I took a poll of college students to see if people believed that Kylie Jenner deserved the title of the youngest self-made billionaire. Going in, I had a guess what the majority would be, but I was unsure of by how much. She does have much more money than the rest of her family, which points to self-made. Yet, the odds of her even having half of her money without being born in to the Kardashian-Jenner family are very slim.
The results were very heavily skewed. Not a single person said she deserved the title. One person was unsure. Every other person said she was undeserving of the title because of her childhood fame and wealth. Adding an explanation was optional and here were some of the answers people gave.
"Her money wasn't inherited but she was born with a platform that made everything 10x easier."
"She got famous off of her family."
"She's incredibly successful and should be praised for her business sense, but she built her company through her family name."
"Her success would be impossible without her familiy's fame and wealth."
"She didn't have to make her name. Everyone already knew her, her family, etc. Although she built her company on her own and kudos to her, she isn't self-made."
"She didn't really do any work to get to be a billionaire, she was just born hot and to a famous family that have a reality show."
"She didn't do it by herself. She's only famous because of her sister."
"She only has clout because of her family."
"Because she got her fame from the people and the circumstances that happened around her."
"She was born with more money than I'll probably ever see in my life."
"She was given the tools necessary to become successful without any work to get them. Every other self-made million/billionaire started from the ground up."
"She was born into a wealthy family. It's impossible for her to be self made."
"Kylie Jenner should not be called a self-made billionaire since she had the sources, media connections, and money to get famous. Her family is wealthy. The dictionary defines the term self-made as someone who succeeds in life without assistance. Oprah Winfrey is an example of a self-made billionaire. Kylie used her fame and money to sell products that she did not make herself, but people bought them because her name was on the products. It is possible to succeed without having a wealthy family or a reality show if you work hard and maintain a positive mindset. Just saying."
"She doesn't fit the definition of self-made."
"She's only famous because of her family."
"I associate the term self-made with starting from the bottom. Kylie Jenner wouldn't have the success that she does if she wasn't born into wealth and opportunity."
"She was born into a family with an extremely well platform that easily gave her the opportunity to start a company and funded it with money she already had."
"She had way too much help to be considered self-made."
"I feel like she wouldn't have been so successful if she wasn't apart of this specific family, but I also think she did work hard to be this successful. Maybe she just took all the opportunities she got."
"Kylie Jenner has had the reach of being a Kardashian and being on TV since she was a child. Without this reach and influence on millions of people from that, she would never have become a billionaire, nor would Kylie Cosmetics have been nearly as successful as it is today."
"1. She had the publicity from a young age. 2. She had the money and has the money to pretty much do anything thanks to her family. So what exactly did she do herself?"
"She reeks of privilege."
So, in conclusion, "If anything, Kim K is more self-made with that sex tape." But Kylie doesn't deserve to be compared to people who came from nothing. She undervalued the climb to success by not seeing she was born halfway up the latter.
