North Potomac Resident Finds New Life, Career In Cosmetic Sales

Her pink Cadillac may be familiar to residents of North Potomac, but in addition to pink cars, Mary Kay Cosmetics has given Pam Klickna-Powell a long, enriched and very successful career in business.

Thirty-four years ago, Klickna-Powell was trying to make ends meet with the demands of motherhood and working as a school teacher. 

“In those days there was more month than money,” Klickna-Powell said.

Reluctant at first, but anxious to make extra money, Klickna-Powell began selling Mary Kay cosmetics on a part-time basis. “At the time, I didn’t even wear makeup…but I loved the product,” she said.

“One of the advantages is that I am selling a consumable product,” said Klickna-Powell. The client consumes the products and needs to replenish them. They may start with a cleanser but later need a mascara or maybe a sunscreen.

The average woman spends $1,800 per year on skin and body care, beauty needs, fragrances and such, said Klickna-Powell. It adds up.  

 “As a result, the pressure is not there to keep going out and finding new clients," she said. “You just have to take really good care of the ones you have.”

After only 18 months, Klickna-Powell quit her teaching job because she was making more money selling cosmetics than teaching. Thrilled with the flexibility of sales and the opportunity to work from home and be available to her family, she was able to “design her work around life’s priorities.”

Klickna-Powell has worked her way up the Mary Kay Cosmetics corporate ladder and achieved the elite position of national sales director. With 3,000 consultants in her charge all around the U.S., her region does $5 million to $6 million in sales a year. 

It did not take long to start earning a six figure income in sales, but even more gratifying to Klickna-Powell is serving as a “leader of leaders” by introducing new consultants to the Mary Kay business culture and training future sales directors and executives, she said.

Kirsten Aymer of Silver Spring was working as Arts Administrator for the Kennedy Center when she joined Mary Kay under the tutelage of Klickna-Powell.

“I see Pam as the CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation,” said Aymer. “Pam thrives because she is one of the most authentic leaders… she passes on her expertise and genuinely cares about you as a person. She leads by example.”

The sluggish economy has adversely affected many businesses, however, notes Klickna-Powell, the cosmetics industry is not typically affected by economic downturns. Last year her national region had a 13 percent increase in sales.

“In fact, if [cosmetics] are affected by a weak economy, it is generally on the positive side,” she said. “Let’s say a woman can’t afford to go out and buy a new wardrobe, but maybe she can buy a new lipstick….she feels good. It’s a ‘feel good’ but an inexpensive ‘feel good’.”  

The ‘feel good’ power of cosmetics, coupled with a product line in Mary Kay that is reasonably priced, makes for a successful sales force. One unexpected development of the weakened economy, said Klickna-Powell, is the number of calls from area women who heard that Mary Kay sells a good product at a good price, so they are shifting from the more high-end product lines to Mary Kay.

“Many people have lost their jobs…they don’t trust corporate America,” said Klickna-Powell. Mary Kay is attracting many women [for sales positions] with varied backgrounds and demographics, who are looking for stability. Some women are looking for supplemental income, some are interested in becoming their own boss, and others are looking for a job that is flexible and fun, she said.

Klickna-Powell became a teacher because she loves people and wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, but discovered that teaching was not as “family friendly” as she had hoped, she said. She is still pleasantly surprised at the turn her life took and she continues to love people and make a difference in their lives, only now it is from behind the wheel of a pink Cadillac.

“I am so blessed to have this career that I absolutely love…to live my life and not have to sacrifice. I can look back with no regrets,” she said.