East End Women Make the Forbes List of Richest Self-Made Women

Forbes has released their most recent list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, and quite a few East Enders have made the cut. Included in the list of 60 women are four who have luxurious homes in the Hamptons, presumably bought with their own self-made wealth.

Ranking at #34 on the list, 69-year-old clothing designer Vera Wang has a net worth of $630 million dollars. Her career in the fashion industry spans almost 48 years and includes 17 years of editing for Vogue, designing costumes for Olympic figure skaters, wedding dresses for A-list celebrities and uniforms for the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading team.

Though Wang is the only woman out of the four mentioned who doesn’t own a house on the East End, her late father C.C. Wang owned a house in Southampton on Gin Lane, and the family was known to stay there for vacations. Wang has also rented homes in the Hamptons in the past.

Material Girl Madonna comes in at #36 on Forbes’ list with a net worth of $590 million dollars. Her Bridgehampton mansion sits on 24 acres of farmland and was purchased for $4.9 million dollars.

The 59-year-old Hamptonite is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records, having sold more than 300 million records worldwide. She’s also appeared in 22 films, winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Evita, founded her own entertainment company, Maverick, and dabbles in fashion design, writing children’s books and filmmaking.

Sitting at #53 is queen bee Beyoncé at $355 million dollars. The 36-year-old recently bought the Pond House in East Hampton with husband Jay-Z in 2017 for just under $26 million dollars.

Beyoncé is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and businesswoman and has sold over 100 million records worldwide. She’s won 22 Grammy Awards and is the most nominated woman in the award’s history. In 2014, she became the highest-paid black musician in history and was listed among Time‘s 100 most influential people in the world for a second year in a row.

East Hamptonite Donna Karan racks in at #43 on the list with a net worth of $470 million dollars. The 69-year-old actually owns four homes on the same street in East Hampton, the most recently purchased costed $3.8 million dollars.

Designer and creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels, Karan began her career by working for Anne Klein and climbing her way to the top from there. She’s won a multitude of awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and was inducted into the Coty Hall Of Fame in 1984.

All of these women created their own careers and established themselves in successful society. So, if you’re still hoping to afford a swanky mansion in the Hamptons, try following in these ladies’ footsteps.