Heiress to the Hearst Corporation (which estimates 5 billion dollars in annual revenue), socialite Amanda Hearst has the charmed life of someone great-grandfathered into a whole lot of money.

The great-granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, Amanda is the daughter of Anne Hearst with her second husband, Richard McChesney (who split before her birth). She shares family ties with kidnapee Patty Hearst, and Gillian Hearst Simonds and Lydia Hearst—her first cousins.

Raised in New York, Hearst continues to be a major fixture on the New York social circuit, and serves on the board of numerous charities. In her formative years, she attended school at Chapin before heading off to elite boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. A stint at Boston College followed, but she later transferred to Fordham University where she received a degree in Art History. Hearst has also worked as a model, signing with both Elite management and later IMG. She's appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, in ad campaigns for Ralph Lauren, and was named global ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger. The job description? "It's like, being a spokesperson, I guess, but more active." Whoa. Most recently, she's found work as an associate editor at Marie Claire (a Hearst publication), where she also runs her own eco-fashion blog.

She was famously featured in Forbes for having a "maintenance cost"—which included spending on clothes, make-up, and vacations—valued at $136,000 per year. Romantically, she was linked to Winston Lapham, the son of former Harper's editor Lewis Lapham, until their break up in spring 2008. She continues to live in New York City, but vacations all the time.

[Image via Getty]