MLM Grandma aka The Bra Lady

The Reporter:

I’ve got the greatest thing since popcorn!”

That’s what Marian “Chicki” Downs told her Minneapolis Girl Scout troops and their mothers 38 years ago, when she went into business for herself selling custom-fit lingerie.

Retired and looking for something to do, she traveled to Denver in 1968 to look into a special product she’d heard about, and in her own words, “came home in the bra business.”

Thus began Downs’ successful venture into multi-level marketing - also referred to as network marketing, affiliate marketing or home-based business franchising - wherein individuals open and own their own business but are associated with a parent company, and receive a portion of the sales they generate.

In her first eight days alone, Downs said she sold $5,000 worth of merchandise, and earned the title of director.

Her parent company - originally known as Cameo, but later purchased by Jeunique - awards titles based upon sales performance, and profit percentages increase as one accrues further senior status. Jeunique, which has been in the custom lingerie business for 46 years, has four main titles or levels - director, district director, executive director, and international executive director - and there are bronze, silver and gold delineations within each.

Downs has surpassed them all, however; she is a platinum level international executive director.

“I have a reputation,” she confided, eyes twinkling. “They call me the Energizer Bunny.”