Mary Kay National Sales Directors Failing at an Alarming Rate
If you follow along at Pink Truth, even occasionally, you know that Mary Kay has been in a huge slide in the United States for more than a decade. The number of consultants continues to go down, and the number of sales directors goes down too. Back in 2006 when we started Pink Truth, there were 14,000 directors. By 2017, there were about 10,000 directors. Mary Kay won’t confirm, for obvious reasons, but it appears there are around 8,000 sales directors today in the U.S.
There used to be a few hundred national sales directors, but currently there are only 122. But what’s even more stunning than the lower number of nationals is the low amount they’re earning.
Mary Kay’s revenue peaked at $4 billion in 2014, but as of 2024, they report revenue of $2.5 billion. This MLM business model is finally failing for Mary Kay, and there is little hope of bringing it back.
Years ago, Mary Kay made a great decision when they stopped publishing all nsd monthly commission checks, and instead started publishing only those that were $10,000 or more. Frankly, it was embarrassing for the company to show such small earnings for the women who were at the top of the pyramid.
Well check out the latest numbers for October 2025. Mary Kay has consolidated everyone into 3 seminar divisions. Scroll to the bottom of this article to see the names and the amounts, but here is the summary:
- Sapphire – 15 checks ranging from $10,028 to $30,121
- Emerald – 11 checks ranging from $12,376 to $46,588
- Diamond – 18 checks ranging from $10,150 to $45,174
You read that right. A total of 44 national sales directors had checks of $10,000 or more. If there are 122 nsds, that’s 36% of them making $10,000 or more (before business expenses). The other 64% of national sales directors… the top of the top in Mary Kay…. are making less than $10,000 per month.
Back in 2020, there were an estimated 225 nsds, and about 104 (or 46%) were making $10,000 or more per month.
Wow. Where did the “executive income” go? And how long can this pyramid scheme continue to stay afloat?
Visit the
None of Ali’s Carta’s lineage. So many names not there.
The company allowed them to lead as royalty with no discipline themselves. Corp did not create leaders. They created influencers who look the part so we’d all want that position too (and pay for it), but they have no idea how to really do what they tell consultants to do. I remember when I signed up I was told once you’re a director you don’t have to do as much consultant work (fat lie), and when you’re a national you just manage your area (clearly another fat lie). The company allowed this to happen. I always wondered why nationals didn’t have expectations to meet. That at least keeps them in the game with the directors they lead. They became out of touch, and they possibly have no retirement. Maybe this was part of corporates plan all along? Now they don’t have to pay them?
Crystal Trojanowski is one of the most beautiful and fun people I’ve ever met. She seemed way too normal for Mary Kay so maybe she’s letting hers die off. Lia has a whole homeschool curriculum she’s been writing for years. Not sure what Brittany and Lily are doing. I do know Brittany practically lived out of her car when she was traveling building her area. So much time invested and lost. Maybe they’ll join us here one day.
Lia carta. Autocorrect
They’re freaks. ALL OF THEM. If you’re a lifer in a scheme like this and you perpetuate the lies, that makes you a freak and not a nice person.
I just go back to myself when I was in. I wasn’t evil or bad. I definitely allowed deceptive things and was at the point of desperation many times to allow someone to buy an inventory that I know they didn’t need. I’m sure people called me names. I’ve never searched here to see if there’s anything written about me and I never will. MK was my only option to be home with my daughters. Thankfully things have changed. I know some who are downright deceptive and will never see differently. I know some who are trapped like I was. We know it would take a supernatural courage to step down from national position. Amie Gamboian is the only one I know of. I’d imagine some of these people are fighting an inward battle we’ll never understand. They got so many women to become directors so they could be nationals in MK’s early ‘00 peek, and it’s all crumbling. That’s heavy.
*thankfully things have changed for me.
All nationals and directors reading this: God blesses radical obedience. Walk away in faith.
Completely agree – I genuinely believe most are seeking some level of fulfillment whether social, financial, etc. and are stuck in a hope cycle. Somehow, people to believe that whatever change they’re looking for in their life can only come from this. And of course there are some people who are juts greedy and don’t have a care in the world about getting what they want, no matter what it might cost someone else.
