Everyone has their own little story (haul away)
June 1, 2016 7:27 AM Subscribe
"America's Richest Self-Made Women": article by Luisa Kroll / dynamic view with grouping by theme / list [Forbes]
Not sure what "self-made" is even supposed to mean. Like, I guess I understand it as in opposition to inheritances, but no one is truly self made. Hell, even Taylor Swift, who I'm sure has worked her ass off, is a product of privilege:
Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a Merrill Lynch financial advisor.[11] He was raised in Pennsylvania, and is the descendant of three generations of bank presidents.[12][13] Her mother, Andrea Gardner (Finlay) Swift,[14][15] is a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. - Wikipedia
Her parents relocated to Nashville to nurture her budding career! How many people can do that?
Don't mean to be a downer, but America has a huge problem with the false hope of self-made success, and we really ought to be acknowledging more that even the success stories usually come from a place of privilege.
posted by explosion at 7:38 AM on June 1, 2016 [27 favorites]
Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a Merrill Lynch financial advisor.[11] He was raised in Pennsylvania, and is the descendant of three generations of bank presidents.[12][13] Her mother, Andrea Gardner (Finlay) Swift,[14][15] is a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. - Wikipedia
Her parents relocated to Nashville to nurture her budding career! How many people can do that?
Don't mean to be a downer, but America has a huge problem with the false hope of self-made success, and we really ought to be acknowledging more that even the success stories usually come from a place of privilege.
posted by explosion at 7:38 AM on June 1, 2016 [27 favorites]
That trick for the adblock didn't work for me either, but this did:
Copy the link url, and append ?redirect=0 to the end.
Like this.
posted by yesster at 7:44 AM on June 1, 2016
Copy the link url, and append ?redirect=0 to the end.
Like this.
posted by yesster at 7:44 AM on June 1, 2016
Love the post title!
"Now I'm having a nervous breakdown, but my mates will see that I don't go down...."
posted by Malla at 8:34 AM on June 1, 2016
"Now I'm having a nervous breakdown, but my mates will see that I don't go down...."
posted by Malla at 8:34 AM on June 1, 2016
Notably absent from this year's list: Elizabeth Holmes, who had the #1 position on last year's list, and is now estimated to have literally zero net worth.
Previously (previouslier)
posted by schmod at 9:01 AM on June 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Previously (previouslier)
posted by schmod at 9:01 AM on June 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Today Tom is chairman and CEO and three of their four children work for the company, whose sales fell 36% in 2015 along with plunging gas prices to $14.2 billion. Judy is secretary of Love's and chairman of the Love Family Fund, the family's charitable foundation and serves on the boards of a number of Oklahoma-based charities. Most recently she joined the board of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City.What gets me more than the parents with some small degree of money--which is just an unfortunate reality of life--is how many of these top "self-made women" are not just working with husbands, but often playing second fiddle to them. Diane Hendricks at least arguably has done significant stuff on her own, but wouldn't have been in a position to do so if it weren't for her husband. Marian and Mike Ilitch of Little Caesar's, her claim to fame is basically not letting him blow up the company early on, really? Over and over, the husband's the CEO, the husband's the chairman, the wife is... something else.
I'm not disputing any of them have worked hard, it's just depressing to see that as such a huge trend at the upper end. What does that say about these women as role models? Girls, if you're business-savvy and marry the right man and you're very lucky... you, too, can take over the company when he dies, like Gail Miller! And your son can be CEO so you won't have to lose sleep over anything. It's an interesting look into how heavily gendered this kind of success is, in the US.
posted by Sequence at 9:10 AM on June 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
What does that say about these women as role models?
More like, what does that say about society. In what kind of society is the main – practically sole – viable path to independent wealth as a woman through marriage? Why, one in which women are systemically devalued on every single front. What's happening with these women is quite simple: they found men who were willing to let them lead. They only had to deal with the one man. It has nothing to do with them as role models. We women are wellllll aware that fantastic, intelligent, strong leaders are overlooked and undervalued every single day because they happen to be women.
posted by fraula at 10:16 AM on June 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
More like, what does that say about society. In what kind of society is the main – practically sole – viable path to independent wealth as a woman through marriage? Why, one in which women are systemically devalued on every single front. What's happening with these women is quite simple: they found men who were willing to let them lead. They only had to deal with the one man. It has nothing to do with them as role models. We women are wellllll aware that fantastic, intelligent, strong leaders are overlooked and undervalued every single day because they happen to be women.
