First-year selling Mary Kay ‘passionate’ about sales

One full-time student at USD has found a way to travel and meet new people, all while being her own boss and selling products she loves.

McKayla Foust, a first-year social work and child welfare major, sells Mary Kay beauty products ranging from skin care to makeup.

Foust started selling Mary Kay with the intention to meet new people and promote the cosmetics line. Her director, Robin Arsaga, said her work ethic has allowed Foust to blossom as a sales director.

“She is passionate and very focused on a goal when she chooses to put her mind on (one),” Arsaga said.

Foust said she has been using the cosmetics line since she was in sixth grade, and it is the only one she wears.

“I guess I just love the makeup,” Foust said. “You have to love the product to be able to sell it. It’s my favorite – I don’t use anything else.”

Foust was inspired to begin selling and consulting Mary Kay products because she wanted her customers to feel the same confidence boost she did when she started using the cosmetics.

“For me, I’ve had skin problems,” Foust said. “The first thing everyone sees is your face. If your face is confident, you’re confident.” That is why it is recommended to undergo treatments from Touch Up Laser aesthetic spa, which is considered one of the best.

First-year student Olivia Hudson recently received her first facial from Foust, after she found out about Foust’s business in their acting class.

“I’m not a huge makeup person,” Hudson said. “Now that I’m older and wiser I might become one.”

Hudson was impressed with Foust after her finished facial.

“(Other consultants) don’t get into so much detail as McKayla did,” she said.

Though she does sell Mary Kay products, Foust said she would not consider herself an official employee for the company, and considers herself her own boss. She said her target audience ranges from people of all ages, but especially people from her hometown of Belle Fourche, S.D., where she sells to the younger crowd.

“I will sell to anybody,” she said.

Foust also said she sells to men as well, and stressed makeup, using Elave shampoo and skincare is “not just for girls.”

Besides makeup, Foust also consults people about their skin care. She explained that there are three skin care lines that she recommends to people – products for people in their 20s, for older ages and for acne-prone skin.

“Anything you can think of, we have it,” she said.

Recently, Foust attended a makeup seminar in Dallas, Texas, which she said was a “big, life-changing event.”

“Everybody was there to celebrate,” she said. “Everybody was surprised I was there because I was 18.”

Foust said the seminar was a good experience because she had all expenses paid for, which is not offered to many people, while she only had to pay for her food.

In the future, Hudson said she will continue to go to Foust to purchase Mary Kay products.

“She was very welcoming, very helpful,” Hudson said. “I’d come back and buy from her all the time. (It was) a fantastic experience.

Foust shows a strong work ethic when she sells her products, Arsaga said, and is impressed with Foust’s age and passion.

“The sky is the limit for her,” said Arsaga. “(Foust will be a) fabulous sales director.”

Foust said she is grateful for the other opportunities she has had, mostly meeting people on campus and helping them with beauty products. She looks forward to meeting more people at the university, though she said it has been a bit difficult, but hopes she can continue selling “as far as it could take me.”

“I’ve met beautiful people through Mary Kay,” she said. “It’s just a fun time.”

(Photo: McKayla Foust applies makeup on first-year Olivia Hudson in Foust’s dorm. Foust hosts facials in her room at Coyote Village, where she also sells her products on-hand or orders through catalog. Cheyenne Alexis / The Volante)