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Five Rags-to-Riches Success Stories of Today’s Business Leaders

 

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Harry Potter novel. As a bonafide nerd growing up, I was one of those kids who dragged their parents to Barnes & Noble for the midnight release parties of each book, and I have no shame in admitting that my love for Harry Potter is not something I grew out of #PotterHead4Life. In addition to being one of the greatest series in literature history, Harry Potter also represents one of the greatest rags-to-riches success stories; JK Rowling was homeless when she wrote the first novel, and today has built a $15 billion brand and has a personal net worth of just under $1 billion. Her success is a testament to the unlimited potential of one good idea mixed with a bit of talent and perseverance.

Rowling isn’t the only incredibly successful business mogul in business today. There are countless stories of individuals who came from nothing and managed to achieve extraordinary successes. Such stories can give us hope that we, too, have the capability to be extraordinary and do not need to start out with advantages in life in order to make our dreams come true. Here are a few examples of those who, like JK Rowling, overcame their circumstances and managed to rise to the top.

  1. Bethenny Frankel. Anyone who has watched The Real Housewives of New York City (aka, most of us at Fish) has witnessed first-hand Frankel’s journey from struggling chef to millionaire entrepreneur. During the first season of the show, we saw Frankel in a grocery store in Long Island struggling to get shoppers to even try out a sample of her food items. However, through her relentless ambition and unwavering belief in the value of her product, Frankel was able to build the Skinnygirl Cocktail empire, which she sold in 2011 for an estimated $100 million.
  2. Howard Schultz. Before becoming the CEO of a little coffee shop named Starbucks in 1987, Schultz came from a childhood of poverty and destitution, growing up in the projects in Brooklyn. Today, he has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion and is responsible for growing Starbucks from 60 units in 1987 to more than 25,000 locations worldwide today.
  3. Oprah Winfrey. After enduring a childhood plagued by poverty and molestation from family members, Winfrey earned a full scholarship to college and won a beauty pageant, where she was discovered by a radio station. The rest is history. The Oprah name became an empire, and according to Forbes she is worth $2.7 billion.
  4. Do Won Chang. Before founding Forever 21 in 1984, Chang worked three jobs simultaneously, as a gas station clerk, a janitor and a coffee shop employee. Forever 21 is now multi-national and has 480 locations across the world, bringing in an estimated $3 billion per year.
  5. John Paul DeJoria. After growing up in the foster care system and even at one belonging to a gang, DeJoria eventually created John Paul Mitchell Systems using a $700 loan. He lived out of his car and sold shampoo door to door. Despite these humble beginnings, the quality of his products fueled his success, and now JPM Systems has annual revenues of nearly $1 billion.