KeepItSaltySweetie and Lolo, I have to disagree. I don’t know how long you each were in MK or how long you’ve been out of it, but my basic belief is MK, MLMs – they’re addictions. They fulfill an inner need that a person isn’t finding in their lives through a different avenue. Addiction is addiction. The little old lady you would say never had a cross thought may be addicted to worrying. I’m going to speak from a position of faith because that’s where I operate from, please know I have no desire to offend. But I know addiction from in me and around me, and the unfulfillment and gnawing NEED for a reason to be, and a reason to believe in a brighter ANYTHING – that’s what feeds our unhealthy crutches.
I am 60 and started mental health regimens with our family counseling when I was 9 or 10. I was struggling to read my high school sister’s psychology book “Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am” in fifth grade because the abuse from our middle sister had crushed me so badly I had no identity and the title mystified me beyond belief. I couldn’t POSSIBLY understand it, and I didn’t, but I had/have an insatiable curiosity and I needed to know why someone wrote a book with such a stupid title. By the time I was 14, I understood it.
I hear in your writings the many facets of denial, from the perspective of the addict, from the perspective of the co-dependent of the addict. I am NOT saying anyone is evil or did irredeemably dishonest things, but you truly never did any of the manipulation and deception that you read here the other directors and consultants did, and continue to do? Having a justification for doing it, like needing to pay for the rent, and the daycare, and every other thing, that doesn’t make it less wrong than what the other MK members are doing and have done. Their reasons for defrauding their innocent recruits are as valid, and stomach churning, to them as yours have been for you.
I feel I’m being cruel but I KNOW that denial of my own actions while in one round of addiction to A, B or C, may have kept me from doing A, B or C, but was I rolling full steam ahead into Addiction D, which ultimately will lead to all the harm of A, B, C and D’s wrongdoings to come crashing down like a neverending waterfall. It’s horrific. It’s horrific, and unending, because it’s hard to harm those you don’t love or care about. It’s like you can’t betray an enemy. They didn’t trust you to begin with. My victims fill my heart and memory.
It’s a fragile time, coming out of a brainwashing, which is what any addiction is. You believe a thing or place or XYZ is THE ANSWER. And it’s tragic when you face the truth that it was a seductive highway straight to hell. Finally being unable to escape facing up to who I am, have been, the damage I have done to me, my life, and soooo many beloveds.
I worked in office administration positions from 20 to 47, worked babysitting and in factories and restaurants from early teens till I decided I HATED manual labor and learned office skills. But my sad little mountain of accomplishments was nothing but sand, sand, sand. And when the wave took EVERYTHING away – all family relations but one, our clowder of cats……we don’t have kids. We literally were living at 47 and 56 on the street. Midnight on the sidewalk in a Florida resort town, the view was the uber rich condos and high rises rounding the ocean. I never dreamed a sidewalk COULD BE SO HOT AT MIDNIGHT. It was June. We got evicted, sheriff changing the locks, May 31.
My husband had drank and used drugs from age 15 until he got sober FOR REAL in a six month stint in jail where I had no spare money for commissary, no phone call money. He lost 50 pounds in five months. For two months, he didn’t even have a public defender cause they had to remove the original one for conflict of interest, and they never replaced her. They didn’t know he didn’t have one till I called to ask who would be going to court with him on Monday and the woman at the PD office said “he has court Monday?”.
He had been sober since 2012. Over a year before that pretend rock proved to be two lifetimes of sand. He was genuinely sober. And a changed man. I THANK YOU, GOD, FOR THE WOMAN WHO RAISED MY HUSBAND.
I tell WHOEVER is bored enough to read this I guess, I lay it all out because God HAS promised me, since I was a suicidal 15 year old, that if I would just have faith, He would answer my demand that AT LEAST LET ALL THIS AGONY MEAN SOMETHING TO SOMEONE SOMEDAY. I was suicidal out of fear of the future. I wasn’t wrong. But God has never failed me.
I see leaving MK as a very critical time in the life of one who gave her heart and soul to the devil that was mary kay. And I mean that. She was a vicious, selfish, wicked person and it’s good I’m not God cause He forgives whereas I do not when it comes to those who exploit the vulnerable, trusting and faithful hearts of those who just WANT SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR, SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN, TO MATTER.
