From keeping up with pigs and schedules, and keeping the drama and the salary low. The Kardashians give their assistants a full list of dos and don'ts to follow so they can keep up with their dramatic lives!
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00:00From keeping up with pigs in schedules and keeping the drama and the salary low, the
00:05Kardashians give their assistants a full list of do's and don'ts to follow so they can keep
00:10up with their dramatic lives.
00:12The Kardashian-Jenners are some of the most famous people on the planet, and to work for
00:16them is to get a peek behind an incredibly exclusive curtain.
00:20But if you can't respect the family's boundaries, then it may not be the gig for you.
00:24As Kris Jenner told The Huffington Post in 2018,
00:27"[We try to have people on our team who have our back, who we feel that we can really trust.
00:33It's about being discreet and being private.
00:35If somebody has something that's happening in your life at the moment, and it is a private
00:39thing, then somebody would need to have a lot of respect for that."
00:42Seems fair enough, no?
00:44Kylie Jenner's former assistant, Victoria Villareal, has also said that discretion was
00:49a top priority from day one.
00:51Kylie Jenner to the foyer, Kylie Jenner to the foyer, I have a little surprise for you."
00:59As she revealed on the Kylie Jenner app, Kylie pretty much poured her heart out to her when
01:03they first started working together, saying,
01:05"[Kylie said, Close the door.
01:07I want to tell you my deepest secrets.
01:09We just talked forever.
01:11I think that's when we bonded."
01:12As for how Villareal landed the job in the first place?
01:16The long and short of it?
01:17She simply clicked with the reality star, as she shared on a 2019 episode of The Girl
01:21Cult podcast,
01:22"[We just got along.
01:24I'm not a crazy person.
01:26I'm trustworthy.
01:27We just liked each other."
01:28Sleep?
01:29What's that?
01:30Anyone who wants to be a Kardashian assistant is going to need to keep up with the Kardashians.
01:35Literally.
01:36If you don't, things may get catty."
01:38It's ridiculous for you to just not do that for me as a favor, because I've done so much
01:43for you."
01:44Famously career-driven Kris Jenner has said that her assistant would need to be ready
01:48to work constantly because her schedule never seems to slow down, telling The Huffington
01:52Post,
01:53"[It's really non-stop, 24-7 brainstorming and creativity and just trying to get organized
01:59and really pack a lot into a day, being there non-stop with all engines blazing."
02:04She also revealed in a 2019 PUSH interview with Kourtney Kardashian that she wakes up
02:08at 4.30 a.m. every day and starts checking her emails pretty much the moment she opens
02:13her eyes.
02:14Working for one of Kris' children is no more lax when it comes to availability, either.
02:19Kylie Jenner's former assistant, Victoria Villarreal, revealed the makeup mogul would
02:24reach out at all hours of the day when she was an employee, saying,
02:27"'She'll call me at 2 a.m.
02:29I will answer.
02:30I don't really have set hours.
02:32It's pretty much whenever duty calls.'"
02:34"'9 to 6, you can come to me with ideas.'"
02:38"'9 to 6, you're not even up until 11 o'clock.'"
02:42If it sounds like it doesn't matter exactly what you're doing for the famous family, 24-7
02:46availability is preferred.
02:48Jessica DeFino told Vice in 2022 that when she was an assistant on the family's apps,
02:53she was apparently expected to work hard at all hours of the day to make sure everything
02:58ran smoothly, adding,
02:59"'Days, nights, holidays, weekends, whenever and wherever I was needed.'"
03:05If there's one thing the Kardashian-Jenners already have enough of, it's drama.
03:09"'I butter a f----- career.
03:10It's just lame to not do me a favor.'"
03:13And as Kris Jenner has made abundantly clear, when looking for a new employee, she seeks
03:18out someone who knows how to stay out of all the fray and won't create any unnecessary
03:22trouble.
