We welcomed more than 200 Founders Council members and other attendees to our World Headquarters this week, and we did it in grand style. Check out some of the photos on our Amway Facebook page. And if you missed the live stream of their arrival courtesy of our Amacam, the replay is available here. Watch for more coverage in the weeks to come!

The 2013 Founders Council began today in Grand Rapids, Michigan! Tomorrow we welcome them to our World Headquarters. Here are some fun facts. Did you know…

ARTISTRY Global Face, Teresa Palmer, joined A-list celebrities at the 2013 Met Ball held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night in New York City. This year’s theme, “PUNK: Chaos to Couture,” brazenly challenged celebrities and style-makers – by invitation only – to pay homage to the punk movement via over-the-top, rebellious Red Carpet fashion.

In stark contrast to her uber-feminine, plunging red gown by Diane von Furstenberg, Palmer’s dramatic makeup featured thick, tar-like brows with a hollowed out eye and a stone cold neutral sharp lip by makeup artist Jo Baker for ARTISTRY.

“Teresa is amazing at pulling off so many different looks – much like the roles she plays in her films, she lives and breathes the part,” said Maud Pansing, VP Global Beauty, Amway.  “Her look last night was definitely rebel-chic.”

Love Teresa’s look? We suggest trying the following products:

Skin
ARTISTRY YOUTH XTEND Serum

Base
ARTISTRY Hydrating Foundation
ARTISTRY 3D Face Powder

Eyes
ARTISTRY Spring 2013 Enchanted Garden Bronzed Patina Eye Pencil
ARTISTRY Eye Colour in Bone
ARTISTRY SIGNATURE EYES Volume Mascara in Black. TIP: While mascara is still wet, place a tissue under lashes and dust with ARTISTRY Eye Colour in Eclipse or Exquisite.

Brows
ARTISTRY SIGNATURE EYES Automatic Liquid Eye Liner in Black

Lips
ARTISTRY Lip Colour in Subdued
ARTISTRY Automatic Lip Liner Pencil in Dusty Rose

Photo Source: Getty Images

We are preparing to welcome about 200 members of our 2013 Founders Council to West Michigan next week, and for the first time ever you are invited to watch part of the festivities.

We will present a live broadcast of their arrival at our World Headquarters in Ada, Michigan. The one and a half hour live-stream will air on May 14th at 2:00 p.m. EDT via a special tab on Amway Corporate Facebook page.

Thanks to new technology – our Amacam – we are able to share all the glamour and excitement of the event with Amway distributors, prospects and friends around the globe.

The Amacam consists of three high-definition cameras (two inside and one outside) that will showcase the members as they arrive to walk the yellow carpet and be welcomed by hundreds of Amway employees.

Attendees to this year’s Founders Council group come from 15 different countries and include 11 new Founders Council members!

So, mark your calendar and plan to join us for the celebration. (How many of our top distributors will you be able to identify?)

Post by Gary Wade.

As a health and beauty company, Amway employees get to be brand ambassadors of wellness, something that was recognized recently when Amway was honored at Michigan’s Governor’s Fitness Awards with the Outstanding Healthy Workplace award.

Amway was one of four finalists selected in the category among many nominees throughout the state of Michigan. Nominees were judged on criteria that included wellness programs and resources, policies and benefits, measurements of success, leadership support, community involvement and accolades.

Spend some time on Amway and Nutrilite campuses and you’ll notice the commitment to wellness. Employees are encouraged to stay active and achieve their physical and nutritional best through the Optimal You health and wellness program. This program offers nearly 40 physical, nutritional and emotional wellbeing resources, including a financial incentive for maintaining good health.

It’s those qualities that the Governor’s Council recognized. And it’s one more way that we are committed to Optimal Health.

YouTube Direkt

Our recently released Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report is filled with amazing stories. We wanted to highlight one of them for you.

This video explains what happened in South Africa when we launched the Township Strategy, bringing the Amway Business Opportunity to the rural communities.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

We used innovative strategies and alternatives to product sizing, pricing and bundling that resonated with individuals in these outlying communities. Physical presence and mobile marketing positioned the Amway Business Opportunity as viable and vital for this more financially challenged population.

