We all know the usual Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. We’ve heard those names a lot and we understand what they do. Male-owned businesses have more recognition these days, however, the world hasn’t shown enough recognition to female business owners who have built an empire in this different world of fame and being in the entertainment, music, fashion industry, and being a public figure. Being a woman in a very competitive industry where men are the majority of easily getting what they want is tough. I have great respect for all women in the industry, however, I wanted to bring up these five women who have gained success in an instant and created a brand based on what they are passionate about and built an empire without letting any negative opinions getting in their way. As Ariana Grande once said, “God is a woman.”
- Kylie Cosmetics – Kylie Jenner
Let’s face the truth, many have criticized Kylie Jenner for having it easy in the industry as she is a child of nepotism. However, I don’t think there is a reason to shame her work just for coming from fame. She grew up being surrounded by older sisters who were in the light and she started to gain fame from that. Being in the public eye at such a young age can build up insecurities by people over social media pointing out. Insider.com revealed that Kylie Jenner got lip fillers after a guy’s comment. The fact that a male got in the way of her confidence shows that male dominance is to an extent harmful. This made her feel “Unkissible ”. Insider mentions on Keeping up with The Kardashians Kylie was asked if her lips and insecurities at a young age influenced her decision to start Kylie Cosmetics, she responded with, “For sure. I think my love for makeup started with my insecurity with my lips.” Kylie turned insecurity into a multi-million dollar business. Kylie Cosmetics is now worth $900 million dollars and she is the youngest female to be on Forbes ranking America’s richest self-made. Kylie has expanded her company to even more branches such as KylieSwim, KylieBaby, KylieSkin, and who knows what’s coming up next. Part of Kylie’s goal to expand her company was to sell 51% of her company to Coty Inc in November 2019 for $600 million. She is a trendsetter for a new way of marketing where she connects with her audience and demographic, Gen Z teen girls. Instead of going old school with commercials, she attracts her consumers using Instagram Stories and Snapchat. To this day, Kylie has built an empire.
Mission: Took an insecurity and created a successful business out of it, showing young girls they can accomplish anything from small to large.
- Fenty Beauty / Savage X Fenty – Rihanna
Rihanna is known for her talent in music. A lot of people begged Rihanna to start her own makeup brand so she did. People love Fenty Beauty because of the diversity in the range of skin tones. Fenty Beauty is now worth an estimated total of $2.8 million which is not bad for just starting up as Fenty Beauty was launched in 2017. Rihanna also launched Savage X Fenty in 2018 a year after her beauty line. Savage X Fenty is known to be an empowering lingerie brand dedicated to helping women feel confident in their own bodies for themselves. The line features underwear, bras, sleepwear, loungewear, and more. Savage X Fenty is worth $270 million dollars. Savage X Fenty has gained recognition because of the fact that the line is made specifically for women to feel good around themselves. Rihanna mentions in an interview on ExtraTV that, “Savage X the brand, we redefine sexy, we want them to feel sexy no matter what society has told them before.” Overall, Rihanna being a woman of color in the beauty industry really became a powerful role model to look up to for young women, she showcases the art of doing things for yourself and not to please anyone else.
Mission: Women to feel confident in their skin tone and provide a diverse skin tone range for everyone
- SKIMS – Kim Kardashian West
Glamour Magazine ranked SKIMS shapewear as #3 on the list of 17 best shapewear for women to wear. Kim Kardashian West, best known for KKW Beauty, has gained $100 million in revenue and Kim K owns all 100% of it according to Forbes. Kim told the La Times, “I feel like shapewear has always been a decade in the making for me, I’ve always cut up my shapewear, sewed it, dyed it to get the right color tone, so to me, to have shapewear that was seamless was important. A large color range and size range was also really important to me.” Kim’s goal here was to create shapewear for women of all skin tones and sizes to feel confident and secure in themselves. She took an idea that was personal to her and created a way for it to be accessible for everyone. SKIMS has expanded its marketing by holding SKIMS trucks in the malls of Los Angeles, creating pop-up shops, billboards, and commercials. Kim used her platform and built her business to satisfy her fans and customers.
Mission: Women to feel secure, comfortable, and confident in shapewear for all sizes and skin tones.
- Rare Beauty – Selena Gomez
we have all seen Selena Gomez grow up on the Disney Channel and now seeing her have her own makeup brand is amazing. Selena launched Rare Beauty in September of 2020. She also released a song called “Rare” going along with her beauty brand. Selena’s goal with her makeup was for anyone who wears her makeup to wear it to enhance their beauty and features, not hide them. Selena mentions to Parade.com, “People of my generation have all this pressure to look a certain way, and I wanted to make a line that took away a bit of that pressure. I use real people in the campaigns.” She wants to show that beauty standards change and we are all human at the end of the day. Rare Beauty has $60 million in revenue and is continuously growing. Selena said on Glamour Magazine, “I want us to all stop comparing ourselves to each other and just start embracing our own uniqueness.” And that is what being rare means.
Mission: People to enhance their features and beauty instead of covering them up, be rare.
- 818 Tequila – Kendall Jenner
Kendall Jenner took a different route with her business plan, since she is already in the fashion industry as a model dealing with makeup as her career, she wanted to experience a different industry she was passionate about ― the spirits business. In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kendall mentioned, “Although I found a lot of tequilas which I really loved I didn’t really see one for my generation, something that was approachable, aesthetically pleasing, socially aware, and gender-neutral, when I did a little bit of research I found out that the industry was predominantly male-dominated and coming from a really strong female family it just drove me even harder into the space.” 818 Tequila was released in May 2021 and is now sold and takes orders from almost over 80 countries in the world. We know the business is expanding and developing new ways to create more sustainability in their products and a drink where everyone can enjoy.
Mission: Break the trend of the spirit industry being male-dominated and create a drink that can be enjoyable and good for the environment.
There are many other women in the entertainment industry who have really shown their determination for their passions and what they hope to achieve and show the public. These women know their business strategy and what it takes to succeed in a very competitive industry. Creating millions of dollars to improve their businesses is what is leading to the expansion of their companies and creating different aspects of the brand. As young women, it is important for us to know how we can achieve our goals, create something big out of our passions or hobbies, and the lessons we want the public to learn from something we built.
Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2019-11-21/kim-kardashian-west-skims-shapewear-thanksgiving
https://www.glamour.com/story/selena-gomez-rare-beauty-line-details