Kelly Rutherford won fans’ hearts with her portrayal of Lily van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl. Now the actress is trying herself in another industry.
She was the slightly hypothermic and incredibly chic Lily van der Woodsen in the hit series “Gossip Girl”. Today, Kelly Rutherford is still known to most fans as part of the “Upper East Siders”, but acting alone is apparently no longer enough for the American. She is co-founder of the new social media app whyzzer.
Kelly Rutherford invests in German company
Your co-founders of the platform are your cousins Benjamin Buthmann and Eric Garsleitner, who approached Rutherford on their own initiative. It clicked immediately, Rutherford tells Stern. The social network should enable users to easily prepare, share and consume knowledge and expertise. Investing in a social media app was new to Rutherford. A phenomenon has been evident in Hollywood and among celebrities for some time: Countless actresses and singers are beginning to achieve success beyond their industries. This is how superstar Rihanna has become one of the most successful comedy entrepreneurs in the world in recent years. Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Aniston and Scarlett Johansson have all founded their own brands.
“It’s important for everyone to be creatively fulfilled. And that’s not always the case in just one aspect of our lives. For example, being young and starting out in modeling doesn’t mean you don’t have other interests. Same applies to actors. We’re not limited to one thing anymore,” explains Rutherford in the interview.
Financial world dominated by men
She is aware that the financial world is still dominated by men. The most important tip she has for women: “Support each other.” “The financial industry has brought a lot of success to men, so it’s right when women say, ‘Okay, we’re going to build something here too'”. And she believes that female investors add value to the market. “Sometimes women really understand the market in a different way. Mothers, for example, know which products they buy most often. So we would probably say, let’s invest in these products,” she tells Stern.
For Rutherford, the investment in “whyzzer” has another, personal benefit: Her two children, Hermés and Helena, live with their father, Daniel Giersch from Hamburg, in France. So the actress is regularly drawn to Europe anyway.
