Charlotte Beers
The daughter of a Montana cowboy who moved to Texas to work in oil-related jobs as a engineer-entrepreneur, Charlotte Beers was born on July 26, 1935 in Beaumont Texas. Ms. Beers grew up mainly in Houston, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana where she developed her now famous southern charm that has earned her the title in the advertising world as the "Steel Magnolia".
Heavily influenced by her father, Beers is quoted as saying that her father instilled in her the drive to "do something that would make a contribution and not just get married." From the beginning Charlotte Beers was not interested in pursuing the "typical courses saved for women".
Early on Beers found a fondness for the "wonderful clarity" of math. In 1957 she graduated from Baylor University with degrees in Math and Physics, a rare occurrence for a woman at that time. Shortly after graduation, Beers moved to southeast Texas where she taught engineering algebra to petroleum managers in the oil fields. In search of something more, she soon moved on to work for Mars Inc. in Houston, the food and candy company, where Beers worked on Uncle Ben's Rice. Beers worked as a consumer research supervisor, "I did multiple regression analysis on a calculator."
Newly married, it was during this time that Charlotte Beers gave birth to a daughter. For the first years of her daughters life Beers cut back her work schedule until she realized that she was compromising her own desires.
"Business saved me," said Beers, who returned to working at Uncle Ben's full time when her daughter was three years old, "I didn't go back to work because I needed the money, but because nothing was happening at home. It was much more fun analyzing plant capacity than drinking coffee with the girls." Beers reveals now that although she does not have many regrets, she has had to grapple with the personal sacrifices that have come from making work her top priority, these included a desire to have spent more time with her daughter and a failed second marriage.
Promoted to brand manager at Uncle Ben's in 1966, she was one of the first women in America to hold the distinction of such a high powered marketing position. Problems arose when she was working on Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice with 23 herbs and seasonings, at this time the concept of putting something in with the box of rice was new and many women did not know what to do with the "balls" of seasoning. The company received numerous complaints: "look what I found in my rice!" Beers almost lost her job, until the company figured out that they needed to put seasonings into separate sealed packets.
Charlotte Beers considered herself very lucky in her first job, "my whole love of brands, my passion for a dialogue with the consumer, how to aggressively protect the quality of a product, the foundation of how I look at a number of things was built there (at Uncle Ben's)."
In 1969 when her first marriage broke up, she was offered a position as an account executive in Chicago with J. Walter Thompson, the advertising agency for Uncle Ben's. Once again, Beers was able to land a job that at the time was typically reserved for men. Wayne Fickinger, who headed up JWT in Chicago in the 1970's recalled that "Charlotte had a computer for a brain...I needed help and I didn't care whether she wore a dress or pants."
At J. Walter Thompson during this time Beers developed a reputation for being somewhat "abrasive and over-demanding", one co-worker remembered her as a "steamroller who made decisions and then flattened anyone who got in her way when she tried to implement them", however others explain that her demeaner was necessary to combat the "undercurrents of sexism she faced."
During the 1970's Beers worked with important clients such as Sears, Quaker and Gillette. In a now famous story, Beers was called upon to sell a campaign idea that had been previously rejected. She disassembled a drill before 30 male executives and described features that she felt could be touted better. Ralph Rydholm as ad executive who worked with Beers said the demonstration helped Beers inspire "a whole new spirit and attitude in how people worked on the business."
It wasn't long before she was again promoted to Senior Vice President, the first female to hold this title in JWT's 106 year history as well as director of client services. It was at this point that she hit the glass ceiling, Elizabeth Harrington, president to of the Don Tennant Company and former colleague of Ms. Beers says "they (J.Walter Thompson) were afraid to turn the reins of power over to her because she wasn't a member of the old boy club." even though she was considered the most competent person at the company.