
Growing up on the island of Barbados, a young Robyn Rihanna Fenty couldn’t afford Dior.
Instead, she saved up her pocket money for a whole school year to buy a pair of $100 Timberland boots. To her, these boots were Dior.
Inside her childhood home, diversity was the only thing the 31-year-old ever saw. Her father “is half black, half white”, and her mother “black from South America.” To her, different faces and skin tones were normal.
It’s for these reasons making her cult Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation in 40 shades – now 50 shades – with a mid-range price tag wasn’t a clever marketing ploy, but a reflection of what she knows.
It wasn’t until after launching and seeing how people of colour were emotionally reacting to finally being able to find a foundation for their skin tone that she realised she’d stumbled into “the void in the market,” she told Jeremy O. Harris for The New York Times Style T Magazine earlier this month.
Side note – missed Rihanna’s incredible Savage X Fenty Fashion Week show? Check out the highlights in the video below. Post continues after video.
At the time of publishing, Forbes estimates Rihanna’s net worth to be upwards of US $210 million (AU $303 million), with other publications quoting it as being US $260 million (AU $375 million). Because, what’s a casual $50 million here or there, right?
Forbes have also given the Grammy-winning singer a ‘self made score’ of 10 – the scale aims to distinguish those on The Forbes 400 list who were “born with a silver spoon” from those who truly made it own their own, with a one indicating their fortune was completely inherited and 10 signifying a truly self-made millionaire like Rihanna.
So, how did the girl from Barbados become a global multi-million dollar brand?
Rihanna’s music career.

Top Comments
She’s done incredibly well for herself. It’s quite extraordinary to me that no one has picked up on these huge gaps in the market before. Good for her!