Largo Breast Cancer Survivor Named Cover Model For Avon Campaign

LARGO, FL – For the first time in Avon’s 130-year history, it used photos of real-life Avon representatives in its catalog instead of professional models.

And one of those faces gracing the Avon catalog cover may be very familiar to Largo residents.

Whitney Beane of Largo is among the women featured in the Avon catalog that launched Aug. 21.

It wasn’t Beane's natural beauty that landed her the coveted cover in the new Avon campaign, however.

It was her story.

The 34-year-old grew up in the Largo area, graduating from Largo High School in 2002.

Her grandmother, Janie Beane, ran the well-known Janie Beane Florist for 45 years. Beane has no doubt she inherited her grandmother’s natural talent for sales and entrepreneurship.

Beane was forging a successful career in corporate sales when she received the news every woman dreads.

She had breast cancer.

The subsequent cancer protocol, doctor's visits and treatment side effects made it problematic for Beane to work in a 9-to-5 environment.

“With the medical challenges I’ve had to overcome, it was difficult to maintain a regular job,” she said.

So, she began exploring careers that offered more flexible hours yet allowed her to continue paying her bills. She’d long used Avon products and decided to look into becoming an Avon representative.

That was 21 months ago. Since then, she hasn’t looked back.

“Avon assigned a mentor to me and she was there for whatever I needed,” said Beane. “I worked day and night on my business, and the more I put into it, the more I got out of it.”

In a matter of months, Beane went from her position as a novice representative to being named a Gold Ambassador, one of Avon’s 12 levels of leadership given for outstanding sales.

“The hard work started paying off right away,” she said. “I earned an all-inclusive trip to the Bahamas in my first six months with Avon.”

She proved just as adept at recruiting Avon representatives as she was at selling Avon’s products.

She is now an Avon team leader, recruiting, training and mentoring a team of 32 women.

“For me, being successful was about removing the distractions and the negativity in my life, and focusing on my goal,” she said. “I needed to generate an income I could survive on.”

But she discovered that the benefits extended far beyond earning a living.

It’s allowed her to forge friendships with like-minded women. She views her sales team as more of a sisterhood in which the members not only support one another’s achievements but have become close friends.

Additionally, Avon has long been dedicated to women’s charities through the Avon Foundation for Women so the company offered its full support for Beane’s charitable work with the American Cancer Society and the national Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk.

This year, Beane’s entire team will join her Oct. 20 for the 60-mile Making Strides Pinellas Walk at Vinoy Park.

“We’re the Avon Ambitious Angels,” she said.

While Beane has always believed hard work and dedication has its rewards, she said she never expected Avon to approach her to take part in the national cover model campaign.

“I was beyond ecstatic,” she said. “They sent me to New York and I was able to pick the brains of so many wonderful leaders. The things I learned and the relationships I developed were priceless.”

Also priceless was the reaction of her fiancé, Roy Trout Jr., when he saw her photo gracing the cover of the Avon catalog.

“He was speechless,” she said. “He didn’t know what to say.”

Beane said she’s proof that a breast cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to be an ending. It can lead in new directions.

“If you truly want something to happen, you have to be willing to make it happen,” Beane said. “With the opportunities that Avon offers, the sky’s the limit.”

Beane can be reached through her Avon website.

Images via Avon

Whitney Beane is pictured on the right in the cover photo.

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