The beauty and fashion mogul was being interviewed at the TIME100 Summit Tuesday and talked about her criminal justice reform efforts ... getting into the nitty-gritty of her work to help secure the release of Alice Marie Johnson from prison.

As she was diving into this chapter of her life -- which she says has been eye-opening and life-changing on several fronts -- Kim was asked point blank ... could she ever see herself living a life not in front of the cameras? She answered quickly -- absolutely!

Kim goes on to say she and her extended family have come to cherish the private moments they share off-camera -- so a transition to post-reality TV wouldn't be that difficult.

Plus, it sounds like KK legitimately loves the art of law ... not to mention the idea of helping people in need. They discuss her progress in that regard -- Kim says she's taken and passed the baby bar exam.

Kim says she'll take the real bar exam in February ... so she could be a real-life attorney and actually pursue this new career that she's mulling over here in this chat -- IF she passes.

Kim's passion for law/justice has been well-documented over the past several years -- in addition to trips to D.C. for lobbying efforts, she's continued to speak out and highlight cases where she feels certain people have been wrongly imprisoned, including death row inmates.

It's interesting to hear her say she'd leave TV (and presumably the spotlight that comes with it) behind ... frankly, she's been an entertainment staple for about two decades now.

It'd certainly be the end of an era ... and we might be coming up on it sooner than later.

We covered it all in the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms!