Kim Kardashian loves to surpass expectations. In a June 20 interview with Time, the Skims mogul talked about her experience with self doubt and impostor syndrome — both of which have turned out to be surprisingly good for her business. “Obviously you have big hopes, but this definitely exceeded everything that I ever imagined,” she said of her multibillion dollar shapewear company. “I still have impostor syndrome or whatever, but I think that’s part of what keeps me going.”
Kardashian founded Skims in 2019, building the brand up throughout the early days of the pandemic. Since then, the company has picked up steam (and a base of loyal shoppers) for its high-quality material, trendy styles, and inclusive size and shade range, with a reported value of $3.2 billion as of its latest round of funding in January 2022. So while impostor syndrome may make Kardashian feel as though her success isn’t entirely warranted, the numbers say otherwise.
“When I didn’t really understand where my career was going because I was just kind of winging it, I would do licensing deals with a lot of different companies that would contradict themselves,” Kardashian said, giving the example of a cupcake brand that also promoted weight loss. She launched Skims with entrepreneur Jens Grede because she genuinely wanted better shapewear, remembering how she used to dye her own with tea bags to match her skin tone, or cut off one leg of her Spanx in order to wear dresses with higher leg-slits. Now that she’s running a company she truly believes in, the overwhelming feeling is relief. “I feel like, OK, I did it,” she said.