Kylie Jenner's Entrepreneurial Genius

For pop culture fanatics, the Kardashian-Jenner clan is often synonymous with reality shows and celebrity magazine fodder, but one member of the family is fast emerging as the most successful of them all. Kylie Jenner, the youngest member of the clan and the daughter of Kris Jenner, found immense success just a few years after launching a cosmetics line called Kylie Cosmetics.

In an interview with Elle Canada in November of 2015, Kylie states, "I remember telling my mom a year ago that I wanted to do some acting, and she said, 'Kylie, you're a businesswoman."

For the launch of the lipstick line, Jenner went through a merry-go-round of interviews with a vast range of media from WWD to Bustle to PerezHilton . When Jenner speaks to the press, she tends to share just enough information to entice her followers and the media to come back and find out more. She has been using social media platforms to build her brand and capitalizing on the widespread use of mobile devices to create a buzz. In October 2018, she had over 116 million followers on Instagram. 

Kylie is the sole owner of Kylie Cosmetics. The youngest member of the Kardashian clan has proven adept in business, and her cosmetics company sits as a crown jewel in her family's business empire. 

According to Elle magazine, four of the six lipsticks released sold out in eight minutes and in ten minutes, all six sold out. The shades have unique names such as True Brown K and Dolce K, with one color inspired by Kylie's half-sister Khloe Kardashian. Online retailers, perhaps, also had a role to play in its popularity too. Jenner’s lip kits were on eBay Inc. (EBAY) before the sale ended with starting bids as high as $225, a leap compared to the $29 retail price. The least popular lipstick shade True Brown even sold for $68. In a move that could be considered good PR, Jenner urged her fans to avoid buying the kits at the jacked up prices from outside vendors. 

Complete Fashion, an industry publication, touted the 21-year-old as a “teen entrepreneur.” However, it is too early to gauge the staying power of the Kardashian brand, and if it is enough to create a cosmetics empire, or if the success of Kylie Cosmetics will follow the trend of the fame of the reality television it is based on. One day it is in, and goes out of style just as fast. 

In October 2015, she used the photo platform Instagram to hint that she would be releasing a lipstick line. She then posted a picture of herself modeling off various lipstick shades on her official Instagram account. In addition to marketing her cosmetics via Instagram, Jenner has an official app for both iPhone and Android, which features exclusive images and videos, which often promote her various products. 

In January of 2015, her estimated net worth was $5 million. In the summer of 2018, Forbes estimated her net worth at over $900 million. If she surpasses a billion by age 23, she will surpass Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. 

Jenner recently collaborated with established brands to give her brand more mileage. In February 2016, the German shoe and sportswear company Puma confirmed that they signed a $1 million contract to retain Jenner as a spokeswoman. She has since jumped ship, joining her family at Adidas.