Forbes has released its 2019 list of billionaires and sitting pretty at #2057 is beauty mogul and reality queen Kylie Jenner.
Not only is this Jenner’s first appearance - she’s also become Forbes’ youngest ever self-made billionaire. But it’s those two words - self made - that have got the internet all in a tizz.
We’ve all been keeping up with the Jenner/Kardashian clan since Kylie was a kid. That’s got the world wide web wondering - how ‘self-made’ is she, really?
Kylie made most of her money through Kylie Cosmetics - products like $100 lip gloss sets and $360 makeup brush bundles. But she’s also a socialite with more than 175 million fans - a following she’d built prior to her entrepreneurial pursuits.
So to the internet we say this: we’ve found your self-made billionaire make-up mogul. The other one.
The self-made name you need to know: Pat McGrath
Pat McGrath’s cosmetics empire surpassed the billion mark in July 2018 - before Kylie Cosmetics.
Her story couldn’t be further from Kylie’s - she was raised in Northampton by a single mother who’d immigrated to the UK from Jamaica
McGrath worked as a receptionist in the early 1990s to support her make-up artistry, before getting her big break working with i-D’s then fashion editor.
She became a make-up icon working with fashion magazines and on runways worldwide, becoming synonymous with her inspired use of textures.
In 2015, she took her mother’s advice and launched her own line: Pat McGrath Labs. She self-funded the business for a year, before opening it up to investors.
Soon beauty superstore Sephora began carrying her limited edition products in their stores across the world.
Her push into the 10-figure club came when Eurazeo Brands, a New York City-based investment company, took a $60 million minority stake in Pat McGrath Labs.
The rush of funds brought her to the billion dollar mark faster than Kylie Cosmetics but the achievement didn’t draw as much attention as Jenner almost making it.
The meaning of “self made”
Many of the 2000+ billionaires on this year’s list are from inherited wealth, like #17: Alice Walton, one of the three heirs to the Walmart fortune.
Either that, or they received backing from outside parties, like #715: Donald Trump, who famously said he was given a “small” loan of $1 million from his father.
The actual definition of ‘self-made’ is still up for debate.
In 2014, Forbes started giving their trademark 400 lists a “self made” ranking from 1 to 10 - 1 being inherited wealth with no work put in and 10 being a true rags to riches story.
Due to her freshness on the list, Kylie doesn't have a “self made” number, but our guess is somewhere between one and Rupert Murdoch level.
Forbes' self made ranking system. Source: Forbes
