Mary Kay is hosted its first Women's Entrepreneurship Summit on January 27th, 2017 in partnership with The Dallas Entrepreneur Center at the Fairmont Hotel Dallas.

Experts with backgrounds in sales leadership, fashion, high-technology, consumer-packaged goods, and business services showed up to support women business owners.

Sheryl Adkins-Green, Chief Marketing Officer for Mary Kay Inc. (shown above, far left) says, "With millions of Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants worldwide and more than five decades of empowering women, few companies have more experience with women's entrepreneurship...Our founder, Mary Kay Ash, is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time and we are proud to continue her legacy of inspiring and encouraging female entrepreneurship."

Keynote speakers for the event included Gloria Mayfield Banks (shown above, far right), internationally renowned motivational speaker and number one U.S. ranked Mary Kay Independent Elite Executive National Sales Director, and Ingrid Vanderveldt (pictured above, middle), a tech entrepreneur, media personality and Founder and Chairman of the global movement Empowering a Billion Women by 2020. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to learn from more than a dozen entrepreneur experts during breakout sessions. Select participants will take part in "The Pink Tank," where entrepreneurs fast pitch their business ideas for seed funding from The DEC.

Trey Bowles, co-founder and CEO of The Dallas Entrepreneur Center, adds, "By supporting and encouraging talent, drive and the entrepreneurial spirit, Mary Kay is helping to create tomorrow's business leaders."