Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO of Avon Products, Inc., has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women In Business since its inception, and was the featured speaker at the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Newsmaker Forum on September 21 in New York City.

This year mark’s Avon’s 125th anniversary, and to celebrate this milestone, Ms. Jung traveled to every continent and has visited 60 cities throughout the past year to reach out and touch 125,000 of their 6.5 million representatives. Avon introduces 1,000 new products a year, four lipsticks are sold every second, and since 1955, the Avon Foundation has raised $800 million.

Jill Scalamandre, CMO of Chrysallis, was the evening’s moderator, and she asked Ms. Jung how the company balances women, financial independence and beauty products.

“Avon is the largest economic engine of women in the world. It is about the millions of women who support our brand,” said Jung. “The reason we are the largest direct selling company and the largest beauty brand sold through direct sales is because we are selling economic independence to women. Our founding category was fragrance, but our founder had the vision to empower women 34 years before they could vote. If you fast forward 125 years later…the vehicle is women’s economic empowerment, and the fuel is the beauty products that they sell.”

Ms. Jung also touched on the topic of social media and the rapid changes to the industry due to technological advances.

“The big change in direct sell has been that high tech had to marry high touch. With the advent of the Internet, our reps all around the world now have e-tools,” said Jung. “The virtual Avon store has a PDF file of our brochure and it can be sent to all of the reps’ Facebook friends. Social media and Internet tools have helped us to stay modern, and we now have twenty Twitter feeds and two million followers. Avon’s store is refreshed every two weeks in the U.S., and every three weeks around the world.”

When asked by Ms. Scalamandre what she envisions next after Avon, Ms. Jung responded, “The whole platform of what we do for women and women’s empowerment has been amazing. I have had the seat to enforce the influence on some issues and on some challenges.
I would hope that in my post-business life I will have the opportunity to keep doing that.”

Chrysallis’ Jill Scalamandre, Avon’s Andrea Jung and CEW’s Carlotta Jacobson.

Gurwitch Products’ Claudia Poccia
with Andrea Jung.

Arcade Marketing’s Debra Leipman-Yale and Diane Crecca (r.) with Firmenich’s Jerry Vittoria.

Avon’s Kelly Harte, Tracy Haffner
and Joe Billone.

Givaudan’s Cos Policastro and Alison Chaneski with Avon’s Eileen Higgins.

LVMH’s Pamela Baxter with IFF’s Christophe
de Villeplée and Fusion Brands’ Dana Kline.

Rodale’s Mary Murcko, Sonia Kashuk
and Firmenich’s Joy Atkinson.

Avon’s Ginny Pati with Ron Robinson
of beautystat.com.

Elizabeth Arden’s Kathy Widmer
and Francine Gingras.

Fusion Brands’ Caroline Pieper-Vogt,
Claudia Lucas of QVC and Laura Geller
of Laura Geller Beauty Ingenuity.

mark.’s Pamelia Lall, Dismary Anton
and Gail Boyé.

Robertet’s Jerome Épinette and Pierre Wulff (r.) with Clear Strategy’s Claire Steichen.

Avon’s Tracy Haffner and CEW’s Lisa Klein.

Gurwitch Products’ Kim Waite, Ellen Greenwald and Danielle Milata.

Albea’s Elizabeth Forsyth, Avon’s Daniel Kline, Clinique’s Ukachi Anonyuo, Schwan Cosmetics’ Thomas Krasser
and Monica Estrada of Vitro.

Avon’s Lily DeStefano with Diane Crecca.

Sage Collective’s Diane Silberstein
with Jean Hoehn Zimmerman of
Oscar de la Renta.

J&J’s Stefano Curti and Andre Taylor-Morris (r.) with Linda Marshall of Elysée Scientific Cosmetics.

Alison Chaneski with Prevention’s Laura Petasnick, Estée Lauder’s Thia Breen, Mary Murcko and Clinique’s Catherine Barber.

Orlandi’s Mark Hardy with Ungerer’s
Marcie Rose.

Avon’s Susan Arnot-Heaney and Nancy Glaser with Claudia Poccia (c.).

Avon’s Georgia Rizos and IFF’s
Lorenzo Cavallero.

Avon’s Julie Tatarczuk and Tracy Haffner
with Jerry Vittoria.

Firmenich’s Roman Poquet and Daria Holley (r.) with Avon’s Michele Martinez.