At 21 years old, Kylie Jenner just became the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. That’s what Forbes reported , anyway, but some people are not pleased with the term “self-made.”

Mark Zuckerberg, the previous record holder, was self-made. But does Jenner, the beneficiary of her family’s wealth and notoriety, deserve the title?

Last August, Forbes put her on the front cover of its issue on “America’s Women Billionaires,” billing her as a “$900 million cosmetics queen.” The magazine subtly addressed the criticism that she’s not self-made because she grew up with money and name-recognition: “Welcome to the era of extreme fame leverage.”

A writer at Forbes explains its criteria for the term "self-made" as simply this: “To be clear, Forbes defines 'self-made' as someone who built a company or established a fortune on her own, rather than inheriting some or all of it.”

Jenner amassed her wealth through Kylie Cosmetics, the company selling her infamous lip kit, as well as modeling gigs and sponsorships to post ads reaching her 128 million Instagram followers.

Starring on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” certainly didn’t hurt, but Dictionary.com seems to find it disqualifying.





Jenner may have benefited from an early degree of influence and wealth that most of us can only dream of. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t defined her own success.

After Jenner tweeted about her frustration with a new Snapchat update last year, the company’s stock tanked by $1.3 billion. That’s a level of influence you can’t draw from anyone but yourself.

[Previous coverage: Calling Kylie Jenner a self-made billionaire is a huge insult to other entrepreneurs]