Alternate Self-Made Billionaire Forbes' Features
A couple of weeks ago, Kylie Jenner found a new excuse to excessively Snapchat: Forbes declared her a “self-made” billionaire-to-be. On one hand, it’s a solid “Good for you.” She’s made over $900 million and she’s not even 21! Girl...power?
Is that “self-made” narrative even the slightest bit bothersome? Well, yes. Because we all know that’s just not true. Privilege—of literally getting paid to just be on reality TV from childhood; of being part of a well-connected family that had the resources to invest in her businesses and advise her along the way—got her a long way down the road to billionaire-dom.
The other piece, of course, is her age, and how that makes us all feel about our own accomplishments. We’ve all done a lot to be proud of, but we’re not billionaires. Comparison is the thief of joy, and it’s sometimes helpful to remember that chances are not comparable. Jenner had a head start, and a fairly unique set of (mega-privileged) circumstances that enabled her to get where she is now at the tender age of not-even-21. That doesn’t discount hard work on her part—or diminish the strategic brilliance of capitalizing on what was around her.
With this in mind, I would like to direct your attention to 21 women on paving their own (self-made) paths to billionaire-dom. We’re all entitled to post whatever we please on social media, so why not promote some of the more unsung boss women of our generation. Just because they don’t have a rotating closet of Birkin bags or a 24/7 news scroll on E! doesn’t mean they don’t exist—or that you can’t be one of them, too.
1. Pat McGrath
Another woman who has created an iconic cosmetic line without having been born with a household name. McGrath’s company is called Pat McGrath Labs, and is currently worth $1 billion. Damn. McGrath launched her brand in 2016, meaning she has made this success for herself in just two years. Her products are more celebrated at Sephora than my concealer-less face would be walking in shooting hundred dollar bills out of a confetti cannon.
Pat McGrath came into the game without another major advantage that Kylie Jenner has: being white. McGrath is a woman of color, and her amazing work and success is truly an inspiration. She may not have an infinitely addicting Instagram page, but she still makes Kylie scoot over for this one.
2. Aishah Avidu, 19
Aishah Avdiu was in elementary school the first time she tried kombucha. Her health-conscious mother had slipped the fermented beverage into her lunch box. In time, she grew to love the nutrient-rich tea—so much so that she spent a summer visiting nearly a dozen microbreweries within a 200-mile radius of her home, to research the potential of selling her own regional offerings, the way city pubs provide craft beers. In November 2016—her senior year of high school—she opened Bar ’Bucha, an airy, 500-square-foot storefront in Westport, luring wellness fans from nearby Connecticut towns and even the city with her on-tap selections. She also scored a brief cameo on HGTV’s House Hunters. Within three months Bar ’Bucha was in the black. By August, the business had generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
3. Skai Jackson, 17
On the hit Disney series Jessie, Skai Jackson played a tween raised in an Upper West Side penthouse staffed with a butler and a nanny—nothing at all like the life Jackson led before she landed the role. Now she’s racing to keep up with her red-hot career. Within the past year, she has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award, was named one of Time magazine’s most influential teens and earned the top spot on Refinery29’s annual Z List of young celebrities “on the verge of ruling Hollywood.” She’s harnessed her huge social-media presence—3 million followers on Instagram, 332,000 on Twitter—to become a trusted and vocal advocate against online bullying. And she is a budding fashion designer. Last month she debuted her signature line of girls’ clothing, available at Macy’s stores and online through the end of the year.
4. Alyssa Kapasi, 17
In early September, New York Schools Chancellor announced that the city’s 1 million public school students would be provided with lunch—for free—every day. When the news reached Alyssa Kapasi, a senior in high school, she was “in total shock,” she said, but “ecstatic.” It validated the months of work she and her friends had spent conceiving a desktop and mobile application to help alleviate child hunger nationwide. Food for Thought aims to let parents who are already funding their children’s lunch accounts online contribute anonymously, to cover the cost of lunch for a child in need.
5. Priya Mittal, 18
Priya Mittal’s “aha” moment came on a Saturday about two years ago. She was at the Union Square farmers market and watched as a fellow shopper sorted through apples, inspecting each and tossing aside any that were lumpy or misshapen. To help solve the problem, Mittal put her coding skills to work, and built a prototype for GroGreenTech. The app aims to find a home for ugly produce by allowing chefs to buy the goods directly from farmers, right from their phone, at 20% below market price. GroGreenTech keeps a 40% commission of each sale and furthers its sustainability mission by delivering the produce via a fleet of cargo bikes.
6. Anna Zhang, 16
Anna Zhang didn’t even have her own cellphone in 2013 when she began posting nature shots and images from family trips to China on Instagram using her mom’s iPhone. By last year she had large brands including Dunkin’ Donuts, Uniqlo and Walgreens came calling. Soon she was earning about $20,000 for each sponsored post touting their products. Early last year, Zhang launched Pulse Spikes, a quarterly online and print magazine that profiles emerging musicians, actors and social-media stars.
7. Gabrielle Garcia, 17
Gabrielle Garcia discovered her gift for new business ventures after a life-changing event. An avid hockey player, she realized she had time to solve a problem that had plagued her for years: the awful smell of her sweat-soaked hockey gloves. A few months later, with help from the local Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Garcia introduced Stench Snipers, inserts that absorb sweat, kill bacteria and deodorize the hard-to-reach recesses in sports gloves. In May, Garcia beat 92 students in a nationwide YEA competition, becoming America’s Top Young Entrepreneur.