03:23When she partnered with BumbleBiz, the networking arm of the popular dating app, to hire a new
03:27assistant in 2018, she explained to the Huffington Post,
03:31"'Listen, the reason that I went with Bumble is because it stands for some of the things
03:35that are important to me and that I also personally stand by, which is kindness and
03:40respect and equality, both on and offline.
03:43And I think they're important qualities that I'm looking for in a personal assistant, just,
03:47you know, as a human being.'"
03:49It can sometimes happen in such close quarters coupled with so much pressure, though, as
03:53former Dash employee Stephanie DeSouza admitted that competitiveness could bring the claws
03:59out.
04:00She told E! News in 2015 that Dash employees would often show what she described as cattiness
04:05and jealousy.
04:06The Kardashians need a well-rounded individual on their team, as being a Kardashian-Jenner
04:11assistant involves a little bit of everything.
04:14Victoria Villarreal revealed that when she began working for Kylie Jenner, her main role
04:18was more actually that of housekeeper, sharing in an interview on the Kylie Jenner app,
04:23"...I helped the house run.
04:25Like groceries, cars, everything just had to be perfect.
04:28You basically do scheduling, travel, events, or any appearance that she has — award shows,
04:33meeting with the stylists, booking all her appointments, and keeping her calendar up
04:37to date."
04:38Kim Kardashian's former assistant Stephanie Shepard has also said there's a lot of learning
04:42on the job.
04:44Roles constantly change depending on what's going on with the family, such as preparing
04:47to welcome a new baby.
04:49As Shepard recalled to Refinery29 in 2017, Shepard played a big role in helping Kim prior
04:55to daughter Northwest's birth, saying,
04:57"...I was doing her whole schedule, doing her laundry, booking travel, putting the stroller
05:02together, and all of these things."
05:04Khloé Kardashian found out she needed to be a jack-of-all-trades the hard way when
05:08she playfully took on the role of her mom's assistant during a Season 18 episode of Keeping
05:13Up With The Kardashians.
05:14From scanning documents to sampling all the office snacks, Khloé took on whatever Kris
05:19threw her way, quipping,
05:20"...I'll do it, with a smile, and my little assistant shoes on."
05:25To borrow a line from the hit single by The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Kim Zolciak-Berman,
05:32Not when it comes to the Kardashians, at least.
05:36It turns out the family are no fans of employees who don't have good timekeeping skills, as
05:40Love & Hip Hop star Erykah Mena has shared.
05:43Mena worked for the Kardashian sisters in their Miami Dash store before becoming a reality
05:48television star in her own right, and noted she butted heads with Khloé Kardashian over
05:53her punctuality, explaining to VladTV,
05:55"...I was late a few times and Khloé wasn't having it.
05:58I think Khloé took more offense to me being late and thought that since I was friends
06:02with Kourtney Kardashian, I was taking advantage of it, and that wasn't really the situation."
06:07The Kardashians have also spoken out about how much they hate lateness a few times before,
06:12including when Kim Kardashian told Interview in September 2022 that not being punctual
06:17is the thing that stresses her out more than anything else, confessing,
06:20"...I hate being late.
06:22That's the one thing where I'm just like, oh my God, I need my CBD pen.
06:26I'm freaking the f— out."
06:27"...you should be used to that."
06:30If you are welcomed into the Kardashian-Jenner world, it sounds like the line between work
06:34life and personal life can get a bit blurry.
06:37Kim Kardashian's former personal assistant Stephanie Shepard told Refinery29 in 2017
06:43that anyone working for the family will need to be sociable and ready to bond with, well,
06:47pretty much the whole squad, sharing,
06:49"...everyone who works for the Kardashian family is part of this little tribe — assistants,
06:54makeup artists, housekeepers, security.
06:57We get each other Christmas presents.
06:59We take care of all the kids like they're our own kids.
07:02It's truly one big extended family."
07:04But don't think that the Kardashians will go easy on their employees just because they've
07:08grown close to them.
07:09"...which you did.
07:10You could do whatever.
07:11But when it affects, like, my family, me, then that's when, like, it's a problem."
