Following her instincts. “I believe that many of my success habits were formed during my childhood,” Independent Senior National Sales Director Emeritus Sandy Miller says. “I had no idea that someday someone would reward me so well for skills that seemed so ordinary.”

Sandy learned these skills at age 15 when her father died. While her mother worked, Sandy was cook, housekeeper, baby sitter and full-time student. “I learned very early how to juggle many things, how to be organized and how to handle obstacles,” Sandy recalls.

Those abilities helped her build a successful Mary Kay business, beginning when her children were small. “At that time, I felt I could have a family or a business, but not both,” Sandy says. “Was I wrong! I’m so glad I didn’t wait until they were teenagers to do something for me.”

By following her instincts, Sandy made her dreams come true. “What a different course my life would have taken had I waited for the perfect time to begin,” she says. “I would still be thinking about it instead of living a life that surpasses most people’s dreams.”

That life includes enabling others to achieve what she has. “As my husband, Ed, puts it, the letters ‘NSD’ stand for something in addition to our title: Never Stop Dreaming,” Sandy says. “Helping other women believe in the power of their dreams is a constant excitement to me.”

Sandy is now busy with building a family legacy, sharing and mentoring her four grandchildren with the principles and philosophies Mary Kay taught her. “The leadership skill that stands out the most is to treat people the way I want to be treated and the lesson I learned very early on is, ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me,’” Sandy recalls.