Having fathers and daughters as entrepreneurs is not all that unusual. Part of the reason is genetics and part is due to the environment in which the daughter grew up. However, it is not often that the father and daughter become as prosperous as Bobby and Bethenny Frankel in totally separate business pursuits and with little or no nurturing of the entrepreneurial proclivities of the daughter by the father.
The late Bobby Frankel was a terrific racetrack entrepreneur as a trainer—operating top-class stables located from coast-to-coast. Similarly, in the words of the current edition of Forbes magazine, his daughter Bethenny is “one of Hollywood’s leading entrepreneurs.” She is on the cover of the magazine and is the subject of an article titled “Can Bethenny Crack a Billion?” She has already sold her Skinnygirl drink for $100 million and is a proven serial entrepreneur, successful in multiple money-making ventures.
Following is the way Forbes describes Bethenny’s upbringing:
“Her bio, if you’re not already a fan, reads like a social worker’s case file: a home life punctuated by multiple divorces, allegations of childhood neglect, 13 different schools, two cross-country moves. Frankel grew up on New York’s Long Island, the child of a top-ranked horse trainer (his Empire Maker won the Belmont Stakes in 2003) and a racetrack groupie. “I had my first drink when I was 7 years old; I was betting at the track by 8,” Frankel recalls. “My father never called me on my birthday. He never congratulated me or told me he was proud,” she says, tearing up. (Frankel and her producers jokingly rate each episode of Ever After on a “T.P.E.” basis. “That’s tears per episode,” she says.) Somehow she made it through NYU, where she graduated with a degree in communications and psychology.”
If this is accurate, Bethenny Frankel had much to overcome. Bethany’s sordid childhood steeled her to the inevitable setbacks that entrepreneurs repeatedly face.
Click here to read the full story of Bethenny Frankel’s remarkable ascent.
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