SELF-MADE, What ‘Self-made’? The Word Appears To Have Lost Meaning 

Kylie Jenner’s Forbes magazine cover has evoked controversy on social media specifically on Twitter and Instagram where many have disapproved that Kylie is self-made as Forbes put it on the cover because she’s from a rich background and the success of her cosmetics business has been easily facilitated.

First of all, I am not a Kardashian follower as I don’t buy into anything they do or stand for but I have to congratulate Kylie upon reaching this milestone. I mean not many millionaires can turn millions into billions, so that’s where I give Kylie the credit. They’re so many rich celebrity and non-celebrity kids out there in the world who are born with the silver spoon in their mouth but still attain nothing besides living a lavish lifestyle expedited by their parents. The other example of a rich kid I can think of is Paris Hilton who was born into riches,  launched a line of accessories and perfume and fairly succeeded.

Did Paris succeed because of her fame? Probably. But I believe she also put in the hard work to make it a success something Kylie Jenner has also done too, coupled together with the business acumen of her mother, Kris Jenner who pushes her kids to succeed.

Let me also remind you that Paris was born into wealth and is simply famous for being rich, she managed to do something off her wealth and launched her own business at a time when social-media wasn’t even available, I am taking about 10-15 years back so the only exposure she had was through news papers, magazines and TV which were the main media by then. Paris also had a reality TV show however, unlike many people in this ‘I want to be famous generation’, Paris did not need the reality show to earn a dollar, the reality TV world needed Paris because she was famous, popular and the ‘it girl’, every girl wanted to be her and so did the reality TV world that  wanted to capitalize on her fame.

“Becoming wealthy off extreme exposure is becoming a reoccurring phenomenon” states Peace Hyde, head of digital @ForbesAfrica. Evidently that is what Kylie has done, she has taken advantage of the opportunities around her such as; her income from reality TV shows, her extreme exposure, fame and capitalized that into her business.

However, Kylie Jenner’s story is rather extraordinary. Firstly, she was born into riches and belongs to the ‘white privileged’. Secondly she made her money through reality TV  along with her family, so she had more money and enough funds to facilitate her cosmetics company or any business that she wanted to set-up. This is something that many ordinary people or budding entrepreneurs out there strive for through seeking loans from banks, funding organisations or simply saving up a portion of their salary each month to finance for their own businesses. Thirdly, Kylie has had more than enough money to put together a team of experts to push her business out there to the masses coupled together with her celebrity status which I believe contributed to the sales and growth of her business.

Another example of ‘privileged’ is the Simmons sister who had a reality TV show and launched a shoe line through Rebook (anybody remembers the show Runs House and their shoe line called Pastry). They’re a perfect example of black privileged but did not further take advantage of their earned fame from reality TV and seem to have become comfortable with just being famous off their parents back (Rev Run & Russell Simmons) probably thinking that many opportunities would come their way. If they had more Pastry products each season and launched other products line, I believe they would be where Kylie Jenner is today, on the cover of Forbes and inspiring many black girls. They had the “Black Privileged” thing going on: ‘light skinned, famous family and a marketable image to appeal to the masses. Black people, we can’t complain that we are not privileged, we are the ones who throwaway our privileges.

On the other hand, I find that @Forbes was inciting controversy from it’s readers because from my understanding, the term ‘Self-made’ refers to people who have acquired wealth and success and did not inherit or win it. In depth, self-made are people who have genuinely become successful through their own efforts, especially if they started out in life without money, education or high social status.
Lastly, how do you put Oprah and Kylie in the same self-made bracket when one is from a well-off family and the other is from a ‘pot background’.

I think Forbes needs to revise it’s category into segments. We can’t have reality TV stars, sports stars musicians and ordinary people who have genuinely attained success through hardship, raw talent and years of experience in the same list. It is rather belittling!
We need more genuine self-made stories.

Lastly, should the English dictionary revise the definition of ‘self-made’. It appears to have lost its core meaning and many people are using it loosely.

Happy reading 😊
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