Andrea Jung

You know, you go home and you try on a new mascara, and I guess a male CEO can’t do that.

No one in my family had a retail or marketing background. They were professionals. They didn’t understand just what I was doing by going into retailing. After I started, though, it got into my blood. I knew this was what I wanted.

I can only have dinner with my girlfriends once a month instead of once a week.

We also never undercut representatives’ prices. A representative will always be able to sell the discounts in our core business, which are not offered at retail. So it’s never more advantageous to buy there.

Women like myself, CEOs, can pave the way for more women to get to the top.

A representative is free delivery; she’s a personal beauty consultant. Some people want that high touch.

Since I’m a mother and a wife, I have to have passion or the frustration would win out. But I love managing people. The product is second to managing the people. And marketing to consumers is so challenging because it is evolving constantly.

I think it’s critical that you feel you’re working for a person who is committed to advancing your career.

Avon invented the concept of direct marketing and direct selling beauty. And that’s still very valid to us. We’ll have a firm that will be around for another 114 years as strongly as it was the first 114.

Avon is a unique place to work; we’ve got family-friendly policies. We have more senior women in high-level management than any other company; 46 percent of our officers are women.

I became CEO at the beginning of the hit on old economy stocks. When something like that occurs in your first six months as a CEO of a more traditional branded firm, it makes for a fast learning curve.

My parents kept the best aspects of the Asian culture, and they Americanized the family. My mother was a great example for me. She was a working mother with a good career.

If you feel like it’s difficult to change, you will probably have a harder time succeeding.