posted by fraula at 10:16 AM on June 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
I don't mean to say "they aren't role models" like they're bad people. Just like... there's nothing there.
they found men who were willing to let them lead
Because I don't think that's even true of some of them. I mean, they've ended up in some kind of leadership capacity, generally, but the sort of leadership capacity the wealthy are always in. As far as guiding how these companies go, if you look at several of those stories... Miller in particular has done interviews that suggest she thought the business was generally a distraction until she took over ownership in her 60s when her husband died. But she didn't "take over" like running day-to-day operations; her son does that. She seems like the Queen of England--officially consulted and having a grand time of the ceremonial role, but I didn't leave that with the impression that she's actually the one making the decisions.
I'm not saying it's difficult to see why this sort of thing happens, but the people making the list, using the word "self-made" suggests they intend for it to be aspirational, but when you look at the details there's nothing to aspire to. I'm more wondering, when they were compiling all this information, if that thought actually crossed their minds. I do have enough faith that the general public is aware that this is ridiculous.
posted by Sequence at 11:11 AM on June 1, 2016
they found men who were willing to let them lead
Because I don't think that's even true of some of them. I mean, they've ended up in some kind of leadership capacity, generally, but the sort of leadership capacity the wealthy are always in. As far as guiding how these companies go, if you look at several of those stories... Miller in particular has done interviews that suggest she thought the business was generally a distraction until she took over ownership in her 60s when her husband died. But she didn't "take over" like running day-to-day operations; her son does that. She seems like the Queen of England--officially consulted and having a grand time of the ceremonial role, but I didn't leave that with the impression that she's actually the one making the decisions.
I'm not saying it's difficult to see why this sort of thing happens, but the people making the list, using the word "self-made" suggests they intend for it to be aspirational, but when you look at the details there's nothing to aspire to. I'm more wondering, when they were compiling all this information, if that thought actually crossed their minds. I do have enough faith that the general public is aware that this is ridiculous.
posted by Sequence at 11:11 AM on June 1, 2016
they found men who were willing to let them lead
Because I don't think that's even true of some of them. I mean, they've ended up in some kind of leadership capacity, generally,[...]
This right there is the point. The whole and entire point. Men are allowed to rise to stratospheric heights and fail spectacularly, why shouldn't women be able to as well?
And no, of course not being up to the job should be aspirational, but again, the whole point is that men are allowed to be whatever, and women are not. Except in this very interesting and telling case where they only had to deal with a single man as gatekeeper.
Equality doesn't mean "better than", it means having equal chances.
posted by fraula at 11:31 AM on June 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Because I don't think that's even true of some of them. I mean, they've ended up in some kind of leadership capacity, generally,[...]
This right there is the point. The whole and entire point. Men are allowed to rise to stratospheric heights and fail spectacularly, why shouldn't women be able to as well?
And no, of course not being up to the job should be aspirational, but again, the whole point is that men are allowed to be whatever, and women are not. Except in this very interesting and telling case where they only had to deal with a single man as gatekeeper.
Equality doesn't mean "better than", it means having equal chances.
posted by fraula at 11:31 AM on June 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
The examples that you guys are talking about, what age bracket are they in? Have things changed with the younger generations?
posted by I-baLL at 11:53 AM on June 1, 2016
posted by I-baLL at 11:53 AM on June 1, 2016
Of the 13 under-50s, by my count, there are three in tech, three incredibly famous women in music, and the other 7 are all in retail or manufacturing for goods typically sold to women. So it's not really anything revolutionary, exactly, but on the whole the younger set seem a bit more actively involved in the money they've accumulated.
posted by Sequence at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2016
posted by Sequence at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2016
I rarely ever feel positive inspiration from stories of CEOs and the uber-rich, uber-successful, even if they are brilliant strong women. It's along those same lines of "follow your dreams" kind of career advice, where I feel like I'd likely be setting myself up for serious disappointment if I set those goals and don't achieve it. I don't think I should fool myself into expecting that kind of success, and I don't even think I necessarily want it. But there's so few stories of successful professional women, I'm left with the perception that women's true success is only attained if they do reach such heights. I feel guilty already about it, like I'm failing women everywhere if I don't strive to become CEO of my company.
posted by lizbunny at 1:25 PM on June 1, 2016
posted by lizbunny at 1:25 PM on June 1, 2016
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posted by I-baLL at 7:29 AM on June 1, 2016