa Gavenas, author of Color Stories: Behind the Scenes of America’s Billion-Dollar Beauty Industry, was named a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography and has been cited as an expert commentator on female entrepreneurship. She is a former senior editor at Glamour and department head at InStyle.