[SUPER RICH] Superrich who stepped out of their families' shadows

When one comes from a superrich family, many expect the person to assist the family business and live an easy life. However, several have decided to make it on their own without any assistance from their family.

While it may be true that they were able to pursue their path more easily due to their lineage, it takes more courage to follow independent careers when they are better known as family members of millionaires.

Ralph Lauren ― Andrew and Dylan Lauren

Two out of Ralph Lauren’s three children do not work at their father’s internationally renowned clothing company. Andrew Lauren currently works as a film producer for independent films. He previously stated in an interview that he went into producing partly because he disliked the attention he received when people found out who his father was.

His sister, Dylan Lauren, also refused to work at her father’s company and went her own way to fulfill her childhood dream of owning one of the biggest candy stores in the world. She is said to have been inspired by watching the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” as a child, and opened “Dylan’s Candy Bar” in 2001 which sells over 7,000 types of candy.

Michael Bloomberg ― Georgina Bloomberg

Georgina Bloomberg is the daughter of former New York City mayor and Bloomberg L.P. founder Michael Bloomberg. Unlike her older sister Emma, who helped her father with the mayoral campaign and worked for him in City Hall for two years, Georgina went on to become a professional equestrian.

In the HBO documentary “Born Rich” aired in 2003, she stated that her last name felt like a burden on her social life, saying, “Having the name Bloomberg doesn’t help me in any way … and it really is a disadvantage and takes away from the image I’m trying to portray.”

Larry Ellison ― Megan and David Ellison

Oracle Corporation cofounder and CEO Larry Ellison has two children who have both pursued an interest in films. His daughter Megan Ellison is a film producer and founder of Annapurna Pictures. She has produced Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Her (2013), and American Hustle (2013), all nominated for an Oscar.

His son David Ellison is also a producer and founder of Skydance Productions. The company has produced a number of Hollywood films such as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), G.I. Joe (2013), and World War Z (2013). He has also acted in six different films since debuting in 2005, and was listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2011.

Mark Zuckerberg ― Arielle and Randi Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan

Mark Zuckerberg has founded one of the world’s leading social media companies, but many of his family members do not work at Facebook.

Zuckerberg’s sisters have refused to work at his company. Arielle was a product manager at social media marketing company Wildlife, and then a Google employee after the tech company purchased it. Despite her brother’s pleas to join Facebook, she refused.

His other sister Randi used to work as the director for market development at Facebook since its launch, but then resigned and started her own social media firm “Zuckerberg Media,” as well as wrote several books for both adults and children.

Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg’s wife, is also an independent woman with a separate job. Chan, who currently works as a pediatrician, met him during his sophomore year at Harvard, and they ended up marrying in 2012.

The two received much attention when they donated $75 million ― the largest single donation to date ― to the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center earlier this year, where Chen had previously worked.

Jeff Bezos ― MacKenzie Bezos

MacKenzie Bezos, wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is a novelist. Rather than simply remaining a stay-at-home mother of four, she went on to publish two novels. Her first novel “The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel” received a National Book Award in 2005. The couple also donated $15 million for a brain research center at Princeton University.

By The Korea Herald Superrich Team

Kwon Nam-keun/Hong Seung-wan/Sung Yeon-jin/Bae Ji-sook/Yoon Hyun-jong/Min Sang-seek/Kim Hyun-il/Sang Youn-joo (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)

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