Written by Frosty Rose

Kelly Brock is an infamous former top director turned “life coach,” who has been peddling her podcast, retreats, masterminds, and coaching services since leaving Mary Kay in 2020. She made a very interesting post on Instagram recently.

“No one can explain the disbelief you feel when you realize you are in a cult disguised as a business.”

A cult. Designed as a business.

Could she possibly be referring to her years in Mary Kay? The years that nearly destroyed her marriage? When she was making six figures but barely able to scrape together any semblance of an emergency savings account?

Well, let’s see. Does Mary Kay stand up to the definition of a cult? I’m not sure, but these pictures might give you a few ideas. If the uniforms…. uh, I mean director suits… don’t start giving you a culty feel, maybe wearing weird matching outfits on a routine basis might?

But nothing truly says “cult” like a life-sized cutout of your deceased cult founder at the doorway to your Mary Kay event.

If pictures aren’t enough to convince you, maybe we can evaluate this article that contains 10 warning signs of a cult. Let’s break it down point by point.

1. Absolute authoritarianism without accountability. That tracks. Never question or you’re being negative. Mary Kay (and by extension, all leadership of the company) always have the best interest of the sales force at heart, and all evidence to the contrary be damned.
2. Zero tolerance for criticism or questions. Yep. No negativity. Questions are negativity. Ideas for how to improve anything the company does are also negativity. Beware, lest you be stuck in the corner of your weekly meeting holding a skunk for your “Stinkin’ Thinkin’.”
3. Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding the budget. Just try to ask corporate the source of their riches. Their only source of revenue is the “wholesale” sale of products to independent consultants. But if you ever hint that MK is getting rich on the backs of consultants, oh the wrath thou shalt incur!
4. Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions. Less obvious, but still present. Evidenced by “information diets” that you put your mom, husband, and best friends on so they can’t infect you with their negativity about your business. Friends who don’t purchase from you? They must be out to get you! They just don’t support your entrepreneurial vision! “Wrinkles to them!”
5. A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave. Take your pick of any given Friday Critic. Or listen for 30 seconds to any of the contributors here who lost all their “friends and mentors” from inside MK when they quit.
6. Abuse of members. Holding skunks at meetings, public chastising for not wearing the right clothes, not to mention the very real financial abuse that has resulted in countless women maxing out credit cards, losing homes, declaring bankruptcy, and even losing marriages. I would say we can put a big fat check mark next to this one.
7. Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group. Mary Kay is exceptionally effective at squashing negative press, both through cult tactics explained here and through litigation. Despite this, we have nearly 20 years of daily articles on this very site, and a cursory search of Reddit’s r/antimlm reveals dozens of stories of how awful Mary Kay is for consultants, their families, and even their customers.
8. Followers feeling that they are never able to be “good enough.” Wow, my anxiety spikes just reading those words, and I’m sure I’m not alone. We were told, we were promised, that if we just worked the system, it would work. Look at any of the women on stage celebrating their successes and tell yourself, “She doesn’t have anything that I don’t have or can’t get fixed.” Death by a thousand comparisons, an emphasis on personal responsibility, and quippy sayings that short-circuit your logical brain all combine to create a worldview that never allows you to be good enough.
9. A belief that the leader is right at all times. Simply read the responses from the majority of directors when corporate unveils the newest scheme to make the sales force obsolete. “But they have our best interests at heart!” they bleat. All evidence to the contrary is ignored or squashed. When updates don’t work as they should (I’m looking at you, InTouch!), corporate is doing their very best and it just takes time to work out the kinks.
10. A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation. “Mary Kay is the best opportunity on the planet for women!” If you’re not running a Mary Kay business, you’re doing life wrong. Endless criticism of having a J.O.B. Actively digging for women’s discontentment during recruitment to fill the void with something only the Mary Kay opportunity can provide. Yep again!

Well, that’s 10 out of 10 warning signs of cults that fit the Mary Kay flopportunity. Maybe Kelly, after all her attempts to find her authentic voice, has finally stumbled upon the truth!

Leaving Mary Kay, like leaving any cult, is painful. It’s expensive. And it threatens a person’s very definition of who they are. But it’s so worth it!

Look, you don’t have to continue showing up to mandatory fun where you shell out hundreds to buy matchy-matchy outfits that you’ll only ever wear once. You don’t have to pay thousands to go to events or pay for coaching to tell you that you just don’t quite measure up—but you can fix everything for the low-low price of your soul! You can stop buying tee-shirts with the over made-up face of a long-dead con artist on them. You don’t need to have your picture taken by her cardboard cutout or inside her bathtub.

This New Year, I give you this gift. Find a quiet place where you can sit by yourself, where you feel like yourself. Could be the local library, your favorite coffee shop (NOT the one where you interview potential victims), or even your own bed. Grab a notebook and your favorite pen. Take three deep breaths and write down what you want your life to look like. Not what Mary Kay or your national say you should want. What do you want? Is it financial abundance? More time with your family? Stability? Peace? Something else? Only you can decide this.

Then, ask yourself, truly, is Mary Kay giving you any of that? Or is it simply giving you the hope of some of those things? How long have you been clinging to that hope?

When I did this, it was really hard to be honest with myself. And it was a process. I wanted to be a good mom. I wanted a career that was just my own, and a place where I didn’t have to be defined as someone’s wife or mother. I wanted enough money to be able to make choices for my family—vacations, education, housing—that would bring peace.

I joined Mary Kay to access those things. But when I was honest with myself, every step I took into this abomination of a company took me further away from those goals. I was constantly stressed, constantly working (or feeling guilty because I should have been working), constantly short on cash.

The hope that this company offers is false, and it will cost you dearly to continue clinging to it. Take my advice, and let go.