When it comes to influential people of the business world, the names that come to mind include Carnegie, Rockafeller, Ford, Gates and others. Their life stories are worth looking into just to see where they came from and how they got to where they got.

But perhaps none has been more of a force in the business world (or in the field of inspiring others to become more than they thought they could become), than Mary Kay Ash.

The cosmetics queen best known for her pink packages, pink cadillacs passed away on Thursday from natural causes.

Mary Kay is mentioned here not so much as a news update, but as a bit of an inspiring story. It shows one's current situation does not have to remain the same. Where you begin doesn't mean nearly as much as where you end up. And for the cynics in all of us, those who made something of themselves most likely worked at it instead of had it handed to them.

Her personal story includes being born in 1918, taking care of her seriously ill father when she was 6 while her mother worked in a restaurant 14 hours a day. Later, she married a radio personality at the age of 17. But that began to dissolve when he went into the service.

She took a job as a part-time sales person selling household goods at parties. She studied to be a doctor, but stuck with sales as that was her calling. Years later, she took a position with a direct sales company. But she quit when a male colleague who had been hired as her assistant was promoted at more than twice her salary.

It was then that she decided she had had enough. She began gathering her thoughts and ideas in order to put together a career book for women. It worked into more of a "fictional" business than a career guidance book. Looking at what she had thought, Mary Kay Cosmetics was created.

During the early years, the company took off. Ran into legal problems, settled the suit, continued to grow, sold stock to the public in the 70s. Fell in a bit of a recession in the mid 80s. Her family bought the company back and kept if private. Products and materials were updated, and the company was once again on it's feet.

Her little idea grew from 11 sales people in 1963 to more than 850,000 last year.

Throughout her life, her purpose has been to give women a voice in business, to help give them the confidence in themselves to go out and do what they want no matter what the rest of the world may say.

To assist in doing this, Mary Kay had written three books. Her autobiography "Mary Kay" was published in 1981. Her business book, "Mary Kay on People Management'' came out in 1984. Her last book, a motivational tale "Mary Kay – You Can Have it All" was a best-seller in 1995.

Over the years, Mary Kay has often told her employees to put God first, family second and career third. ``With your priorities in order, press on, and never look back. May all of your dreams come true. You can, indeed, have it all.'' (Mary Kay Ash).