WHEN: Today, Thursday, April 1
WHERE: CNBC’s “Closing Bell”
Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with entrepreneur and media personality Paris Hilton on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET) today, Thursday, April 1. Following is a link to video on CNBC.com:
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
PART ONE
SARA EISEN: She’s known as the original influencer. Turns out, Paris Hilton is also one of the original NFT innovators and has been involved since March of last year. We caught up with Paris and asked her about how she started getting into that industry.
PARIS HILTON: I’ve always loved to be an innovator and I did my first NFT in March of 2020 and it won the NFT Charity Award, the best one of the year, so that was exciting and now to see it just blow up in the past couple months has been so exciting and I’ve been working together with some incredible artists and doing my first drop in a few weeks and then another one planned after that and I just think it’s amazing that artists can really, you know, take back their power and just, I don’t know, there’s the technology that is just so interesting and I’m just fascinated by all of it.
EISEN: You said you have your first drop coming in a few weeks. Can you tell us what it is? Is it a drawing, a photo? How are you thinking about it?
HILTON: My first drop is about art. I can’t really say much yet because it’s a surprise, but the first one will be about art and the second one will be about music and memorabilia so it’s amazing that I think really the possibilities are endless with this. And I’m learning so much.
WILFRED FROST: G– go on, give y- you’re teasing. You’re teasing us, tell us a little bit more. It’s about art or it’s something you’ve drawn or created?
HILTON: It’s something I created with another artist and it has to deal with female empowerment.
EISEN: You said you’re an investor and that you liked NFTs. Does that mean you’re an investor in Bitcoin?
HILTON: Yes. I’m very, very excited about that as well. It’s definitely the future.
EISEN: Have you been in Bitcoin for a while?
HILTON: Yes.
EISEN: Well I guess it’s been a good trade. What else are you investing, what else are you excited about in the investment world? Anything else right now?
HILTON: I’m excited just to invest in behind female entrepreneurs especially. Daily Harvest is one that I also am an investor behind with Rachel Drori, I think she’s just brilliant, as well as Zen Water and Good Catch and R3SET is the one I’m most excited about right now because I think it’s just been such a game changer for me and it’s really changed my life and I want to help empower others and have them be the best versions of themselves.
PART TWO
FROST: As an entrepreneur, social media influencer, DJ and business investor, Paris Hilton juggles a great deal of projects. We spoke with her about her latest investment and how it’s helped her deal with stress during the pandemic.
HILTON: I think definitely this year for everyone, it’s been a very stressful year, and then just doing my documentary, “This Is Paris,” and discussing so many traumatic experiences that have happened in my life and never really had talked about it before so after I talked about it I just really learned how much stress I was going through and that’s when I discovered R3SET this past year.
FROST: To what extent do you find stress builds up from the level of engagement that is possible today because of various social media platforms and others with both fans and critics alike. Is that something that you struggled to be able to kind of switch off at times?
HILTON: I’ve been in this industry for so long that I’ve, I’ve learned to deal with that, but I can’t imagine being a teenage girl and having to deal with the pressures of social media and just people online and just how cruel they can be sometimes. I’ve built a tough skin over the years and definitely with R3SET, it’s, it’s helped me in so many ways deal with stress.
EISEN: As the original influencer in this day and age 2021, which tool, which social media platform do you think is the most effective for getting your message out, your brand out and everything you’re working on?
HILTON: I’m on every single platform. I really enjoy TikTok. I think it’s so much fun. I actually got on it this year during the pandemic. There’s a lot more to it than just dancing, there’s comedy, there’s beauty, there’s just so much that goes into it.
FROST: I wanted to ask about another one of your, your many career lines and that’s, that’s DJing. Clearly, as small nightclubs have not been the place to be over the last 12 months, do you fear that there might be long term shifts and people not wanting to return to that sort of environment? I know you’ve got the open-air type concerts as well but those sort of smaller enclosed spaces, long term suffering.
HILTON: I’m not fearing for myself because I feel that I’ve just moved on in my life. I just got engaged, I’m ready to start a family. So I’m not going to be wanting to go out like I used to, but I’ve been getting offers from around the world of things coming up soon. I’ve turned down a lot of things. So that’s really not a priority for me anymore, but you know my heart does go out to all my other friends who are DJs in this space and I’m hoping that it will open up again but I think it’s going to be more about these outdoor pool parties and outdoor music festivals and I think the smaller clubs it might be a little bit hard for them, you know, in the beginning.
FROST: Paris Hilton there and of course there are a few more authoritative people than I to ask a question about DJing so enjoyed that at the end, but my, my point was going to be just quite how broad her portfolio of interests is a lot of which we discussed and more going up on online in due course. And it does feel like she’s completely on top of all of it I mean, I find it hard just to deal with one social media account. She’s on all of them, she’s running so many businesses with, with what feels like a very personal touch to it all.
