Bernice Hansen was nearly 40 when, in 1950, she hosted a Nutrilite meeting in her home led by Rich DeVos, then in his early 20s. Years later, in a 2010 interview, Bernice remembered thinking, “What? This young kid is going to tell us how to start a business and make money? No way!”
Of course, 9 years later, “this young kid,” along with Jay Van Andel, would launch what would become one of the most successful network marketing businesses in the world—Amway—with sales last year at $10.9 billion. And Bernice Hansen would play no small part in that success.
She and her husband, Fred, were early distributors with Rich and Jay’s basement business, having forged a relationship initially through Nutrilite. “When we started out,” Bernice recalled, “we only had one product and one piece of literature, which Jay wrote and mimeographed himself, so at that time, it only cost $1 to get in the business.”
The Hansens eventually built a team of tens of thousands of IBOs (independent business owners) all over the globe and helped launch IBOAI (the Independent Business Owners’ Association International, formerly the American Way Association), which gave a voice to distributors and transformed Amway for the millions of IBOs and distributors to follow in their footsteps.
In fact, Bernice was the one to suggest that distributors’ heirs should be able to inherit the distributorship, one of the many facets of Amway that makes it a truly family-friendly business.
This fact is even more poignant today. In late September, Bernice Hansen passed away at age 101, leaving her business to two of her three daughters, Karen DeBlaay and Susan Ross, who were already profitable IBOs in their own right. They had already inherited the intangible lessons their remarkable mother had to teach, such as “to always be an encourager of people,” as Susan put it. She described her mother as always going “the extra mile to support those who worked hard to make their businesses succeed.”
“After Fred’s passing,” DeVos recently recalled, “Bernice carried on their Amway business with extraordinary enthusiasm and unwavering integrity, helping thousands of other distributors around the world find success in achieving their dreams.” In fact, within ten years of losing her husband in 1968, Bernice became a top distributor.
But Bernice’s legacy goes even further. Not only was she “hugely important” to Amway’s success, as Amway’s chief sales officer, John Parker, put it, she also gave back to her community, financially supporting such organizations as Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Van Andel Institute, and Cornerstone University, which now houses the Bernice Hansen Athletic Center. “Her legacy will always be remembered on campus,” noted Cornerstone President Joseph Stowell, commenting on her legendary generosity.
We also see another thread to Bernice’s story that will be increasingly important to many Network Marketing Central members. Today, more and more women, particularly Boomer women looking to secure their retirement years, are seeking the flexibility and infinite income potential that you can only find in network marketing. Bernice demonstrated, as early as the 1970s, what a woman in her 60s and beyond was capable of doing and earning with the MLM business model.
When it comes to demonstrating network marketing’s unlimited possibilities for financial freedom, sustainable growth, and making a difference in the world at every age, Bernice Hansen will light the way for at least another 100 years.