07:17Former Dash employee Caroline Alienbert, who appeared on the Keeping Up With The Kardashians
07:22spinoff Dash Dolls, told E! News in 2015 that the family wasn't afraid to let them
07:27know if something they did was subpar, adding,
07:29"...you'll forget something and you won't even know it, but you'll get in trouble for
07:33it."
07:34Former assistant Stephanie Shepard has said that working with the Kardashians isn't necessarily
07:39always as fun and exciting as it may appear on TV.
07:42When she was still on Kim Kardashian's payroll, she had a lot of tedious, behind-the-scenes
07:46work to tackle.
07:47Needless to say, there is quite a bit going on in the Kardashian-Jenner empire, and it
07:52takes a village to keep things running smoothly.
07:54"...I need to make sure you guys think my dress is cute."
07:57As Shepard explained to Refinery29,
07:59"...I think everyone thinks this job is super glamorous, and I can't lie, it is.
08:04But don't forget that with all of that glamour comes schlepping the bags and the suitcases
08:09and taking the fall when something goes wrong."
08:12But while a Kardashian assistant is likely to be found working on the logistics of the
08:16glamorous events behind the scenes, that doesn't mean you get to slack in the fashion
08:20department.
08:21Former Dash Doll stars Durrani Popal and Stephanie D'Souza told E! News in 2015 that they were
08:27expected to maintain a presentable look while they worked at the sisters' Dash stores because
08:32they were faces of the glam brand.
08:35If you want to be part of the Kardashian-Jenner workforce, you're probably going to need to
08:39be comfortable with dogs, and even the odd pig.
08:41"...You don't have to name it Wilbur, I just named it that."
08:44A source told Radar Online in 2016 that the family's assistants are often required to
08:49take care of their animals, as well as their more standard, everyday tasks, claiming,
08:54"...Every time anyone in the family gets a pet, the assistant has to take care of them.
08:58Walking dogs, changing kitty litter, potty training — it's a huge burden for the rest
09:03of the family, so the job falls on the assistant to do all the dirty work."
09:07The Kardashian-Jenner family has seen a lot of dogs over the years.
09:11Kylie Jenner's boyfriend, Travis Scott, couldn't even remember the names of her four dogs in
09:16a July 2018 GQ interview.
09:18But it's not just canines that Kardashian assistants should be able to take care of.
09:23As a source told E! News in 2012, Kim Kardashian ended up giving a kitten named Mercy to Khloe
09:29Kardashian's assistant, Sidney Hitchcock.
09:31Evidently, Kim realized she was allergic to the cat after receiving Mercy as a gift from
09:35then-husband Kanye West.
09:37Sadly, Mercy died shortly afterwards.
09:41I have the best advice for women in business.
09:43Get your t-----s up and work."
09:45If you're working for the Kardashians or Jenners, you maybe shouldn't expect to be paid like one.
09:50Jessica DeFino, who was an assistant editor for Kardashian-Jenner official apps, claimed
09:55to Vice in 2022 that her pay was apparently so paltry that there were times she couldn't
10:00afford gas, confessing,
10:02"...The wages were low and laughable in L.A., especially considering my experience."
10:07She told the outlet that her salary was around $35,000 a year, even though she worked around
10:12the clock to make sure the reality star's apps met their needs.
10:16What's more, in 2017, there was a rumor that salary may have been one of the reasons Kim
10:21Kardashian parted ways professionally with Stephanie Shepard.
10:24An insider claimed to Life & Style,
10:27"...Shepard supposedly wanted another $20,000."
10:30Kim had been paying Shepard $65,000 a year.
10:33She'd been working for Kim for three years with no raise and knew it was time to ask.
10:38Shepard stopped working for Kim shortly after, with People's Insider claiming it was Kim's
10:43decision, but didn't clarify if salary played a part, adding,
10:46"...She was a good assistant, but when Stephanie wanted to transition into a larger role with
10:51Kim's brand and businesses, it just didn't work."
10:54Luckily, since leaving the company, Shepard has remained friends with Kim and Kourtney
10:58Kardashian.