Real Salesmen Go for the Pink

HOUSTON —  Craig Hogan is in the pink.

He was so good at selling Mary Kay Cosmetics that he became the first man to earn a Cadillac in the company’s trademark shade.

“I love this car!” he said. His license plate reads “1ST MAN.”

“Rides like a cloud. People honk and wave and give me the thumbs-up,” Hogan said.

Of Mary Kay’s 250,000 consultants worldwide, only 1% are men. Hogan signed up in December, 1990. In the first month, he sold more than $13,000 worth of products. This year, he expects to earn $90,000.

“It was worth every night and weekend I worked late,” said Hogan, who lives in Houston.

Mary Kay unit directors such as Hogan earn the use of a pink Cadillac for taking a minimum of $95,000 in wholesale orders in six months. The cars are not given to employees. They are used as company cars.

Hogan, 32, has recruited 60 women for the company, including his mother and sister.

“I get a very strange reaction from men,” he said. “They’ve just never seen someone like me who works in a woman’s company and drives a pink car.”