Featured Image Credit: YouTube/The Skinny Confidential / Craig Barritt/Getty Images for TIME
Topics: Business, Fashion, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Money, Social Media
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Business, Fashion, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Money, Social Media
Kim Kardashian's former Chief Operations Officer has spoken about about being sensationally fired by the reality star in 2017 in a brand new interview.
Stephanie Shepherd had previously attained the high-profile position at the Kardashian brand before her business relationship with SKIMS boss Kim, 43, came to an end.
Speaking on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, Stephanie claimed that her firing actually came after pal Kim had sensed that she was no longer fulfilled by the position - something she maintains was in fact, true.
"Well, I got fired. Fired in the nicest sense of the word," she revealed. "Like, I was crying and she was crying because we are friends.
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"I just inherently felt like, 'It is time to move on. I don’t know if I have anything more I can contribute to this.' I think she probably felt that and saw that."
Speaking of Kim, Stephanie went: "[So] she’s like, "I want you to [thrive]. You need something more. You have this thing — pursue that. I'm supporting you [with] whatever you need."
Stephanie started her career as Kim's personal assistant before soon being upgraded to the Chief Operating Office of all Kardashian West Brands, which she maintained between 2013 to 2017, before being let go.
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Despite parting ways as colleagues, Stephanie insists, however, that she and her ex-boss are still on friendly terms, with TV star Kim even attending her wedding earlier this year.
And although she no longer works for the reality favourite family, she claims she still approaches entrepreneur Kim for career advice.
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"It was the most beautiful uncoupling and we have never been closer. She is still someone that I go to for personal and professional advice all the time," Stephanie said on the podcast.
"But I think it was just that feeling inside where I was like, 'OK, it's time for me to move on.' And I didn't really have a plan. But I just knew that it was time for me to try something different."
Previously speaking about Stephanie's departure from the company, mum-of-four Kim - who shares her children with ex-husband Kanye West - revealed: "She wanted to go in a different direction. I respect that.
"I love giving that encouragement to whoever I’m working with. Just because people stop working together doesn’t mean that they're feuding and stop being friends."
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Opening up on all the important life lessons she learnt under Kim's guidance, Stephanie continued: "It’s a machine and it is meticulous. I always say it is my graduate school.
"Because I learned everything that I know about sending an email to an agent or speaking to a manager or booking glam or finding a photographer or dealing with product development or working with a publicist."
She gushed: "Every single step of everything that you have to know about being an entrepreneur in the entertainment business I learned from working under Kim."