Rags to riches
Husband-and-wife team Enrique Varela and Graciela Mier de Varela of Zacatecas, Mexico, were the top Herbalife distributors in the world last year, racking up network sales topping $100 million. The key to their success: finding ways to sell the company’s diet-shake mixes and other wares to relatively poor customers. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
Top sellers Enrique Varela and Graciela Mier de Varela attend an Herbalife Nutrition Club meeting in an upper-class residence in Zacatecas, Mexico. This year, the couple received a check for $1.8 million, the largest bonus in the history of the multi-level marketing company. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
Gisela Anahi Gutierrez, center, delivers a nutritional shake to Enrique Varela, left, at the Herbalife club meeting in Zacatecas. Varela and his wife pioneered the concept of making Herbalife into a social activity through Nutrition Clubs, now 30,000 strong in Mexico. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
Antonio Lara, 23, drinks an herbal tea, part of his morning ritual, at the Herbalife Nutrition Club meeting in Zacatecas. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
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Alejandro Aguillar receives a facial during the Herbalife Nutrition Club meeting in Zacatecas. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
Juana Mata Tenorio, 61, left, and Eucevia Perez Sanchez, 74, drink herbal tea at the Herbalife club meeting. (Jennifer Szymaszek / For The Times)
