A new article on Forbes
says chances are that you recognize Marc and Heidi's last name. Their daughter, Charli, is the most followed person on TikTok, and their other daughter, Dixie, is the eight. They have a combined following of 160 million on TikTok alone.
Forbes says that Charli earned around $4 million during 2020, while Dixie made about $2.9 million.
This was true overnight success. As Heidi puts it:
|
"The first thing that Charli got offered, she was like, 'Somebody from a label wants me to do a TikTok to their song and they're going to pay me $75!' I was like, 'That's not real. No one is going to pay you to make a TikTok to their song. That's ridiculous. Anyone who wants to go has to go through me, so give them my email.' And they emailed me and it was legit. She was so excited! And it all happened so fast. It went from $75 to all of these offers, brands and people who wanted to manage them."
|
Marc adds that:
|
"I wanted to make sure that we didn't become parent managers and fall into the trap that so many young celebrities and their parents fall into. So, I asked a lot of questions, like, 'Why do we need a business manager? What's the difference between a manager and an agent?' So, we just put things on paper. First, we needed a manager to protect us. Then, we needed a lawyer to look at the contracts. And then we hired a business manager, although Heidi and I have the final say, to make sure all of the money is protected."
|
Heidi looks back at early brand meetings with fond memories:
|
"We used to go to L.A. for meetings and we were meeting with Disney and Nickelodeon, one after another. And the kids, being blissfully unaware of who they were meeting, were just like, 'Are they going to have snacks? This is fun!' And these CEOs all wanted to attach themselves to the girls and asked, 'So, what do you want to do with us?' And the girls were like, 'I don't know. We make TikToks. What do you want to do?'"
|
Marc adds that it was an astonishing time:
|
"The people we were meeting were unbelievable. One day we'd be sitting across the table from the CEO of a major label and then meeting Gary Vaynerchuk the next day. Dixie was thinking about going to business school, but you can't stop that train when she's talking to all of these people. Even if it's only a year, let's keep going."
|
That quickly resulted in the D'Amelios being big business. The girls have brand partnerships, sell personalized products, and invest in brands that align with their own. While their daughter's careers were exploding, Marc and Heidi were building a following of their own. You can read more about this fascinating story in the original article by clicking the above link.
