“I’ve started two of my businesses just using social media,” says Kim Kardashain West. “My career came about at a time when social media was just starting.… I took advantage of it and I figured out how to use it to my benefit.”
The celebrity-turned-entrepreneur has built beauty and fragrance businesses that, according to market reports, sell an estimated 350,000 units per product launch and could result in an estimated turnover of more than $100 million in revenue in the first year. Not bad for reality TV star often dismissed as famous for being famous. (“What does that matter?” she asks. “I never got that.”)
Certainly, when thinking about the intersection of influence and beauty — the two themes that BoF’s latest print edition explores — Kardashian West, with her 110 million Instagram followers and her distinctive beauty look that has influenced an entire industry, falls right into the juncture. Could her secret talent be that she is actually a savvy businesswoman?
Listen to Kardashian West talk to Imran Amed about her rise to fame, her approach to business and what’s next on the beauty entrepreneur’s agenda.
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