It’s all about entrepreneurship. Not about race or gender.
Sure, there are systemic issues in our society that make it more difficult for blacks and/or women to make it into the billionaire’s club, but the lack of lack women billionaires has been mostly because of a scarcity of role models and cultural norms.
Now, women are discovering that they don’t need permission from the gatekeepers to make dough, they can make their own, and they are breaking all barriers and stereotypes.
I would like to narrow my commentary to self-made female billionaires.
In my way of thinking, inherited billions or billions from divorce it’s the old paternalistic way to make money, for example:
Alice Walton ($70 billion), was the lucky daughter of Sam Walton the founder of Walmart. She didn’t earn those billions herself.
MacKenzie Scott ($56 billion), the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, was one of Jeff’s first employees. She wasn’t part of the Amazon vision.
In my eyes, the billions that inspire other entrepreneurs are the billions from self-made billionaires.
Oprah Winfrey ( $2.7 billion), was born in rural poverty and raised by a mother dependent on government welfare payments. Oprah became a millionaire at the age of 32 when her talk show received national syndication. Later on, through entrepreneurship, she became a billionaire.
Whitney Wolfe Herd ( $1.5 billion) is the founder and CEO of Bumble, a social and dating app, launched in 2014. She was also an early executive at Tinder. She became a billionaire when she made Bumble a public company.
And now Rihanna
Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman. With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Forbes announced Wednesday that Rihanna joins the ranks of Oprah Winfrey as one of the richest entertainers in the world. The publication estimates her net worth at $1.7 billion, with most of it coming from her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty.
Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. The brand’s launch focused on inclusivity with then-unprecedented40 shades of foundation, which prompted the “Fenty Effect” in which other brands expanded their shade ranges for complexion products. Now the brand covers everything under the sun of makeup, from brushes and blushes to lipsticks.
Forbes estimates $1.4 billion of her worth comes from Fenty Beauty and $270 million coming from her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty — the business magazine said the rest of the $1.7 billion is sprinkled in from the Bajan star’s music and acting career.
Rihanna is a role model for entrepreneurship. There is no other way to make money than to make it yourself. You can be a successful artist, but you will always be dependent on the gatekeepers. Only when you become an owner of the gate, only when you become an entrepreneur, you can become a billionaire, you can join the ranks of Rihanna, Oprah, and Whitney.
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