Kim Kardashian is worth more than $1 billion, according to Forbes as of July 2023. She wasn’t always at the helm of a billion-dollar business empire, though.
But Kardashian’s fame predates her own business endeavors
Her family’s first moments in the spotlight were when the patriarch of the family, Robert Kardashian Sr., was in the public eye as O.J. Simpson’s lawyer.
Kim Kardashian’s first solo appearance in the world of entertainment came as a stylist for singer and actress Brandy Norwood in 2004.
Source: Cosmopolitan, People
Her skills as a stylist also landed her a spot on TV’s “The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie from 2003 to 2006.
Source: IMDb
Kim told Variety that her career as a businesswoman actually dates back to before she appeared on TV
She said it started in high school when she was working at a boutique and in her dad’s office. She said she discovered eBay while she was working at Robert Sr.’s office and loved shopping.
Source: Variety, Biography
Robert Sr. reportedly told her she could buy five pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes as long as she paid him back plus interest
Source: Variety
The shoes were $700 heels in a style worn by Jennifer Lopez in one of her early music videos.
“Everyone had to have them,” Kim told Variety.
Source: Variety
She told Variety that she saw the opportunity to make money and capitalized on it
Kim said she called up a store, bought five pairs of the Manolos for $700 each, and resold them on eBay for $2,500.
She said she became so “obsessed” with the return that she began to sell off her own clothes that she no longer wore.
Source: Variety
In 2006, Kim and her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe, opened their first DASH store in their hometown of Calabasas, California
The concept behind the store — a sort of consignment shop — was pretty similar to Kim’s love for reselling.
Source: Variety
In the following decade they opened more locations, including one in Miami and one in the Soho neighborhood of New York City
Kim announced they’d be shutting DASH doors in April 2018 as the sisters continue to work on their own brands and families.
Source: Fashionista
Kim said her original idea for the reality show, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” was to bring attention to the DASH brand
Source: Variety
“I was thinking, this might not last very long, but we’ll grow a great business and expand online,” she told Variety
“I thought it would be great press. I didn’t think it would turn into what it turned into.”
And it turned into something huge
In 2018, Complex ranked “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” one of the best reality TV shows of all time, behind only MTV’s “The Real World.”
Source: Variety, Complex
In February 2007, a sex tape with Kim and Ray J — Brandy Norwood’s brother whom Kim dated from 2003 to 2006 — surfaced and made its way into the news
Kim sued the entertainment company distributing the tape at the time.
Source: Cosmopolitan, BET, TMZ
She reportedly settled the case for $5 million
Source: NBC2
While the tape wasn’t technically part of her career path, she did tell Oprah she’s “not naive to the fact” that it helped launch her into fame
Source: Oprah’s Next Chapter
“I think that’s how I was definitely introduced to the world,” she said
Source: Oprah’s Next Chapter
At the end of 2007, Kim posed for Playboy, and the shoot was captured on the first season of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”
She said she was so nervous that she had to sit down with the magazine’s founder and then-editor-in-chief, Hugh Hefner, who she credited with helping convince her to pose.
Source: People
The DVDs are split up by physical focus — there’s “Ultimate Butt Body Sculpt,” “Amazing Abs Body Sculpt,” and “Butt Blasting Cardio Step
She said they were inspired by her love for doing workout videos with her sisters in their teenage years.
Source: “Fit in Your Jeans by Friday”
In 2009, Kardashian co-founded a fashion subscription service called ShoeDazzle
It provided members with a curated selection of accessories and shoes for around $40 a month.
By 2012 the service had acquired 10 million members and expanded into women’s clothing, too, according to TechCrunch.
In 2013, the service merged with one of its biggest competitors, rival fashion subscription service JustFab.
In 2015 Kim published “Selfish” — a small coffee table book filled with 448 pages of selfies she had taken between 2006 and 2014
Source: Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic
The entire first collection was reportedly inspired by Calabasas and included dresses, chokers, hats, sweatpants, and more
Later seasons included itty-bitty Yeezys, the luxury lifestyle sneakers developed by Kanye West and Adidas.
Source: Vogue, Quartz, HighSnobiety
For the past few years, Kim has also been speaking at and even headlining conferences
She was at Glamour’s Women of the Year Summit, Create & Cultivate, the #BlogHer16 Conference, Re/Code, and more.
Source: Forbes, WWD, TechCrunch
In 2022, Kardashian announced Skky Partners
She said the private equity fund that would focus on investments in consumer and media companies along with the hospitality, luxury and digital and e-commerce sectors.
Kardashian co-founded the firm with Jay Sammons, a former partner at Carlyle Group, who previously invested in popular brands like Beats By Dre and streetwear company Supreme.
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