Cookie Lee came of age when women started showing up in executive offices and boardrooms,and when some started giving it all up to stay home with their kids.
“Women today have done the corporate ladder,” she said. “Now they want to spend time at home.”
That’s what Lee wanted to do. And that’s what her Irvine-based Cookie Lee Inc. does for other moms.
The jewelry company, which works on the home party, direct sales model used by Mary Kay Holding Corp. and Tupperware Brands Corp., has grown from one salesperson in 1992 to 35,000 today.
Lee was one of five women honored at the Business Journal’s 12th annual Women in Business awards luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Irvine on May 25.
It started as a hobby when Lee said she took a beading and jewelry making class with an eye toward making some part-time money.
After earning a business master’s at Northwestern University in 1982, Lee held marketing positions with Johnson & Johnson, Revlon Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc.’s Orville Redenbacher before landing at Mattel Inc. as director of marketing.
“We weren’t concerned about having kids, but about climbing the corporate ladder,” Lee said.
Within a few years,with her body clock ticking louder,Lee started wondering if the sacrifices were worth it.
She and her husband wanted children and didn’t want them to be latchkey kids.
Started in 1990
So she launched her business in 1990. She hired her first sales consultant in 1992.
Now the company has 400 workers and 10 wholesale showrooms. Annual sales by consultants have grown from $5 million in 2000 to $125 million last year.
(Cookie Lee’s own revenue comes from selling jewelry wholesale to consultants. The company is estimated to have yearly sales in the $50 million range.)
Cookie Lee consultants buy starter kits for $335 or $645. They earn free jewelry by hosting sales parties.
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Direct Selling Association, nearly 14 million people generated $30 billion in direct sales for 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available.
Roughly 30% of them sell personal care products, including jewelry. Eighty percent are female. Party sales account for more than a quarter of the revenue.
Kid Car Pools
Lee said she still puts family first, sharing car pool duties for her kids while running a business that rivals Mary Kay or Tupperware in home-party sales.
“I’ve never sacrificed family for business,” she said.
Family and business have melded. Husband John Lin is vice president. Their kids help at conventions and with charitable efforts.
“We still do the family things, so they don’t resent the work,” Lee said. “And I’m still having fun.”
Lee’s attitude carries over to her workers, who are given time off to attend school events for their kids.
Lee’s charitable efforts have extended to Working Wardrobes, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society and American Red Cross. Last year she made a splash with a $1 million donation of jewelry to “The Today Show” toy drive.
The challenge, Lee said, is in expanding nationally while keeping the company’s purpose,allowing women a flexible way to make money.
Next month, the company plans to move to an 80,000-square-foot building in Tustin.
“Right now we’re like sardines,” she said.
In the early days, Lee sold jewelry from a 1,400-square-foot house.
