The woman credited with fine-tuning Amway's global image is garnering the spotlight herself.

Candace Matthews is Black Enterprise's Corporate Executive of the Year. (PDF, 7MB)

Amway Corp.'s global marketing chief officer is featured on the September cover of the business magazine -- which hits newsstands today -- holding a globe.

Matthews, 50, is the first private company executive to receive the honor. She was selected for her “business prowess and inventiveness” and for forging a marketing approach that “blends innovation, technology and interpersonal relationships.”

And she’s in good company. Executives at corporations like Ford, McDonald’s and CNBC also have received the magazine’s honor.
In the six-page spread, Matthews acknowledges it took some coaxing by a headhunter to convince her to consider leaving her previous position as president of Soft Sheen-Carson, a consumer products division of the cosmetics giant L'Oreal USA.

Her resume also included top marketing positions at Procter & Gamble and the Coca Cola Co.

"Would (the role) be bigger than what I'm doing now?" she wondered at the time.

We knew Candace was enterprising. Now she has the award to prove it.