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Kris Jenner: Revolutionizing the Media Industry

  • Writer: Ingrid Guo
    Ingrid Guo
  • Jan 8, 2021
  • 3 min read

Author: Mercedes Zobel de Ayala '22


When reading into the fame of the Kardashians, one might notice that their fame had never been directly correlated to a specific talent. Many media sources describe their fame as “unrecognizable achievements,” “an embarrassment to society,” and have characterized their personalities as “spoiled rich girls who know nothing about the world.” Although it may seem like this on the surface, the Kardashian fame was one created through a media empire started by “momager” (mom manager), Kris Jenner.


Contrary to popular belief, Kris Jenner did not originally live a lavish lifestyle. With divorced parents by the age of 7, Kris was constantly moving homes, especially since her mother never had a stable job. However, at the age of 17, she had met a man by the name of Rob Kardashian who pursued her in hopes of marriage. At this age, Kris was not ready to settle down and since she had lived relatively low-income, she had a desire to travel the world. Straight out of high school, she became a certified flight attendant for American Airlines and lived out her dream. Finally, at the age of 22, she agreed to marry Rob Kardashian and started a family together. With her four young children Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Rob, Kris Jenner had been living out her dream. Rob Kardashian was becoming a well-known lawyer and had given Kris the lavish lifestyle she had always felt she deserved. Although she felt happy in her relationship with Rob, she began to consider whether she was too young at the time of their marriage. This confusion led to a short-lived affair and the eventual separation of Rob and Kris.


Soon after separating from Rob, Kris found the second love of her life: Bruce Jenner. Bruce Jenner at the time was an ex-Olympian and was not making as much money as Kris had previously been accustomed to. After living a luxurious high-income lifestyle with Rob, it was hard for Kris to go back to the way her life was before marrying him.


Objectively speaking, it may have been a selfish move on her part, but she decided to change her role as a stay-at-home mom to her husband’s manager and publicist. At the time, Bruce had been working on small promotional brand deals due to his fame from Olympics days. However, due to her savvy business mindedness, Kris was able to get high-paying clients such as Coca-Cola and Visa to sponsor Bruce. Through this, Kris began to sell infomercials consisting of workout videos, which got her and her family exposure, as well as money.


Furthermore, after the birth of Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Kim began to gain fame through various social media leaks and her friendship with the Hiltons. Once Kris realized the potential of their family, she began to push for a reality tv show and invited over Ryan Seacrest. Through the family’s charisma and Kris’ hard work, they were able to land themselves the now known tv show called Keeping Up with the Kardashians. With the show being on E!, they were able to get almost two million viewers in their first season. Each season continued to grow due to Kris’ hard work and business mindset. She began to do promotional advertisements through talk shows and business deals. Soon, due to their widespread publicity, the family became a household name.


This business mindset soon reflected on their daughters and they began to create their own businesses. At a young age, Kendall Jenner approached her mother with the idea to become a worldwide model. With her determination, Kendall began her modeling career with “momager” Kris Jenner by her side, and now, Kendall Jenner is the highest-paid model in the world. Kylie Jenner had come up with the idea of starting a makeup line and, with the help of her mother, now has become the youngest self-made billionaire and impacted the makeup community. Kim Kardashian started a clothing line that now has over 8.6 billion dollars in revenue. Khloe created a size-inclusive jean brand and Kourtney created Poosh, a chemical-free online store. By using their passions and strong business mindsets, the Kardashians are arguably the most influential and famous family worldwide. Due to her determination, Kris takes a 10% cut of all of her daughters’ income, which includes, but is not limited to, the income garnered from Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, Poosh, and Kendall Jenner’s modeling salary.


Without Kris’ genius lucrative mindset, the Kardashian family would have never reached their amount of fame or wealth. Although the family had gotten famous off of their highly-publicized scandals, they were able to use their talents to become some of the richest people in America.


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