These Women Are Selling Mary Kay Makeup From Bomb Shelters In War Torn Ukraine

Jan 26, 2024, 12:49pm EST


Marichka Lukyanova has been selling Mary Kay cosmetics during the Ukraine-Russia war.
PROVIDED BY MARICHKA LUKYANOVA
As the country’s war with Russia rages on, thousands of Ukrainian women have turned to the multi-level marketing company’s pink-packaged offerings to support their families.

By Lauren Debter, Forbes Staff

In the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Marichka Lukyanova was inundated with messages from family and friends checking in to make sure she and her two children were safe from the air strikes in Lviv, where she lives. They were safe, luckily, but Lukyanova feared that her business selling Mary Kay cosmetics would be one of the casualties of war.

“I said to myself, Marichika, who will need your cosmetics if there is a war in your country?” recalled Lukyanova.

But one message surprised Lukyanova: Even in those early weeks of the war, one of her clients wanted to buy more Mary Kay facial cream before she ran out. “She did not want to age, even if rockets were flying overhead.”

American multi-level marketing company Mary Kay has shown surprising staying power during the war, with a growing Ukrainian salesforce of an estimated 70,000 women hawking its makeup, even if it means navigating frequent air siren alarms, shelling and blackouts. According to interviews with 16 people selling Mary Kay products on the ground, the cosmetics have become a lifeline for some looking to support their families or make extra money as Ukraine’s economy has suffered from the war.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurendebter/2024/01/26/these-women-are-selling-mary-kay-makeup-from-bomb-shelters-in-war-torn-ukraine/?sh=4729eea85cc1
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