The 12 Steps are not to be feared, they are a map to sanity for those of us who were not blessed enough to know that map. My nephews, they all knew that map and they all followed it and fulfilled their goals. I didn’t even know what a goal or a boundary was or meant until far, far too late in life.
The biggest one that everyone hates is the 4th Step. To me it’s not even so much confessing to another the wrongs I have done. It’s been ADMITTING IT TO ME.
And I will definitely leave with my truest wish for every entity, present, past and future – May Your Life Be Filled With Unending Joy & Wonder, Every Day Of Your Life.
I forgot to mention what I find EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. I say God Forgives but I do not. That’s a smartass remark I hold onto when wounded, and it’s MY BURDEN TO GET RID OF. I am wrong in every way to grasp unforgiveness and not let go. Forgiveness is mandatory to heal. Being unforgiving is me swallowing poison while i wait for the bad person to die. Not gonna happen. My soul is seething and poisoned and I am rotting inside but that bad person is just fine. I, however, am absolutely no good to anyone in this toxic, self-inflicted state. Indeed. Another addiction.
I do know the joy of being a forgiving person, I truly do, and AM. I just get so angry at those who are fueled by satan into deriving great joy, pleasure and satisfaction in destroying all that is beautiful and glorious in this world, that as a human I fall so easily right into that same vile trap. It is enraging to see the “glam” sickening NSDs….I will stop because if I get started, I will only poison myself even more. Truly, truly, much love and peace to anyone who reads this.
I actually don’t disagree. I guess I’m saying some of us weren’t that strong to not dive in and have faith. I know there are people like lolo said who will do what they have to do to get what they want. Then there’s the other category of the rest of us. I was in 9 years. My last 4 were discovering what I was really doing and trying to run an ethical mk business and seeing it wasn’t possible. I know every trauma that put me there. That’s why I’m gentle with some people still in.
Lia has a whole homeschool curriculum she’s been writing for years.
That has me shuddering. What kind of training in education does she have to facilitate such an undertaking. So are so many bad curricula out there written by (mainly) women who are desperate to push their agenda wrt education. I dread to think if Lia is going to be show-casing Mary Kay as an example or her accounting methods in math.
It’s actually good from what I’ve seen of it. No MK in sight. That’s what makes me think they all have a foot out the door. Back up plans in place. And for now, MK is still a free paycheck
I could be way off. These are just observations over the years. If someone still posts about it, ick. If they don’t, I have hope for them and pray hard.
There are NO free paychecks with mk.
Free paycheck as in they do nothing but money still rolls in. Jordan Eicher doesn’t touch her business but still gets a director check.
Looks like the company is dead. It’s not even on life support. Victory to Tracey for helping end this woman hating pyramid scheme.
I take no credit for this. In 2006 when I started the site, I was accused of trying to “take down” MK. That was never the goal. I only wanted to educate consumers so if they were thinking of signing up and did research first, they could find out the real truth.
Honestly, I think MK can hang on for 5 to 10 years still. It’s still a cash cow for Ryan Rogers and family, so it’s in their interest to keep it hanging on as long as possible.
He’s got to wait until Daddy is gone.
At least he seems to want to switch to an affiliate and retail model. Keeping directors in jackets is costing the company more than they’re worth. They’re not getting enough people to frontload inventory to pay for it. Also, it sounds like the FTC has been giving them the side-eye and they have to prove sales to real customers.
I still feel that Ryan’s goal is to try and maintain what value there is in the brand in order to sell it to a large corporation, but based on what I’ve read here that probably won’t happen until his father passes away.
But who would they sell to? No real cosmetics company wants this dog of a business model. It’s been a cash cow for years. MLM is incredibly profitable for the owners. But it’s on a steep decline. No one wants to buy a company with mediocre products that is on life support.
I wouldn’t say they are dead but a nearly 40% drop in sales over the past 10 years instead of any growth is beyond sad. MLM never made sense but the Internet had made it make even less sense.
What an eye opening list!
I believe Karen Ridle was the last US NSD to debut – in 2023!
