Our Town: Tahoe business owner helps women gain 'BeautiControl'

Nancy Oliver Hayden
Tahoe Tribune


Linda LaFavor-Coyle's world revolves around image, self-esteem and helping women feel good about themselves. She does this as a consultant, executive director and senior trainer with BeautiControl, a skin care, spa and image company. The Minneapolis, Minn., native, who says she is 50ish, has been a resident of South Lake Tahoe since 1985. She came to visit friends, and as so many people do, fell in love with Tahoe and moved here.

She was working as a clerk at the post office in 1988 when she saw an advertisement for BeautiControl in the Tahoe Daily Tribune. The company was looking for people to be beauty consultants in the area, and she became the first one at Tahoe. It was a perfect fit, since LaFavor-Coyle has a background as a make-up artist. She started attending cosmetology school while she was still in high school. Upon graduation at age 18, she received her cosmetology license and worked as a hair stylist in a neighborhood beauty salon for 10 years.

She went to Hollywood in 1979, where she attended the Joe Blasco Make-up School and was a make-up artist for TV and film for a few years. She then returned to Minneapolis and worked for Target as a make-up artist for the company's TV commercials for several more years.

LaFavor-Coyle started her business at Tahoe by inviting friends to a party and teaching them about skin care, the importance of sunscreen and how to "do" their make-up in five minutes. She is now a manager and leads a team of 480 women all over the U.S. She travels to meetings and training sessions to motivate and support them and stays in touch via e-mail, telephone and personal contact. Her business has grown to include a mobile spa program, where she goes to clients' homes and offices. She provides mini-spa treatments and teaches women to relax and pamper themselves.

Another facet of LaFavor-Coyle's business is "Tahoe Weddings A Go Go," where she provides in-room hair and make-up service for brides. She said this is the easiest, most fun thing she does - and it's all girl time.

Her success with BeautiControl has earned her several trips. She was one of 100 consultants out of 150,000 in the company who earned a seven-day trip to Monte Carlo in 2006. And because of her company car allowance, she hasn't made a car payment in 15 years.

She and her husband of 10 years, John Coyle, enjoy riding road bikes and competing in century road rides. They have two furry, feline "children," Lucky and Smoky, who are 15 years old. LaFavor-Coyle is a member of Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe and Barton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary. She is also certified for the American Cancer Society "Look Good, Feel Good" program for women with cancer. She teaches them how to take care of their skin and hair, including tips on applying make-up and using wigs.

Here are LaFavor-Coyle's answers to the Tribune's questions:

1. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED WHEN YOU DIE?
"As a woman who helped other women build their self-esteem on the inside and out. I love to be their cheerleader and say 'yes, you can do it.'"


2. WHAT IS SOUTH LAKE TAHOE'S MOST PRESSING ISSUE TODAY?
"I would say the housing market. When I see a for sale sign, I want to say, 'Don't leave Tahoe. Do whatever it takes to stay in this beautiful place.'"


3. IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ANY AMERICAN CITIZEN TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WHO WOULD IT BE?
"My world revolves around supporting and encouraging women, so maybe it's time for a woman president?"


4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT?
"John and I just bought a fifth-wheel travel trailer and enjoy traveling with friends and meeting new people. I intend to 'spa' the RV parks. We enjoy being outdoors, riding bikes and wine tasting. We plan to travel in the RV when we retire."


5. IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ONE THING TO DO OVER IN YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
"Oh, my gosh! I'm happy with my life. I feel like I've accomplished more than I ever dreamed I would, and there is nothing I would do over."


6. WHAT LIVING PERSON DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
"My youngest sister, Brenda Montgomery. She has a gift of bringing out the best in people with her fabulous management and life skills and making everyone feel special. She is my mentor."


7. WHAT HISTORICAL FIGURE DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
"I would say Mother Teresa. For her to be able to do something so important, especially as she advanced in age, is remarkable."


8. IF YOU COULD SPEND AN HOUR WITH ANYONE IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE?
"That's easy, it would be Lance Armstrong. He could teach me everything he knows about road biking. I'd like to learn his discipline of how to just keep going on those hard hills."


9. WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE: WIN AN INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL OR A PULITZER PRIZE?
"I can't choose, so how about both. To be able to push yourself athletically as far as you can to win a gold medal would be such an adrenaline rush. And I'd love to be so talented with words and be able to share that with the world that I would win a Pulitzer Prize."


10. IF YOU COULD BE IN ANY PROFESSION OTHER THAN YOUR OWN, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
"Don't laugh, but at one time I thought of being a police officer. I think I would be good at handling situations and helping get the bad guys off the street."

Teachers team up for direct sales business

BeautiControl Skin Care Products

By KEITH ROYSDON, The Star Press

For three Muncie teachers, teamwork in the classroom has translated into teamwork in business. Kim Williams, Sara Fauquher and Jennifer Kile teach sixth grade at Wilson Middle School. The three make up a teaching team -- Kile teaches math, Fauquher teaches science and Williams teaches English.

Outside school hours, the three are independent direct sales people. Each sells a different product, but they also team up for in-home parties to reach potential customers. "It's an opportunity to have fun, fellowship with women and earn a little extra money on the side," Kile said. Kile sells Premier Designs jewelry, Fauquher sells BeautiControl home spa products and Williams sells Pampered Chef cookware.

Williams laughed when asked why she sells kitchenware. "Rachael Ray is my idol," she said, referring to the TV personality. "I like to cook, and I like to cook for others." Fauquher said at-home spa products appealed to her because "I like to see people relax and get rid of their stress. Lord knows we all have it."