In just three years, Amway South Africa has accomplished two significant results: increasing business and helping people to move up the economic ladder. Thanks to the Township Strategy, the Amway business in South Africa leapt by more than 200 percent and showed many low-to-middle class members of society a way out of poverty.

A distributor from Soweto featured in the video describes it like this: “From my personal experience, I can say that Amway is helping us to create real change in our lives, in our families, in our communities and across the world,” she said. “In previous years, Soweto was seen as nothing more than a holding area for cheap labor. … Now, Soweto is changing. And with Amway’s assistance our lives are changing. We are going up in the world.”

Watch the video to see the full story of empowerment.

YouTube Direkt

With more than 900 research and development professionals employed by Amway, discovery is job #1.

In fact, more than 1,000 patents have been secured during the company’s history and over 800 more are pending. Many of these discoveries are driven by customer demands, feedback from distributors or advances in the market.

But some of the best discoveries happen simply by accident.

Take, for example, the company’s invention of non-chlorinated automatic dishwasher detergent. In the 1980s, there was not a non-chlorinated product on the market and Amway wasn’t trying to develop one. But, while testing a potential product for soil removal, our R&D professionals noticed that the product eliminated spots. Upon further testing, it also seemed to clean plates, plastic and other flatware better than anything else.

Quickly, a new product was born.

“It was all just serendipity,” Amway Scientist Ernie Brumbaugh said. “The result of observation and the understanding that something unique was happening in front of our eyes.”

What came to be known as Crystal Bright Automatic Dishwashing Detergent is just one of many discoveries made by Brumbaugh, who’s been with Amway for nearly 43 years.  It’s also one of the reasons the company recently honored him with induction into the Amway’s new R&D Distinguished Scientific Leadership Society – the highest honor bestowed by the R&D division.

Our Amway One by One Campaign for Children had quite a week last week.

Amway staff attended the International Corporate Citizenship Conference, organized by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.

Our own Jesse Hertstein was one of the speakers, explaining how our campaign is organized globally, but is implemented with flexibility among the local country affiliates.

We also were honored with an award: Our film highlighting 10 years of our One by One Campaign was named one of the 10 finalists in a film festival sponsored by Boston College.

Many thanks to all who voted for it. That film has now been viewed more than 10,000 times. Thank you to everyone for helping us share our story!

Amway’s Gen Y distributor force continues to leave their distinctive mark on countries around the globe, creating a social network that is paying off – literally.

Tamsen Sala, 24, of Queensland, Australia, is a thriving entrepreneur who understands the appeal of the Amway business for her generation. “This is a very flexible business,” Tamsen said. “You can work it full time or alongside whatever else you have going on. That’s very appealing to my generation.”

Tamsen is a second-generation distributor who started her Amway business in 2007 at age 18.  “I wanted the life my parents had and the life they provided me growing up,” she said.

“The business has offered me skill sets such as work ethic, discipline, people skills and goal setting. It also offers an environment of … positivity, which I haven’t seen outside the Amway business.”

The flexible business and her newly acquired skill set also helped her volunteer with a program mentoring teen girls.

“I try to be a positive role model and show them that they can be in control of their success,” she said. 

Tamsen is proof positive that Amway doesn’t depend on age or education, just work ethic and determination.

“The Amway products sell themselves and really appeal to my friends,” said Tamsen. Her personal favorites? The full line of ARTISTRY^TM cosmetics and XS Energy Drinks.

Post by Gary Wade

We are pleased to report that the major facilities at our World Headquarters did not experience any damage as a result of the record-breaking flood waters moving through West Michigan.

We are open for business thanks, in large part, to protective measures taken during our three-day closure. Teams filled 30,000 sandbags for use on our campus and around the neighboring village of Ada. Also, 86 concrete berms weighing 11,000 pounds each were used to build a flood wall.

Thank you to everyone who worked throughout the weekend to keep our complex safe.

Check out these aerial photos taken this weekend of the Village of Ada and our campus. You can also click here for news about the rising waters at our facilities, including more aerial photos showing the campus before and during the rising waters.