It sure is an unlikely looking war room, this suburban office and warehouse.
Big flower pots exploding with red geraniums are sponge painted on the foyer walls.
Painted pink tulips dot the strategy-planning table, for heaven’s sake.
Sun bursts through a picture window that offers a wide-angle view of . . . a parking lot. Not exactly an army headquarters.
And the general herself? Well.
At the moment, Whitney Foster of Orland Park is performing a great damsel-in-distress routine as she recalls a recent business trip.
The president of Simplicite International skin care company recalls, “I’m in the hotel room and management has provided complimentary, little colored bottles full of pretty bath beads . . .
“Even though I know I shouldn’t, I can’t resist trying them,” she whispers, pausing.
She demonstrates what happened next, sticking her arms out like a robin with rigor mortis. “In a flash I’m out of the tub, burning all over,” she says. “I’m on the phone to the concierge, pleading for somebody to get to the drugstore for my allergy medicine. I am inflamed, I itch like mad. I’ve been attacked, again.”
Ah, allergies, her nemesis, the enemy Foster has battled since childhood.
Formidable allergies, these. Foster has a list (from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.) that’s as long as her outstretched arms and tells the stuff her skin won’t tolerate. Heck, she’s even allergic to the things they put in hypoallergenic products to make them hypoallergenic.
Vicious, too. Allergies give her creepy crawly hives, icky blisters, even boils that pop out on her vulnerable skin.
What’s a gal to do?
She gathers her forces and fights back, that’s what.
Accountant Jerry Kruch of Burr Ridge says, “Whitney is sharp. She always has a game plan. It may not work as she planned, but that doesn’t stop her.
“If she ran into a wall in the dark, somehow she’d find the door.”
“Whatever Whitney puts her mind to, it happens. It’s as simple as that,” says pharmaceutical sales rep Lisa Nichols of Bettendorf, Iowa. “I’ve never met anyone who has her unique creativity and drive.”
In 1987, Foster put her mind to developing a line of skin care products for her sensitive skin.
“When I asked Dad (Floyd) what he thought my chances were of finding a chemist to create the products I needed, he said, `Slim to none,’ ” she recalls.
She liked those odds, and she got right on it. She found a chemist willing to help her concoct a cleanser, toner and moisturizer that didn’t irritate her skin.
The products proved so successful for her and friends who she shared them with that Simplicite products–expanded to include 18 face, body and eye treatments–were introduced in five Marshall Field’s stores in 1989 and eventually marketed in 30 stores across the country, frequently outselling industry giants like Clinique.
Debbie Valent of South Holland, who worked as a skin care consultant for Foster, says, “I can’t tell you how many times women told me they’d spent tons of money at the dermatologist with no improvement to their under-eye puffiness, skin breakouts, sensitive skin.
“Yet these women raved about Simplicite for the simple reason that the products helped them. Seeing those results is part of the reason I have been a consultant for more than five years. I believe in it. I also really believe in Whitney. She’s more than a boss. She’s a friend.”
“Whitney thrives on challenge,” says video and multimedia creator Barrie Mason of Downers Grove. “She has creative energy in abundance, and she has something else that’s very important–she has follow-through.
“I’ve worked with many creative people who have great vision, but creativity is not enough. Whitney balances her creativity with practical sense.”
Anne Spellman, president of Lebasi Packaging Design Inc. of La Grange, who has worked with Foster on packaging her products, says, “Whitney knows exactly what she wants, but she is also realistic.”
What Foster wants, exactly, is to keep Simplicite simple, affordable, and practical. In the competitive cosmetic industry, that is not simple.
Foster says, “Every day, there is a new buzzword in cosmetics. It’s alpha this or rejuven that. Basically, skin care products can clean, tone and moisturize and nourish. Beyond that, what is being sold is hope in a bottle.”
Affordable skin care is possible, Foster says, by eliminating the markup for promotion and packaging and hype.
As for practicality, Foster has a unique take on that too. She says, “I expect women to use a variety of products from different companies because every woman’s skin is unique.”
She adds, “Even the term sensitive skin is very general. I’m allergic to many chemicals. Some women (her mom, Mary, is one) get migraine headaches caused by exposure to fragrances. Other women have oily, acne-prone skin. Others have eczema or extremely dry skin. All of them are sensitive skin. The trick is finding what works for you.”
For many, her mildly scented, minimal-ingredient system works. For some it has worked wonders.
Customer Elaine Ashley of Calumet City, whose skin is prone to breakouts, says, “I have used these products for three years. I don’t use anything else because these work for me. I gave them to my sister, and now she uses them too.”
Customer Marlene Spohn of Downers Grove says her normal skin now “feels like velvet.” Sister-in-law and customer Tammy Munro of Downers Grove, who says she can’t stroll past a cosmetics counter without a sneezing fit because of fragrance allergies, uses them lavishly and remains sneezeless. No achoo, thank you.
Customer Pamela Pellegrin of Lemont tried the products about seven years ago and remains an avid user. She says, “I don’t usually try samples or buy into all the hype, but when I tried a sample moisturizer, I actually noticed that my skin looked smoother and softer. I wouldn’t be without them now.”
Her customers don’t have to worry about that, even though Simplicite no longer is sold in stores.
Foster recently removed her skin care products from the 30 Marshall Field’s stores where they enjoyed very respectable sales, respectable enough that the 32-year-old Foster could sit back and enjoy a secure retirement with her husband, building contractor Jim Munro. That isn’t in her plans.
“Whitney could no more be idle than the sun could stop shining,” Nichols says.
Currently Simplicite products are available only by direct phone order or through home-sale events. An 800 number (1-800-892-4498) gives her customers immediate access to products they formerly bought retail.
She has masterminded a home sales campaign. Yes, home parties, like Tupperware, but they will be called skin care classes.
Trained consultants conduct classes in their own homes or those of others to explain and demonstrate the products. It’s the only way she can keep doing what she wants to do, Foster says.
“I’ve learned so much by promoting Simplicite through retail, and I’m grateful for the experience, but I can’t give the customer the kind of attention she needs in the store.”
And that’s for whom she’s really fighting, women like herself, who have battled skin troubles.
Spellman says, “Whitney has a fine product, but I really believe that her success has to do with her personality as well. She genuinely cares about every client, every consultant.”
Pellegrin says, “I’ve only spoken to Whitney a few times on the phone, but I felt as if I was talking to an old friend. She really cares.”
Nichols says, “She is no pushover. She doesn’t abide excuses. She doesn’t make any for herself. But, if you need her, ever, she will be there for you.”
Mason adds, “Whitney has vision, a way of foreseeing needs before they occur. That comes in part from her sensitivity to people.”
Right now, that vision is focused on her home sales campaign.
She says, “I grew up believing that if you have an idea, try it. Even if it fails, that’s better than living with the `I could have . . . I might have. . . .’ I can live with a failure, but I can’t live with, `I could have . . . I might have.’ “
Better gather the troops, Mary Kay.
