Blood Is Thicker Than Water: Celebrities Who Keep Their Businesses Within The Family

By Jasmine Browley · Updated November 14, 2022

It’s said that mixing business and family can be difficult, but many celebs think differently. As evidenced by the litany of relatives managing some of our brightest stars, blood really is thicker than water in show business.

This sentiment isn’t just reserved for Hollywood.

There are 5.5 million family businesses in the United States according to a 2022 report compiled by the Step Project Global Consortium and KPMG. The data states that family owned businesses contribute 57% of the GDP and employ 63% of the workforce (Family Enterprise USA, 2011). This translates to 98 million employees working within family founded and led businesses, and are responsible for 78% of all new job creation (Astrachan and Schanker, (2003) Family Business Review 16(3) 211-219).

Clearly, working with relatives is a proven success formula, and we’re happy to take a look at the stars who figured it out.

01

Todd Tucker, Aunt Bertha, Aunt Nora, Mama Joyce, and Kandi Burruss

Over the last three decades, Kandi Burruss has built a storied career in entertainment but the mogul’s biggest feat yet is sharing her family with the world, and we love them. In 2016, Kandi and her husband Todd Tucker launched a restaurant The Old Lady Gang (OLG) had the great idea of sharing some of the delicious down home Southern recipes that Kandi was raised on as a child and has come to love as an adult, according the eatery’s website. The brand is now wildly popular and has expanded into a franchise across multiple locations in the state of Georgia.

02

Ashanti and her mom Tina Douglas

Ashanti has been a star since her teens, and it’s in large part to her business savvy momager Tina Douglas. She’s successfully managed her daughter’s career for more than two decades.

03

Christina Milian and mother Carmen Milian

Christina Milian has always openly spoken about the closeness of her family, particularly the beautiful relationship she has with her mom, Carmen Milian. Since the beginning of the singer/actress’s career, her mom has been in lock step with her moves as manager and hasn’t looked back since.

04

Megan Thee Stallion and mother Holly Thomas

Megan Thee Stallion’s star power rose a few years ago, and her mother/manager Holly Thomas was at her side every step of the way. Unfortunately, Thomas passed away in March 2019 as her daughter’s career reached a fever pitch. but the WAP rapper said she honors her memory with every feat she achieves.

05

Sonja Norwood, Brandy, Ray J and Willie Norwood

Sonja Norwood has managed her famous children’s career since the beginning and still does. It’s safe to say she knows what she’s doing.

06

Romeo Miller and father Percy ‘Master P’ Miller

Master P cemented himself as hip hop legend and laid plans to do the same for his son Romeo as the manager of his rap career. Now, years later they are still working together and have founded multiple companies alongside one another.

07

Cordell Broadus and father Snoop Dogg

The two recently entered the metaverse together, MOBLAND, a digital weed farm. “NFT 1.0 is about individual character and item, NFT 2.0 is about land and real estate, NFT 3.0 is about business and utility on top of the land and real estate,” said Roy Liu, Co-founder of MOBLAND, per a press release. “We are super pumped to pioneer with the legendary Snoop Dogg by bringing digital cannabis and mass adoption to the metaverse and GameFi 2.0. We are looking for more ways to give back to the cannabis community.”