This article was originally written on Medium in June 2021. Information may be out of date.
Today, we welcome Paris Hilton as both an investor and advisor to Origin. We’re ecstatic that the world-renowned entertainment and business icon has chosen to team up with Origin and is now aligned to make our products and Origin Tokens (OGN) massively successful.
In the last few months, we’ve been fortunate to spend a significant amount of time with Paris and her fiancé Carter, Partner of M13 Ventures. Paris Hilton is the original influencer that ushered forth the creator economy. Beyond leaving a permanent mark on mainstream culture through her TV shows and music production from the early 2000s until now, Paris Hilton is also one of the most successful female entrepreneurs in the world. Over the years, she has built a multi-billion dollar empire across countless fashion, beauty, media and entertainment, e-commerce and retail, and investment businesses. Her brand appeals to a global and multigenerational audience. Paris has also been an outspoken activist that supports causes for women’s empowerment, LGBTQ rights, and medical care and support for children around the world.
Perhaps most importantly, Paris and her team share Origin’s long-term vision that blockchain technology and specifically NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will empower creators, influencers, artists, and brands to engage more directly with their fans. In the process, NFTs will disrupt existing multibillion dollar industries like digital metaverses/gaming, premium fashion/limited edition merchandise, traditional fine art, and of course, social media and entertainment. Paris articulates her belief in NFTs in her blog post:
I see NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, as the future of the creator economy.
Whether art or music or fashion or design, NFTs allow me to express myself and allow all creators to directly reach their audience, creating a new type of marketplace. — Paris
Despite her massive success in pop culture and business, Paris also shows an incredible amount of humility and eagerness to learn voraciously as a “student of the game”. She’s already forged relationships with top NFT technologists and collectors like WhaleShark, Illestrator, 888, 33NFT, Pablo, and many others. Paris’s recent NFT drop with Blake Kathryn set records for most successful NFT sale by a female creator on NiftyGateway, and she’s just getting started.
Blake Kathryn and Paris Hilton’s 1 of 1 NFT sold for over $1M in April
Beyond creating amazing NFT art, she is also giving back to the community. Paris has donated to the Sevens Foundation to support up and coming NFT artists and is also an avid collector of other creators’ works, having amassed over 130 NFTs to date and also participating in the JennyDAO, a respected NFT collector community.
We’re incredibly excited to work with Paris to unlock new opportunities for Origin. As an investor and advisor, Paris will provide strategic advice on how to most effectively deliver value with NFTs for top-tier creators like celebrities, influencers, and brands. In addition, we look forward to working closely with Paris to bring NFTs to mainstream consumer audiences through education, marketing, and creating new use cases with this disruptive technology (e.g. redemption for physical fashion and accessory items, access to unique experiences or premium content). Please welcome Paris to team Origin.
Learn more about Paris Hilton
One of today’s most recognizable entrepreneurs and international influencers, Paris Hilton is a pioneer in reality television and an innovator in technology, media and celebrity branding.
Since starring in “The Simple Life,” Hilton has built a global empire as an influencer, DJ, designer, recording artist, philanthropist, host, actress, model and author. In 2006, she created Paris Hilton Entertainment, a multi-billion-dollar company consisting of 45 branded stores, 29 fragrances and 19 product lines, which have generated over $4 billion in revenue. In 2011, Variety declared Paris Hilton as a “Billion Dollar Entrepreneur” in recognition of her successful business and global brand.
In 2020, Hilton debuted “This Is Paris,” a critically acclaimed YouTube Originals documentary about her life journey, which has garnered 20+ million views to date. The film follows her success as a business woman but also reveals, for the first time, the abuses she suffered as a teenager at schools in the Troubled Teen Industry. Since the documentary debuted, Paris has used her voice and dedicated her platform and resources to eradicating the abuse of children in systemically abusive institutions. As a direct result of Paris’s efforts, Utah passed SB 127, a bill protecting thousands of youth in residential treatment facilities. Paris is actively working to pass a similar bill on the federal level, and is an active philanthropist in many other areas.
Always attuned to emerging trends and opportunities, Hilton continues to expand Paris Hilton Entertainment into a leading global integrated media and product company with the goal of pushing boundaries, inspiring audiences, empowering creatives and driving lasting positive impact across the world. Paris has been an innovator in the NFT space since March of 2020, and in April 2021 set the record for the highest grossing NFT drop for a female artist. She also recently launched London Audio (podcast production company in partnership with iHeartMedia), Slivington Manor Entertainment (TV production company with an overall deal at Warner Bros.), and PHE Digital. As an investor, Hilton is committed to supporting and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs positively impacting the world at companies such as Daily Harvest, R3SET, Good Catch, ZenWTR, Podz, and many more.
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