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Forbes gees it, Kylie Jenner is not the youngest self made billionaire

billionaire March 7, 2019
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Forbes has been a well-respected publication for a while now…

They have these entertaining lists — like Hip-Hop’s Cash Kings — that cover the worlds biggest moneymakers, they’re frequently name-dropped in songs, and, most importantly, it’s just hard to make earning money problematic.

Yet, shockingly, they found a way.

Tuesday of this week the finance site reported that makeup mogul, model, and a reality TV star, Kylie Jenner was the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire, per their annual billionaires’ list.

While this content may seem on brand and surely believable, the statement has received major backlash from all sides, calling-out the site out for their usage of the term ‘self-made’.

https://twitter.com/DaleLauraaa/status/1103714360390832129

As we all know, Kylie is apart of the Kardashian empire, meaning the moment she popped out of mothers womb she had money in her bank account.

Add the facts that Keeping Up With the Kardashians has been a smash hit since it debuted in 2007, plus, her spin-off, Life of Kylie, which has amassed her a following that’s more than viral, and the unrealistic body and face modifications that makes every girl jealous, we should understand the anger.

The truth of the matter is that while Kylie has had resources upon resources to position her into a 10-figure net worth, none of her sisters, who have had the same opportunities and more, have yet reached that status.

Kim has a mobile game app and is the star of KUWTK, she has made her bed with Kanye and all things Yeezy; Kendall managed to use her privilege to snag a modeling career but didn’t quite hit the bank, and Khloe, Kourtney, and Rob fizzled into ventures of their own. None quite hitting the bank like their younger sister.

But Kylie, at the age of 17, used $250,000 of her earnings from her various business ventures and created the first of her eponymous lip kits. To say it’s done well would be an understatement, racking in $360 billion last year alone.

No Jenner or Kardashian gave her that.

Why it matters

No one is knocking the  21-year-old and her accomplishments but throwing out  ‘youngest ever self-made billionaire’ ignores those who actually came up from nothing and misrepresents what the grind actually looks like.

When a kid sees that someone like Lebron, who actually comes from poverty and who had to work for every single opportunity that came his way, it gives hope because, for a lot of those kids, it’s the same.

Instead of looking at what they don’t have and getting discouraged, they can look at Bron and get inspired to overcome it.

Kylie’s story doesn’t quite represent that. I’m not sure a kid who has nothing can look at her origins and become inspired to overcome where they’re at.

Talks of Kylie’s self-made legitimacy really peaked when Dictionary.com called Forbes out, tweeting them a technical definition of what ‘self-made’ actually means.

‘Succeeded in a life unaided’ was the burn they issued the storied publication and the internet came to their praise for the schooling.

Kylie’s career wasn’t “unaided” because her business success is hugely impacted by her social media presence, which is in large due to being on KUWTK since she was 10 years old.

Shoutout to Kylie for reaching the billionaire status, but please don’t think we’re fooled into thinking you did it alone.

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