DEBATE: Is Kylie Jenner right to call herself a ‘self-made’ billionaire?
Is Kylie Jenner right to call herself a ‘self-made’ billionaire?
Naiya Ghuman, founder and chief executive of itsacrackingdeal.com, says YES.
The vast majority of people will believe that Kylie Jenner has only become a billionaire through her direct access to a range of privileges and connections. But remember that she hasn’t used any family inheritance to get to where she is now. In fact, I believe that her public profile has simply given her more motivation to succeed by herself.
Jenner should be seen as an inspiration for other teenagers – especially women – to know that, with hard work and dedication, they can succeed. She bravely chose to forge her own path through a determination to escape the constant limelight surrounding her family.
Yes, this family may have given her a small platform to begin with, but she has had to create her own niche and live by her own decisions.
As a young entrepreneur myself, my upbringing has also helped me make connections which will be invaluable in the future. However, rather than making me and my company, my family has simply supported me.
All entrepreneurs need support when they are starting out – it does not make their achievements less valid.
Leon Emirali, an entrepreneur, investor, and communications specialist, says NO.
Of course she isn’t. While it may be true that Kylie Jenner hasn’t inherited a cent from her family, it is preposterous to disregard the non-financial inheritance that she will have received from her parents.
As a daughter of the world’s most famous family, just growing up around the great and the good and knowing the right things to say and the proper ways to behave will have proved invaluable in her march towards becoming a billionaire in her early twenties.
Given her family background, it’s unlikely that her emails ever went unanswered or that her calls were left unreturned.
By defining herself as “self-made”, Jenner is diminishing the achievements of those who have known genuine struggle as youngsters and sought an alternative destiny through sheer talent and determination.
I’ve no doubt that Kylie Jenner has both of those assets in abundance, but how much more would she have needed had she grown up on a council estate in Luton, rather than the gated communities of LA?