How Mary Cosby Achieved a Net Worth of $5 Million

If you are an avid watcher of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, then you are probably familiar with Mary Cosby. Mary stood out like a sore thumb in the show due to her position as First Lady of a Pentecostal church. Despite being active in the church, viewers tend to remember her for her controversial statements and moments.

For instance, according to Screen Rant, there was a leaked video of her chiding her congregation for being stingy. Yet, putting aside her controversy, she has done well for herself by achieving a net worth of $5 Million. So, how was she able to achieve this level of financial success? Here are five ways she achieved that success.

1. She Inherited a Lot of Businesses from Her Grandmother

Mary’s grandmother, Rosemary Cosby, first worked as a housekeeper. While working as a housekeeper, she would conduct sermons in her home. With the money she saved from housekeeping, she used it to open The Southern Plantation Restaurant and then her first church.

With the earnings from the restaurant and the church, she was able to establish many additional churches, a radio ministry, and a private school. Rosemary was willing to leave her fortune to Mary on the condition she married her husband, Robert Cosby Sr. Essentially, she was being asked to marry her step-grandfather.

At that time, Mary was in her 20s while Robert was in his 40s. Mary ultimately agreed to the arrangement. By the time Rosemary passed on, her fortune was worth millions, which Mary inherited. However, this was not an easy decision for Mary.

According to Distractify, her fans and relatives were appalled by her decision despite Robert not being her blood grandfather. Although she had doubts about the arrangement, she was able to work this situation out with her husband.

2. She Was a Cast Member of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

Mary never needed this show to make money since she had already inherited a massive fortune from her grandmother. However, most people do not believe in relying on one stream of income, hence why Mary may have chosen to be a part of this series. During the first season, she did not earn a lot of money.

According to The Things, she would earn $2,000 per episode. However, the show agreed to increase her wages in consecutive seasons. During the show’s second season, she negotiated for a higher wage. The show was in an awkward situation since she had already signed a contract agreeing to the original payment.

Ultimately, the show agreed to increase her wage from $2,000 to $6,500. She was satisfied with the salary and signed the new contract. The show was also considering increasing her wage further in season 3.

However, she did not show up for season 3. Although she did not make an official statement, people concluded that she quit the show. Despite not appearing in the third season, you can safely conclude that she made quite a lot of money from this show.

3. She Owns a Collection of Chanel Handbags

Most of the clothes Mary wears are designer brands. However, she seems to have a preference for Chanel handbags. She once gave a tour of her closet in a video released by Bravo Insider. Her closet is so big that it occupies several rooms throughout her mansion.

With such a huge closet, you would expect to find some dresses or shoes, but instead, the closet is mainly for her handbags. Chanel apparels are generally expensive. For instance, according to Us Weekly, she owns Chanel handbags which have a resale value of up to $26,900.

So essentially, you could use that amount to purchase a car. Although she stacks a variety of Chanel handbags, she has a preference. She revealed in the video that she likes the Cuban cigar box handbag. The Cuban cigar box handbag is made from the same material used to make Cuban cigars.

Cuban cigars are generally used to depict some form of the high life. Instead of Cuban cigars, she depicts her luxurious lifestyle with the handbag. Since most men love Cuban cigars, she felt that most men would also love this handbag.

4. She Owns a Perfume Line

At some point, her congregation became concerned with her flashy lifestyle. Some members accused her of using the church money to increase her affluence. To cast aside these allegations, she revealed that she had other sources of income and revealed that she was running her perfume line called Mari Marta.

She habitually promotes her perfume line on Instagram. That alone would be proof that she did not need the church to make money. In fact, Mary has claimed that she does not make any money from her church. She simply sees the running of the church as her calling. She revealed that she was working for her perfume line as an event specialist.

5. Together With Her Husband, She Started Other Businesses

Mary and Robert own five apartments and mansions throughout the United States. For instance, they have houses in Utah, New York, Florida, Nevada, and Indiana. Besides the houses, they also own a printing company. The company creates billboards and also prints adverts on shopping bags. So far, the houses and the printing company are the only assets the public knows about. In an interview, she revealed she had other businesses but instead focused on the two assets.

Conclusion

Running multiple businesses is not easy. As a result, we need to give Mary some credit. Of all the businesses she inherited from her grandmother, none failed. Additionally, she went on to start other businesses with her husband. Her ability to manage several businesses simultaneously is admirable.

A big takeaway from her story is that trust is key in running enterprises. It was not easy for Mary to agree to the methods she would acquire her businesses. Also, she likely did not know how to run some of the businesses. Fortunately, she believed in her abilities and decided to trust her grandmother. By trusting her grandmother, Mary has retained her net worth of $5 million.

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