In late November, I announced that I had been appointed to the Board of Advisors of Pyramid Scheme Alert (PSA). PSA is an organization dedicated to educating consumers about multi-level marketing companies and pyramid schemes. While MLMs are technically legal in the United States, the vast majority of them are nothing more than product-based pyramid schemes which depend upon an endless chain of recruitment of new members.
I bring to the Board of Advisors my expertise as a fraud investigator, as well as in-depth knowledge of Mary Kay Cosmetics, a multi-level marketing company that’s been around for over 40 years. The founder of PSA, Robert FitzPatrick, is very selective in his appointments. Those who are on the board must have expertise relevant to MLMs and the mission of the organization. I’m honored to be a part of such a credentialed group.
I’ve been working to pull together information on Mary Kay for PSA. Mary Kay Inc. has been flying under the radar for years! The company has generally enjoyed a good reputation in the business community. Mary Kay Ash was well-respected because she was a shrewd businesswoman who developed this company from the ground up. Unfortunately, that has overshadowed the abusive nature of the business opportunity. People haven’t recognized that the MLM system utilized by Mary Kay is very profitable to the corporation itself, but very detrimental to the individual business owners.
PSA never really considered Mary Kay to be a company that they should look into. It just wasn’t “out there” as a recruiting scheme or product-based pyramid scheme. That’s where I come in. I’m putting together materials on the pay plan and recruiting, as well as some of the “official” and “unofficial” materials distributed by Mary Kay and its representatives.
My website Pink Truth strives to educate consumers and potential recruits about the grim reality of this pyramid scheme. I present daily posts about realities of Mary Kay, examining the real earnings of representatives, why the plan is abusive, and how millions of women a year are conned into putting money into this losing proposition.
Additionally, I’ve been working on some other things related to MLMs, and generally enjoying playing an active role in PSA. More to come…