Brief encounter: mary overton
Meet MARY OVERTON -- the export manager for CACI International, the largest UK manufacturer and provider of specialist electrotherapy equipment, supplying more than 6,000 of the world's leading salons and day spas.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY?
I started my career 26 years ago on the recommendation of a relative who was working as beauty editor for a leading women's magazine. I was looking for inspiration and she suggested a career in beauty would offer me many varied and exciting opportunities, as well as being a growing industry. This has certainly proved to be the case!
In 1981, after graduating from the Shaw College of Beauty Therapy, I worked as a beauty therapist/aromatherapist for several years, before gaining further qualification in teaching and media studies and working for several multi-national com-panies. For the past eight years I have been involved in developing the export market for CACI International and raising the profile of the brand overseas.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENT?
Increasing the global market presence for CACI International from four to 30 distributors and engaging new business in more than 50 countries.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST SATISFYING/REWARDING MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER?
In the early days of my career as a UK-based trainer for another company, I was given two days' notice to present a sales and training seminar in Malta for 50 therapists. With a copy of the book Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway packed into my suitcase, this marked my transition into the international arena.
WHAT IS THE BEST BUSINESS/CAREER ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN?
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
THREE THINGS YOU COULDN'T DO YOUR JOB WITHOUT?
My passport; my Blackberry; and the support of my partner.
BEST/WORST BITS OF YOUR JOB?
Best bits are combining my passion for travel, cultural experiences and beauty with a truly international company producing cutting-edge technology; seeing two of our top CACI spas being presented with awards at the glittering black-tie AsiaSpa Awards ceremony in Hong Kong this year; learning more about life from a different perspective in the Middle East and South East Asia; and being involved in the global growth of the wellness and spa industry.
Downsides are that inter-national travel is not always glamorous, with the effects of a long-haul flight, time differences, and the necessary but nevertheless increased security at airports, which can, on occasion, make travelling quite exhausting. Also graciously eating chicken's feet, jellyfish and snake, ceremoniously presented to me by one of my Chinese clients!
FUTURE BUSINESS AMBITIONS
To continue developing the global presence of the CACI brand.
IMAGINE YOU ARE AT THE START OF YOUR CAREER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
I have enjoyed the varied path my career has taken, and without learning-curves I would not be where I am today. Maybe the only change I would have made is to have studied languages at an
earlier age.
WOULD YOU DO IT AL AGAIN?
Without hesitation.
