The Detroit Tribune

Beauty Sells Beauty's First Manager
By Dolores Calvin

NEW YORK—Exclusive

When Jeanne Crain, Hollywood star, lunched at the Theresa Hotel during the launching of Pinky a reporter wrote that the spotlight was not all on the fresh, young actress. He felt she shared it with one of Harlem's own most beautiful women, naming the charming, aggressive Hazel Sharper, who has since been appointed to the coveted position as manager of the upper Manhattan office of Avon Products, one of the oldest and finest beauty aids in America.

No one, however, was surprised at the comparison to the lovely Jeanne Crain. For Hazel habitually leaves such a mark of elegance. And no one was surprised too when Avon Products, after careful consideration, cautiously chose the black-haired, well experienced authority to best sell their wares.

Using her specialized training at New York University, Hazel took over managership of the Harlem branch after six weeks of intense training at Philadelphia. Then, two Avon offices, managed by Negroes, were opened simultaneously in Chicago and New York.

Out of her branch, Hazel, in the short time of two months, employed 122 salesgirls to operate from headquarters in the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments on Seventh Avenue. In her office of mint green walls, fresh flowers and two busy phones, Hazel checks daily sales which she—happily reports—usually land her branch in first or second place.

Huge meetings of the staff are held at the Theresa's Skyline Roof where problems of selling and ways to combat them are thoroughly discussed and decided upon. Rigid courses in sales training are required of all Avon representatives.

A full Avon staff has 300 workers and 2 field managers. And the Harlem branch is coming into its own.

Hazel admits being a long-time admirer of Avon's biggest selling point: stressing quality merchandise at low cost. Their beautifully packaged gift sizes of perfume, deodorant, lipstick, hand cream, toilet water, astringents, etc., are all sold on this guarantee: you like it or your money back.

But Hazel Sharper makes certain you like it. For as a former fashion consultant, her valued opinion on such problems as beauty care and culture are met with the personalized touch.