The top influencer transcends entrepreneurial selfhood into vertically integrated corporate selfhood

Evidence

Despite neoliberalism’s seeming requirement of an “entrepreneurial” self, in which one must constantly struggle, hustle, and be “creative” to avoid financial ruin, the distinction between, say, Naomi Davis and Kim Kardashian resides in how Kardashian has transcended this entrepreneurial selfhood, sublating it into something larger—to a vertically integrated, corporate selfhood. … Kardashian can display photo after photo of her private plane and inevitably remain center stage. Part of this is, as with Jeffree Star in the previous chapter, Kardashian’s ability to completely intertwine her personal identity and her corporate brand, all while remaining safe and secure through a distributed corporate structure concealed by its appearance as a “self.” — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 370

Categorization

• DEFINE: Contrasts the merely ‘entrepreneurial self’ demanded by neoliberalism with the vertically integrated ‘corporate selfhood’ of top influencers — a key conceptual distinction in the Corpocene model.
• SEED: Naomi Davis (rented RV) vs Kim Kardashian (private jet) is a ready exemplar contrasting failed entrepreneurial selfhood against achieved corporate selfhood.