Billion-dollar industry
The direct sales industry -- long symbolized by door-to-door cosmetics and vacuum cleaner sales people -- has changed in recent years. The Direct Selling Association reported sales of more than $32 billion in 2006. The industry group says as many as 15 million people work in direct sales. Although men make up 25 percent of the independent sales workforce, it is still an industry dominated by women. The gender of the sales force coincides in many ways with the products sold. Cosmetics, jewelry and skin care make up nearly 34 percent of the products sold by direct sales people, according to the DSA. Home products, like cookware, make up 26 percent. Weight loss products and vitamins account for another 20 percent. For many years, Longaberger baskets were among the top products for direct sales people. The upscale baskets -- like many direct sales products -- are sold in home-based parties that mix business and fun for sales people and potential customers.

Party teamwork
While Williams and Fauquher have been conducting in-home sales parties for a while, Kile has only recently joined the mix. The three have a game plan for their parties. Williams whips up some dishes using Pampered Chef cookware and utensils. While food is cooking, the group moves to the living room, where Fauquher demonstrates hand massages and neck wraps from BeautiControl. Kile then showcases Premier Designs jewelry offerings. "Then they can eat and fellowship and order products if they like," Fauquher said. "If someone wants to book just one of us, they can. But this is a way for us to 'team teach.' We're used to doing this in school and thought in our side business this is what we would be most comfortable doing."

Busy in breaks
While the school year can be busy for teachers, the three said they wanted something to keep them busy after hours and during breaks. "Almost every teacher I know does something else in the summer," Fauquher said. "I think most teachers have other jobs. It keeps them busy year-round." "Maybe my decision will change down the road, but right now I want to stick with teaching and doing this on the side," Williams said. Direct sales works for teachers, Kile said. "There's freedom to do things on your own schedule. I love teaching. I didn't want to quit teaching."

How young is too young?

from Tulsa World

Parents agree there is no right age to wear makeup. Julie Austin's daughters know that less is more, especially when it comes to makeup. "Every once in a while, they put it on very lightly to go out," such as when the family goes to restaurants on the weekend, Austin said. "It has to be pretty toned down." But they do very well with it; they know what looks good and what doesn't, she said. Her girls have been practicing since they were little, probably as young as age 2. Now, her girls are ages 8 and 11.

For many parents, it's a watershed moment. For others, it's no big deal. But what is the right age for girls to start wearing makeup? "It's something we never put a guard on," said Austin, who has bought her "very girly-girl" daughters play makeup, as well as cosmetics by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It's not like they're wearing Lancome or Chanel yet. "When I was growing up, it wasn't a big issue for me," said Noelle Roso, also a mother of two girls -- one is 15, the other is 18. They started wearing makeup in about sixth or seventh grade.

"Generations of girls have grown up playing with makeup," said Rachel Wagner, founder and director of Rachel Wagner Etiquette and Protocol in Tulsa. She does corporate and dining etiquette training, as well as international protocol briefing and individual coaching. Wagner remembers playing with her mom's and grandmother's makeup, which is "all fine and good." But today, it seems that girls are wearing makeup sooner, and not just at play time.

"People are questioning if that's good or not," Wagner said. Today, more and more girls are accompanying their mothers to makeup counters. And more and more options are available for cosmetics, she said, from department store lines and mass-market retailers to stores devoted to all things beauty-enhancing, such as Ulta and the soon-to-open Sephora at Woodland Hills Mall. Plus, girls may emulate characters they see on TV shows, or musicians and celebrities in magazines and videos.

ri "I don't see anything inherently wrong with any of this," Wagner said. But she's concerned about the marketing message to girls, like it's "they need to wear makeup to be accepted." From the time they're about 5 or 6 years old, most girls are usually interested in wearing makeup, Lynda King said. A beauty consultant at the Lancome counter in Dillard's Promenade, King has definitely noticed an increase in young girls coming in with their mothers or friends to the store's cosmetics counters.

They usually start out wearing nail polish and lip gloss, she said. By the time they reach the tween years, girls start experimenting with mascara and eye shadow. But back to that question we asked earlier: What age is most appropriate? That, according to everyone we talked to here, is up to the parents. "It's a leap into part of the teenage years, a rite of passage," Wagner said. And the time a girl is ready to take that leap is up to her guardians. "As a parent, it's all about the approach," said Austin, who monitors her girls' makeup times. "If you make a big deal out of something . . . they're going to want to know why."

The key is to have "teachable moments with your kids vs. a lecture," said Wagner, a mother of two young adult daughters. Let's say your daughter brings home a fashion maga zine and is curious about the makeup, Wagner said. You can sit down with her, flip through the magazine and point out various products, explaining each item's purpose and how it should be applied.

During these teachable moments, you can also talk about getting to know people for their inner beauty, not just what's on the outside, Wagner said. Through these kind of talks, you may find your daughter is more open to your opinion -- that you're with her, not against her. ou can also schedule a makeover at a cosmetics counter, Wagner and King both recommended. This way, your daughter can learn how to apply makeup from a professional. An added bonus is that it's potential bonding time between you and child.

Just don't rush your kids into wearing it, Roso said. "Sometimes we're guilty of pushing our kids to grow up too fast," Roso said of parents in general. "It's important to let kids take their time -- let kids be kids." In addition to allowing them to play and practice with makeup, Austin also bought her daughters books from American Girl, which offer how-to tips, she said.

If it ever happened that Austin's daughters were wearing makeup to stick out in a crowd or attract a boy, though, then she'd have her guard up. But for now, her daughters are having fun with makeup, throwing pretend fashion shows and fixing their hair -- you know, being girly girls.