Jessica DeFino, a former employee of the now-defunct Kardashian-Jenner official apps, has responded to Kim Kardashian’s controversial job advise to “get your f — king ass up and work.”
Jessica DeFino wrote an explosive tell-all about her time as an assistant editor on the Kardashian-Jenner Official Apps between 2015 and 2016.
According to the writer, despite the wealthy family’s unbelievable wealth, she was paid only $35,000 per year while working for them.
She said that her pay in LA was “poor and comical, especially considering my expertise,” and that after taxes, she just had enough money to cover her rent and energy bills.
DeFino, 32, first took aim at the reality show royals in March, after Kim Kardashian openly declared, “I have the finest counsel for women in business.”
Kardashian responded, “Get your f — king ass up and work.” “It seems like nobody wants to work these days,” she said in Variety’s now-viral video, which was mocked online. One of the women who chastised the starlet for her tone-deaf remarks was DeFino.
The writer said on Twitter on March 9:
“In 2015, I worked as an editor on the Kardashian apps in Los Angeles.
“I worked days, nights, and weekends, could only afford groceries from the 99 Cents Only Store, was scolded for freelancing on the side, and was called out’sick’ more than once because I couldn’t put petrol in my car to drive to work.”
The scathing tweet went viral fast, garnering over 600,000 likes.
In a new article headlined “I Worked My Ass Off for the Kardashian-Jenner Apps. I Couldn’t Afford Gas” – DeFino elaborates on her experience for Vice, and has spoken with other Kardashian staffers who believe they were similarly overworked and underpaid.
DeFino worked with Whalerock Industries, a digital media firm hired by the Kardashian-Jenner family in May 2015 to develop their apps. Before shutting down in 2019, each sister released an app with unique material for paying customers, with the endeavor apparently garnering them millions of dollars.
Jessica penned an article for VICE;
“When I first heard Kardashian’s initial comment about women not working hard, it reminded me of the hours I put in to launch the Kardashian Jenner Official Apps—days, nights, holidays, weekends, whenever and wherever I was needed.”
“I wasn’t alone myself.” I spoke with two former workers who worked on the apps and two former employees of KKW Beauty, Kim Kardashian’s cosmetics company, who all described a culture of overwork that put their mental and physical health, as well as their career advancement, at risk.” DeFino, who stated in the essay that she earned $35,000 per year, also stated that after taxes, she had just over $600 per week in her bank account. The sum was insufficient to pay the costs of food, rent, bills, and gas.
DeFino recalls a period when she could only afford to put $4 worth of gas in her car, which wasn’t enough to get her from the office to her house, according to the report.
“I yelled and banged the driving wheel in panic. She wrote, “And then I cried,” about the painful encounter, which occurred in 2015.
DeFino isn’t shy about criticizing Whalerock’s workplace atmosphere, claiming she was “brought into a manager’s office and punished” after higher-ups discovered she was supplementing her limited salary by writing freelance pieces on the side.
She further claims that when she told her coworkers she was applying for other employment, they challenged her.
“The company appeared to be looking into all avenues for a livable wage, from freelancing to seeking a new work.” In the poem, DeFino said, “I felt manipulated and monitored, paranoid and confined.”
Jessica mentions receiving a complimentary sample of Crème de la Mer after winning Employee of the Week on one occasion in her blockbuster expose.
Jennifer Chan, who joined the Kardashian-Jenner apps as a senior editor in July 2015, also recounts her experience in the piece, alleging that she once had to stay in the office all night before the applications launched at 3 a.m. in September 2015.
She stated,
“To be sure, we had to spend the night [at the office].” I believe it was also a Sunday. “We only stayed the night.”
“The sisters were presumably unaware of what the persons behind their apps were paid,” the magazine adds.
“I worked all the time,” said one of the Vice interviewees who did not want to be identified by her true name. I didn’t get enough sleep. To cope with the stress, I was drinking a lot of alcohol – way too much alcohol. I developed a health ailment. “I was losing my hair.”
DeFino also claims she endured health problems at Whalerock as a result of work and financial stress, claiming she slipped into a “deep despair.”
She eventually quit the organization in 2016, following a year and three months of service. In 2019, the Kardashian-Jenner apps were taken off.
Two additional women who worked for Kim Kardashian’s cosmetics company, KKW Beauty, allege they were overworked and underpaid in identical ways. According to one of the employees, the Kardashian-Jenners regard themselves as “America’s royal family” and believe that employees would “accept any money” to work with them.