By Amber Corrine, VIBE
Bajan hometown hero Robyn Rihanna Fenty has now added a new accolade to her impressive resume for 2022.
According to Forbes, Rihanna is now the youngest “Self-Made Woman Billionaire” in America with a net worth of $1.4 billion–booting Kim Kardashian to second place. The list (which was released on June 14) has the 34-year-old singer-actress-philanthropist-CEO at No. 21 overall, for the third year in a row. Profoundly, Rih Rih is now the only billionaire woman under 40 listed.
Kylie Jenner was initially crowned the youngest self-made billionaire in 2018, but after careful recalculations, her net worth turned out to be about $900 million. In a series of since-deleted tweets, Jenner said, “What am i even waking up to. i thought this was a reputable site,” she tweeted to her 33 million and counting followers. She added, “All i see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. i’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period.”
Rihanna has been able to genuinely secure her spot through years of hard work and ground-breaking endeavors, thanks to her Fenty makeup brand, Savage x Fenty lingerie line, Fenty Skin collection, acting roles, and of course, her music career as a singer.
Not only has Rihanna been receiving all of her well-deserved flowers, she has also been “planting seeds” in multiple communities. Rih Rih has used parts of her wealth to create charities and campaigns surrounding health and education and has stepped into real estate. In 2012, she started the philanthropy fund Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) to “support and fund groundbreaking education and climate resilience initiatives.”
Soon after, Rihanna facilitated two lipstick campaigns with MAC Cosmetics, which garnered over $60 million to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, CLF was crowned one of the world’s most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, according to sources.
“My money is not for me, it’s always the thought that I can help someone else,” she said to New York Times in 2019. “The world can really make you believe that the wrong things are priority, and it makes you really miss the core of life, what it means to be alive.”