8. Kelly Peeler, 29
Kelly Peeler left her Wall Street job to found NextGenVest, a financial advice company helping Generation Z better navigate the financial aid process via text message. Its customers (all high school seniors and college students) can text for machine-learning-powered advice at all hours of the day.
9. Seema Bansal, 26
You can only stop to smell the roses if they’re still alive. And a garden-variety bouquet doesn’t last longer than one week in a vase. The roses from the green-thumbed Seema Bansal on the other hand, last a full year in full bloom without water. Bansal bootstrapped New York-based e-commerce business Venus ET Fleur with her now-fiancé Sunny Chadha, 28, in 2015.
10. Leah Sibener, 26
Leah Sibener was working in a Stanford laboratory when she developed the foundation for what could be a new weapon against cancer: new ways to teach a type of white blood cell to attack cancer. Sibener developed was a method to use machine learning to identify other proteins, to teach white blood cells to fight other types of cancer. She found support in Luke Lee, 28, a venture capitalist at Asset Management Ventures. Together, they formed a company, 3T Biosciences, that has raised $12 million.
11. Amandla Stenberg, 19
You may have first encountered Amandla Stenberg when she was just a kid: she famously played Rue in 2012's smash hit The Hunger Games. Since then, the actor has made a name for herself as one of a group of socially-conscious, outspoken young stars changing a staid industry traditionally led by white men. “Oftentimes when we play black women, we have to play either the pain or the comedy,” Stenberg told Forbes. “Just now are we starting to have three-dimensional, nuanced black characters for young women.”
12. Talia Goldberg, 26
Think you know what a Silicon Valley power broker looks like? Meet Talia Goldberg, the youngest-ever vice president at America’s oldest VC firm, Bessemer Venture Partners. A former liberal arts student who worked stints at Foursquare and Simple Finance before trying her hand at her own startup, Goldberg signed on with Bessemer for what she expected would be a two-year stint. Five years later, she’s a rising star at the firm at age 26, having co-led the firm’s investments, and working with the firm’s billion-dollar companies to identify startups to partner with or acquire.
13. Jackie Evancho, 17
Many first learned of the teenage opera prodigy when she performed at Donald Trump's inauguration, but by that point, her career was already well on its way. Since making her debut on "America's Got Talent" at age 10, Evancho has released six consecutive No. 1 Classical albums.
14. H.E.R., 20
The anonymous crooner's debut EP, "H.E.R. Vol. 1" drew critical acclaim upon its release in 2016; this year's follow-up won over even more fans, including the likes of Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean. H.E.R. is widely acknowledged to be the stage name of Gabi Wilson, though her label, RCA Records, does not comment on her identity.
15. Hannah Herbst, 17
This 17 year old has invented a device to capture energy from ocean waves. Called BEACON (Bringing Electricity Access to Countries through Ocean Energy), she intends to deploy the system in developing countries where it can power water purification and medical equipment. She is open-sourcing the project.
16. Sasha Lane, 22
Discovered on a beach in Miami during spring break by director Andrea Arnold, Lane was cast as Star in Arnold's 2016 "American Honey," which won Cannes' Jury Prize and earned the newcomer unadulterated praise from critics. She is moving out of indie movies with 2018's "Hellboy," her first studio project.
17. Iyore Olaye, 23
Olaye is lead product development engineer at Walker and Company, the tech company creating beauty products for people of color, including men's grooming brand Bevel and haircare line FORM. She leads R&D and is known for strong technical abilities and marketing talent.
18. Annie Ostojic, 15
The high school student has invented a better microwave oven and a system to collect "solar" power from indoor lighting and use it to charge batteries. With patents pending, she managed to meet President Obama at the White House--twice.
19. Tracy Lawrence, 26
Lawrence’s Chewse is trying to fix the “sad desk lunch” by delivering family-style meals to offices in San Francisco, the East Bay, and L.A. Clients – which include the likes of Braintree, StubHub and Coffee Meets Bagel -- get a dedicated meal specialist that plans the office’s meal schedule and access to food from more than 100 top local restaurants.
20. Irene Li, 27
With no formal restaurant training, Irene Li, and her siblings Andrew and Margaret, have built Mei Mei Restaurant and Street Kitchen (a food truck) into must-visit destinations for Chinese-American cuisine in Boston. She started her culinary career when she moved back home to Boston after college graduation, when she worked as a line cook while living on an organic farm. Li's focus on serving locally-sourced produce and humanely raised meat has won her favor with critics: she's a three-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef semi-finalist.
21. Maryellis Bunn, 25
In the summer of 2016, ice cream lover Bunn opened her first 45-day pop-up Museum of Ice Cream in New York, featuring art installations and a pool of multicolored plastic sprinkles. An instant hit, it left 200,000 people on the waitlist. The 2017 Los Angeles incarnation attracted Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, Salma Hayek and their kids. A San Francisco MoIC opened in Sept. 2017 and tickets sold out immediately. Bunn has created her own ice cream flavors (including "disco") and is set to open a MoIC-themed wing in a Miami hotel.
Being self-made is a life where your parents love you, and your family supports you, but they cannot or do not help you. Being self-made is the hard work millions of college women put in each day: going to school full-time, interning full-time, and/or working part-time, while other classmates go out drinking. Being self-made is becoming your own teacher, adviser, and mentor. It might not get a cover on Forbes, but the world would be a much scarier place if we continue to abide by the opinion of older, white dudes.
By Alexandra Davis
Founder, purveyor of pink, and budget Wes Anderson