‘The Kardashians’ couldn’t film Kim teaching at Harvard. We found out what happened in the class

Matt Higgins, who invited the Skims founder to a Harvard Business School class, tells TODAY.com what happened once cameras stopped rolling.

If you’re surprised that Kim Kardashian gave a lecture at Harvard Business School, you may be watching too much of “The Kardashians.”

At least, that’s what Matt Higgins thinks. The former “Shark Tank” host and “Burn the Boats” author is one of the people who invited Kardashian to speak about her shapewear brand Skims in the Harvard Business School class. Her visit was included in Season Four, Episode Two of “The Kardashians.”

Higgins, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, says she had every right to be there. “People know Kim from ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians,’ but I think her experience as a phenomenal entrepreneur is way underexposed,” Higgins, founder of RSE Ventures, tells TODAY.com.

While cameras follow Kardashian and her family into nearly every room they’re in, they were barred from filming the HBS class.

“The cameras couldn’t come into the class at Harvard,” Kardashian said in a confessional. “It’s like a ‘sacred room.’ But it was such a fascinating class. It was about the thought process that behind our campaigns, our drops, our launches, what materials we use. So much the class wouldn’t ᴀssume that I would be involved it. This stuff will never get old to me.”

Higgins, who co-teaches the course with Leonard Schlesinger and Ayelet Israeli, gives TODAY.com some insight about what went on in that room, aka what viewers weren’t able to see.

Higgins explains Kardashian was invited to speak in a class about direct-to-consumer brands, which skip the middleman like large retail stores and sell directly to customers.

The Skims founder was one of three celebrities invited to partake in the class’s sub-series about celebrity-led brands (the others were makeup artist Bobbi Brown and actor Scarlett Johansson).

“When you have a celebrity-led brand that uses their storytelling ability and their audience to communicate their product in a compelling and engaging way, (direct-to-consumer) business become more viable,” Higgins says.

During the course, Kardashian and Skims chief executive Jens Grede explained their business story in a guest lecture and fielded questions from Harvard Business School students, who “don’t hold back,” according to Higgins.

Higgins, who says he has never seen an episode of Kardashian’s reality show, was “very impressed” with the founder’s presence.

“She knew her numbers inside and out, she had thoughtful reasoning about her go-to-market strategy and why they’ve stayed DTC, she had a concrete philosophy around product quality and how she ensures it. The range of her understanding and involvement with the business is impressive,” he says.

She was also “honest and vulnerable” about mistakes she had made in her career, Higgins says.

Among her insights? Higgins shared some of Kardashian’s verbatim quotes from the class, including, “The key to our success has been the product. Nothing makes me happier than to see a complete hater falling in love with Skims. … I really wanted the brand to be able to speak for itself, and that’s something I’ve always been aware and really conscious of throughout this process.”

What Kardashian has done with Skims, valued at $4 billion as of 2023, was “very difficult,” Higgins says.

“I don’t think people truly understand how phenomenal Skims is doing as a business. (The reason many) celebrities fail is they think they can simply slap their name on a product and the name is going to carry the day. It never works. The difference, I’ve found is — is the product organic to the celebrity in the way they live their life? Is it something they’re very pᴀssionate about? Are they willing to put their entire platform behind it?”

On the topic, Kardashian said in the class, “It comes down to being authentic to who you are and what your brand stands for. And making sure that the product is able to speak for itself, no matter what.”

Despite what is clearly a successful business, Kardashian was open with her feelings of imposter syndrome in the episode.

“The top business minds in the country have lectured here. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m really nervous,” Kardashian said.

Higgins sees “imposter syndrome” as “confirmation you are doing very hard things.”

“What I thought was fascinated with the media backlash is that it confirms you need to steel yourself and block it out. No matter where you are in your life or how high profile, there are going to be people in your life who are going to question (you),” he says. “The fact Kim Kardashian goes through it, despite her success and wealth, is the perfect illustration.

“She was refreshingly open and honest about that,” he continues.

Higgins remembers Kardashian said she wanted to include the class in the show so consumers would know another side to her, beyond family fights. Indeed, the Season Four premiere of “The Kardashians” had a progression in her feud with her sister, Kourtney Kardashian.

“That’s why it’s important for me to film something like this for my show. That’s the audience will see instead of me fighting with my sisters over something stupid,” she said in the show.