Gail Roben, a native of Sherburn, recently became a face of Avon in the company’s first ever campaign using only real-life Avon representatives. Avon is a direct selling company in beauty, household and personal care. The successful company is over 100 years old.The new campaign just launched on Aug. 21.
Roben was born and raised in Sherburn and graduated from what was Sherburn high school. She lived in Sherburn until she was 25 at which point she moved to Texas, where she currently resides.“My parents owned a grocery store in Sherburn. I was raised there, married, had my children there and in ’85 I came to Texas. I was there when the brand new elementary school was built. I graduated from Sherburn with a whole 66 of us,” Roben laughed.Roben was just back home for her 40th class reunion. She comes back quite often because she has some family and friends that still live in the area and in Minneapolis.This year marks 21 years that Roben has been selling Avon products. Last year she took the plunge and decided to quit her full-time job and go full-time in her Avon business.
Roben shared how she first began selling Avon products.“We lost our Avon lady where I was working and we all had orders to turn in. At the time I was a single mom with two small kids and was already looking for a supplement income to try to bring more money into the household. The girls at work were convinced that I should be the one to join Avon so I thought I would give it a shot. I became the Avon lady at work and it showed me how I could make up the loss of child support that I was not getting and that was really my major plan and I thought I would only stay in until I got on my feet financially but it’s grown into a great business and I’ve never left,” Roben said.Roben’s children are now part of her business as well. Her son is her co-applicant on the business and her daughter is also a team leader.For the first time ever in the brand’s 130 plus year history, Avon is using only real-life Avon representatives as models in their latest catalog. They chose 21 representatives from all different states to be in their newest campaign.
On Avon’s website, Roben and the other representatives are pictured right on the home page.“On the front it actually says ‘we are real role-models,’ there are no models, it’s real role models in the brochure. Even when I hand out the book I’m able to show people that they didn’t hire models. We’re real role-models,” Roben said.While Roben said she’s not clear how Avon selected the 21 representatives, she does know that they watch how people perform, sell, train and present themselves to others and on social media.“It was very humbling and overwhelming to be asked to be in the first campaign like this. Down the road there will be more representatives asked to do the same thing but it was very humbling to be in the first one that was launched,” Roben saidRoben has a team of 370 people across the country that she mentors and works with.
She has both men and women and couples and people of all ages on her team.“I can share my story with them because I have a real-life story of how I came into this. When someone comes to me and says they need money for rent or because their electricity is going to get shut off, I can relate to that. I truly feel that I know how to work with them and make them the money that they need,” Roben said.As Roben explained, Avon has multiple strings of income within the industry and she can help people build their career based on their needs and availability. Part of Avon’s mission statement reads: This is the company that not only brings beauty to doors, but also opens them.Roben has been with Avon for 21 years now and what started as something she viewed as a temporary position has turned into a successful career that she can be proud of.“I really believe that people should go after their dreams as far as becoming an entrepreneur and not be afraid about it. I set my goals and had my passion and set my sight on the end result and made it happen. I do believe people should never give up,” Roben said.
