Kourtney Kardashian Barker has long been the queen of wellness, but in the past few years she has made a successful business of it, too — which is among the reasons she has been named Wellness Entrepreneur of the Year at the WWD Style Awards.
The awards will take place Friday at the Regent Santa Monica. The event will be presented by Amazon Beauty, Donna Karan New York and IHG Hotels & Resorts with other honorees including the late Giorgio Armani, Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson and Hailey Bieber, among others.
“Even before Lemme, wellness had always been such a huge part of my life, and something I’ve always wanted to share in a real way. Having seven kids, perfect, clean living isn’t realistic some of the time. I think a lot of women feel that way,” Kardashian Barker said over the phone from her home in Los Angeles in December, where she was preparing for the holidays with her family. “With Lemme, it was about making wellness feel approachable and doable in real life. Even when I started Poosh, I always felt the same way. It’s not about being perfect. That’s why we started with gummies.”
Kourtney Kardashian Barker
Joelle Grace Taylor/WWD
The reality star turned entrepreneur’s interest in wellness began after her first son, Mason Disick, was born in 2009.
“I definitely didn’t know much about health and wellness before that, and then I really started learning,” she explained. “When I first started thinking about what to feed Mason, I read this book and it just talked about different types of foods and organic foods and the importance of that. I learned so much about what you put in your body, especially after having this new, perfect baby that I just wanted to not put anything harmful in his body. It just grew from there.”
The interest in wellness eventually led to the launch of lifestyle website Poosh in 2019. Three years later, Kardashian Barker debuted the supplement brand Lemme with longtime friend Simon Huck. The first products were easy-to-understand and fun formulas like Lemme Sleep, $30, and Lemme Debloat, $30.
Over the past few years, Lemme has steadily been expanding its retail footprint, launching at Ulta Beauty in 2023, Target in 2024 and it entered 2,000 Walmart stores at the beginning of this month, as well as online.
Its launch pipeline has been particularly active of late, too, with the brand releasing colostrum supplements in November and a fat burning gummy in December. Another big launch is coming soon.
“We have so much more coming. We have over seven different product launches in the next eight months, and we’re also growing our retail footprint with partners like Walmart, which will just make Lemme easy to find, where women already shop,” Kardashian Barker said.
Kourtney Kardashian Barker
Joelle Grace Taylor/WWD
“The success of Lemme lives somewhere between the brand and our science. We use the latest research and clinically studied ingredients when developing the formulations that really deliver real benefits, and we’ve paired that with a brand that feels modern, playful and doesn’t take itself too seriously.”
This ethos includes purple bottles, inspired by a 1930s cookie jar Kardashian Barker found. “Supplements can feel intimidating and clinical. That’s why I wanted Lemme to feel the opposite and something that you’re proud to leave on your bedside table,” she said.
It also plays a role in destigmatizing women’s health, with launches focused on vaginal and sexual health and more.
“For the longest time, things like vaginal health and sexual health have had this taboo, which always felt ridiculous to me, given how important they are to a woman’s health,” Kardashian Barker said. “At Lemme, we’ve really tried to normalize those conversations for women and develop products around these important categories like Lemme Purr and Lemme Play.”
When it comes to her current wellness routine, since she is still breastfeeding her son Rocky Barker, it mainly consists of walking, as well as regular facials and lymphatic drainage massages.
“Anytime I’m on a Zoom I walk on the treadmill. I don’t know if that’s really considered part of my wellness routine, but I have one facialist that I go to right now. Her name is Dr. Ellie and I love it when I go there. It’s one hour to myself where I fall asleep, and I feel like it’s like me time so it just feels really like a little reset. I’ll try to do that every two weeks. I try to get a lymphatic massage once every two weeks. I do that at home,” she said.
“I’m still breastfeeding, so I don’t go to the sauna, cold plunge. I keep it pretty simple. I try to eat pretty clean, and mostly at home.”
Kourtney Kardashian Barker
Joelle Grace Taylor/WWD
While it changes, her current supplement routine includes daily Lemme Immunity, Lemme Purr and Lemme colostrum.
As for if all her sisters take Lemme, she certainly hopes so — but when they’re together they don’t really talk shop.
“We send it to all of them,” she said. “But I feel like, honestly, when we’re together, we really don’t talk about business that much.”
Photographs by Joelle Grace Taylor
Makeup by Jen Tioseco
Hair by Glen Oropeza
