Gilbert: Stockton Avon rep featured in new catalog
Lori Gilbert Record Staff Writer @LoriGRecord
Sep 15, 2018 at 1:00 PM Sep 17, 2018 at 6:19 PM
For 42 years, Stockton's Theresa Moreno has been passing out Avon catalogs to her customers.
Now she's in it.
Selected with 20 other Avon representatives for the company's most recent campaign, Moreno, a 64-year-old mother of two and grandmother of four, is found in group photo in the front of the catalog and on page 86 promoting the scent line, Rave, which she said she wears.
She'd have modeled any product, though. No one would sell a company's wares for 42 years unless he or she believed in them.
"Everything I buy is from Avon, because I use the skin care, shampoo, conditioner, lotions," Moreno said. "And the eye make-up remover and deodorant."
She doesn't know if it was her loyalty to the products or longevity as a sales rep that earned her an invitation to be considered for a spot in the catalog, the first Avon has ever peopled with its own representatives.
"They sent an email and said, 'you have been one of those chosen. Would you be interested in doing a photo shoot in New York?' " Moreno said. "What? Are you kidding me? Oh, my gosh. I was very excited. I thought, 'I have to go for it.' Being with Avon for so long, I have to go for it. It was exciting to get the other email saying you have been chosen to participate in the photo shoot."
Moreno gathered with the others — some of whom she'd previously met at Avon meetings — in New York in April.
"I've done trips with Avon before and they're high class," said Moreno, who has won vacations through her sales success to such places as Bermuda, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Disney World. "I get off the plane, go down to get my luggage and there's a guy holding a sign with your name. That was the highlight of my trip."
Whisked to her hotel, Moreno was taken the next day with the other models to a warehouse for the photo shoot.
She had a makeup artist, hair stylist and someone suggesting clothes.
"My guy put extensions in my hair to look fuller," Moreno said "I don't have that much hair. That was fun. I asked the make-up artist to get rid of my wrinkles, and she said that's for Photoshop. They didn't Photoshop the photos, so they didn't get rid of my wrinkles."
The cover of the catalog announces:
Risk takers
Supermoms and
Trusted friends
No fashion models. Only role models."
Moreno may never have considered herself any of those things during her 42 years of selling Avon products.
Selling Avon was something to do.
Born and raised in Tracy, she moved to Stockton in 1971 and worked as a bookkeeper. She and her husband, Joe, also from Tracy, stayed here after marrying in 1972.
"We bought our home in 1975 and we had just moved into the neighborhood," Moreno said. "I was a stay-at-home mom and back in those days, we door-knocked. I thought it would be a great to knock on the door and take the kids with me. It was basically why I started. It was something I could do at home with my kids (her daughter was born in 1972, her son in 1975)."
She began knocking on neighborhood doors in 1976.
"It was very nice. I would say the majority of people were home," Moreno said. "A lot of women were home and the door was always opened. They were very receptive."
Over time, Moreno's territory extended beyond her neighborhood. When her kids were in school, she went to work at Long's Drug Store in Quail Lakes. She worked the make-up counter, Longs actually sending her to classes to learn about the beauty products she sold.
"Even when I worked at Longs, I bought most of my products through Avon," Moreno said. "It was easy. It came to my door and I didn't have to figure out which ones I needed. I knew what I wanted."
She continued to sell Avon products, she said "because of my customers. I didn't want to let them down."
She built friendships with her customers, and they have delighted in seeing her in one of their catalogues.
"A lot of my customers ask me to sign it," Moreno reports. "I feel like a movie star."
Talking to Moreno, it's easy to understand how she's stayed in business so long, selling $110,000 worth of product annually for the direct sales company. Avon's global annual sales total $5.7 billion.
Moreno not only continues to sell the product to about 300 customers, but she oversees 235 reps throughout California and in Oregon and Idaho.
She's personable and a believer in Avon, which has grown from selling cosmetics and skin care products to home décor, fashion, shoes and jewelry.
Her long-term goal is to sell Avon for 50 years, but in the meantime, she has her eye on selling enough to win another trip for her and Joe, her husband of 46 years. This one is to Maui.
Her modeling days may be over, but she'd like to see Avon continue putting its representatives in catalogs.
"In my heart I'm hoping they do," Moreno said. "I want other representatives to experience what I experienced."
Contact reporter Lori Gilbert at (209) 546-8284 or lgilbert@recordnet.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorigrecord.
Incorrect annual sales for Avon was included in the print and initial online version of this article. The error has been corrected.