I wonder how many of these directors are under the old rules, where they have no commission or downline requirements to keep the title.
Jamie Taylor is under the new rules, and luckily is earning more than 100K in commissions. If she wasn’t, she’d lose her title because she doesn’t have the needed # of downline directors.
There hasn’t been a new NSD since 2023?!
Nope!
Jamie’s earning enough. For now. I think it’s a monthly struggle for her, though.
And I bet she takes her frustrations out on her kids.
Also, you know one of the 122 NSD’s has to know they are the bottom earning NSD on the list. I wonder what their YTD earnings are. Can the NSD’s see everyone’s rank?
Where did you get the October figures from? Applause? Can you share the link?
I don’t have a link. Mary Kay started hiding these numbers from us (i.e. removing them from Applause) several years ago because they got tired of me publishing them. So I got these numbers from a current consultant.
Is there anyway to see the numbers for the entire year (as in each individual month) of 2025, thus far?
Ah. Holli Lowe’s toilet pics haven’t earned her any commission.
Leah Lauchlan..? I see Julia Burnett’s name.
I’m not surprised the Hispanic group is doing well. They really stick together.
Mind blown that Kimberly Copeland is doing so well. If that lady ever debuts, she’ll plummet.
The pay gap between #1 and #2 in emerald is bonkers.
All these talking about retirement lately are not on here. Retirement will be slim.
The sad part is there are many consultants who would see this information and think that the ones making the most just worked harder or that they will be the exception and can make it to the “top” too. I imagine the top 5 of each were the same or similar month over month but it would be interesting to see a recap of how many NSDs consistently made over $10k per month in a cal year.
Don’t NSDs have to pay their expenses from those commission checks? I imagine they have LOTS of expenses.
I’m wondering that too. $10K commission check, but the director paid $8K to keep the status.
PLUS shipping..PLUS discounts on the expired inventory on her shelf.
How will all of this change when amazon starts selling product , and not the consultant?
Will be interesting to see.
I take it those amounts are pre-tax.
Granted I’m in a VHCOL area, but I really thought with all the hustling and traveling they do that the NSDs that we read so much about were making more than $13-14k/month. Jamie T at $11,050? Again, I’m in a high cost of living area, but that’s not even people leader money.
Pretty lame, considering. Of course they get the car lease and the trips and all that…unless those “perks” are included as part of their income under “bonuses”.
Not only is is pre-tax, it’s BEFORE BUSINESS EXPENSES. There are so many expenses that are paid out of those commissions even before getting to the taxes. And don’t forget the health insurance Jamie has to pay for her family. And she’s the only income, since her husband can’t decide if he wants to be a country singer, car detailer, pastor, or lawyer. (Isn’t it about time he drops out of law school for the new dream he has always had?)
It costs a lot of money to “look” rich.
These numbers, other than the “tippy top” swindlers, are pathetic. There is nothing in there for executive income.
MK huns and other MLMs give nursing a bad rap all. the. time.
You work too hard/too many hours.
Your pay is awful (that one can be true at times).
Let me con you into X MLM and you can make executive income with part-time work (HAHAHAHA!).
Gallop polling has found nursing as the number one must trusted profession for the greater part of 30 years. (Congress and car salesmen are at the bottom.) People NEED nurses, and with our aging population, we aren’t going anywhere. Yes, our roles are changing a bit thanks to technology, yet there will always be patients to care for.
When I did travel nursing, I made incredible money (~$2800 per week after taxes and expenses). I’m now a clinical nurse specialist (an advanced practice nursing role) at a military hospital, and I make WAY more than most of these NSDs listed on these charts. (Here is my pay table. This is public information. I’m a GS12. Pay will vary by location. https://wageandsalary.dcpas.osd.mil/Content/AF%20Schedules/special-sch/2025/D315_25.pdf ). My patients love me. The docs and providers are happy that I’m part of the care team since they value my role and the impact I make. I work about 40 hours a week, and I can leave work at work. I have a pension and retirement, paid time off, paid sick, licensing and credentialing reimbursement, paid official travel, and more. To the NSDs and tippy top directors out there reading this, do you? Do you make the income I do as a lowly RN/CNS?