Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock
Keeping up with Kim is a tough job.
By Jonathan Alfano
Last updated on Jan 08, 2024
Keeping up with the Kardashians is a daunting job — especially for their assistants. These assistants go the extra mile to make sure the reality stars’ lives are as pristine and perfect as they appear.
However, being around the Kardashian family so often isn’t always as lavish as it may seem, due in large part to the tight rules they enforce on their assistants.
As the family member with the highest net worth, it checks out that Kim Kardashian may have the most out-there rules for her staff among her family.
Here are 9 rules Kim Kardashian’s assistants follow.
1. The closet has to look spotless.
Being the fashion icon that she is, Kim has more than her fair share of clothes to manage, or, more accurately, have her staff manage for her.
An inside source told Radar in 2015 that Kim would often change her outfit multiple times in a single morning, sometimes having her assistants go back and forth to the closet to get new clothes. Then, instead of putting the clothes back where they belong, she’ll discard them on the floor, leaving her staff to put them back in the very particular way she likes it.
“Kim’s closet is the holy land in their house, and she wants it to look pristine at all times,” the source said. “She even had staffers stay late at night to organize after returning after an event.”
2. They can't talk about Kim to her sisters.
Considering how much gossip the Kardashians are involved with, it might be surprising that they try to keep it to a minimum in between family members, and Kim makes sure that secrecy extends even to her assistants.
In a 2017 episode of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," Kim and her sister Kourtney had a discussion after Kim’s assistant enjoyed a night out with Kourtney. The assistant told Kourtney that she wasn’t feeling satisfied with her position, leading to Kim characterizing the two’s relationship as “inappropriate.”
“Do you find it weird that you’re like ‘wifey’ with my assistant?” Kim asked Kourtney. “Like, what if, all of a sudden I became BFFs with Megan [Kourtney’s assistant]? I think you would definitely be like ‘that’s weird.’”
3. They must be quick, hands-on learners.
The lavish Kardashian lifestyle waits for no one, and those that can’t keep up are left behind. To stick around as Kim’s assistant, one has to prove that they know what they’re doing almost immediately.
Stephanie Shepherd first started working for the reality TV star when she was about to give birth to North, and Shepherd went the extra mile to make sure that she stood out.
"I was doing her whole schedule, doing her laundry, booking travel, putting the stroller together and all of these things,” Shepherd told Refinery29 in 2017. "But I wasn’t nervous. I was just excited, always staying longer than I needed because I was trying to prove myself — and then North came early! I was a brand new assistant who had no idea what to do with a baby, but we all moved into Kris' house, and she was the one who made it all feel okay and moved mountains for us.”
4. No jewelry in the house.
Kim was the victim of a robbery at gunpoint in her Paris hotel room in October 2016. She lost two cellphones and roughly $10 million worth of jewelry in the robbery. Since then, Kim has been much more modest about showing off her valuable goods. She rarely wears jewelry out, and if she does she says it is either borrowed or fake. She also does not allow expensive items to come into her home, including the jewelry of her assistants.
“I have it all taken from security before I even enter my home,” Kim said on an episode of KUWTK. “I can't sleep if I have jewelry in my safe, or money, or anything at my house. I just don't live my life like that."
5. Multi-tasking is a must.
Not only are assistants expected to learn on the fly, but they also work on multiple tasks at once. In the same interview with Refinery29, Shepherd detailed what a typical day looks like for her, which notably included checking lots of messages as well as communicating with her fellow assistants.
"The first thing I do every morning is read my email,” Shepherd said. “Then I'll check in with her personal assistant, Michael, who I also brought on to the team. We used to have a Jenner Communications office where I would work out of sometimes, but now I just kind of work from home or with Kim at her house, or sometimes at Kris' house in Calabasas."
6. They should take notes.
With such an exhausting list of demands already, it is critical for Kim’s assistants to make sure they remember everything essential. Shepherd said that one of her top pieces of advice for new recruits is to jot down notes to make sure they’re paying attention.
“Even if you think you’re gonna remember it in your head, you're not,” Shepherd told Refinery29. “We have interns through Jenner communications, and every time I see an intern not taking notes when they're getting instructions, I’m like, you’re gonna screw this up! Just write it down — it's not that hard!"
7. Own up to any mistakes.
Regardless of how fast an assistant can learn, how much they can do at once and how many notes they can take, they will inevitably slip up somehow. When it does happen, however, the best way for an assistant to get on Kim’s good side again is to admit that they messed up and vow to fix it.
“One is if you mess up, take responsibility and own it,” Shepherd said. “I've screwed up, I'm human. But I will just say, 'I am so sorry, and I will fix this.'”
8. Assistants have to work late into the night.
Assisting one of the biggest reality TV families ever is an around the clock job, much to the dismay of their assistants. Victoria Villaroel, a former assistant to Kylie Jenner, said in a YouTube video that she is essentially on call 24/7.
“It has to be 24/7,” Villaroel said. “She’ll call me at 2 a.m. and I answer. I don’t really have set hours. It’s pretty much whenever duty calls.”
Reports have also alleged that Kim similarly always has her assistants at the ready.
9. They must abide by a dress code.
Being that Kim is a fashion mogul, it's no surprise that she expects her assistant to dress the part. In an appearance on the Angie Martinez IRL Podcast, Kim revealed that her staff has a uniform policy.
“It’s not like, ‘Hey, this is like, your uniform.' It’s just color palettes," Kim clarified, noting that she prefers her staff stick to “grays, heather gray, black, navy, white, cream, khaki.”
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics.