Rags To Riches: 10 Self-Made CEOs Who Started With Nothing (PHOTOS)
share this story
Sure, it might be highly discouraging to watch the successful progeny of dynastic wealth -- think the scions of the Houses of Trump, Hilton and Newhouse. But look around the ranks of corporate America's most prominent and you'll also find a wealth of self-generated wealth.
Take John Paul Dejoria, co-founder and CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, for example. Dejoria twice found himself homeless. (He was also voted by his high school as the one who would be "Least Likely to Succeed".) Dejoria finally pulled himself out of homelessness only to have his products land in almost every top hair salon in the world.
After Larry Ellison dropped out of college, the future Oracle co-founder and CEO was told by his adoptive father that he would never amount to anything.
Lloyd Blankfein, CEO And Chairman, Goldman Sachs
Blankfein, a postal worker’s son <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/apr/25/profile-lloyd-blankfein-goldman-sachs" target="_hplink">grew up</a> in Brooklyn’s Linden Houses. When he was a teenager he took the long commute to Yankee Stadium to work as a concession vendor. “I tell you I learned what a dollar was worth because I learned how to make it three cents at a time carrying trays of soda at Yankee Stadium,” Blankfein <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127352162" target="_hplink">told</a> <em>NPR</em>. He was a strong enough student <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/apr/25/profile-lloyd-blankfein-goldman-sachs" target="_hplink"> to earn a full ride to Harvard</a>. The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/apr/25/profile-lloyd-blankfein-goldman-sachs" target="_hplink">realization</a> that his father's job as a sorter for the Postal Service was replaced by a machine after he retired was something that frightened Blankfein -- motivating him to Harvard Law and later to Wall Street. In April, Al Sharpton and Lloyd Blankfein bonded during a financial regulation speech Obama gave at Cooper Union after Sharpton<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/now-that-he-knows-lloyd-blankfein-grew-up-poor-reverend-al-sharpton-thinks-he-is-legit-2010-4#ixzz0vB2k3fEJ" target="_hplink"> found out </a> they used to be neighbors.
Larry Ellison, Oracle Co-Founder and CEO
Over the last 10 years, Larry Ellison <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/27/BUAV1EK6OO.DTL" target="_hplink"> was the highest-paid CEO of a public firm</a>, pulling in over $1.84 billion in the last decade. He is the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Lawrence-Ellison_JKEX.htm" target="_hplink"> sixth wealthiest person in the world</a>. But he worked his way up with zero family connections and no inherited wealth. <a href="a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61D1VK20100214" target="_hplink"" target="_hplink">Ellison didn’t know he was adopted</a> until he was 12. Ellison <a href="a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ell0bio-1" target="_hplink"" target="_hplink">dropped out</a> of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign after his adoptive mother died. He later enrolled at the University of Chicago, only to <a href="a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ell0bio-1" target="_hplink" later/a" target="_hplink">drop out </a>after a semester from poor grades. (<a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/02/oracle-ceo-larry-ellison-talks-americas-cup-steve-jobs-nba/1" target="_hplink">Ellison’s best friend</a>, Steve Jobs is <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/75-most-influential/steve-jobs-1008-3" target="_hplink">also adopted</a>). Ellison ended up going from one odd job to another, with <a href="http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ell0bio-1" target="_hplink"> just enough</a> to survive on fast food and buy gas. He eventually got a job at Ampex Corporation in the 1970s where he found his calling. In Mike Wilson's book "The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison," Wilson wrote that Ellison and two co-workers Ed Oates and Bob Miner worked on a project that would be</a> the start of the billion-dollar software empire, Oracle. <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/194298/larry_ellison_in_pictures_its_good_to_be_the_king.html" target="_hplink">Ellison once joked</a> that he “had all the disadvantages required for success.”
Ursula Burns, Xerox CEO
The Xerox CEO grew up on New York City's Lower East Side "when it was really bad, when the gangs were there and the drug addicts were there," she <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21xerox.html?pagewanted=4" target="_hplink">recalled to the <em>NY Times</em>. Burns' mother, whom she calls her biggest influence, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21xerox.html?pagewanted=4" target="_hplink">constantly repeated </a>different sayings to her while she was a child. The mantras included: "Where you are is not who you are." Her mother <a href="http://www.rochesterwomanmag.com/JanArticles/RWM_JanCoverStory.htm" target="_hplink">ran </a>an at-home daycare center taking care of other children and also ironed shirts for people in order to allow her daughter to afford to go to Catholic school. Burns is the first African-American woman to <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/article/ursula-burns-xerox" target="_hplink">run</a> a Fortune 500 company, and has made quite the impressive progression from being a Xerox summer intern in 1980 to the company's CEO. Burns is glad she <a href="http://www.rochesterwomanmag.com/JanArticles/RWM_JanCoverStory.htm" target="_hplink">never </a>took the advice of her teachers who knew she was a good student but predicted she should just pursue a great career as a nun, nurse or teacher.
John Paul Dejoria, Co-founder and CEO of John Paul Mitchell
John Paul Dejoria is every budding entrepreneur's dream. His hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems began as a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_John-Paul-DeJoria_PYLZ.html" target="_hplink">$700 startup from loans</a>. According to <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/july/202258.html" target="_hplink"><em>Entrepreneur</em></a>, he started his first job at the age of nine when Dejoria, his mom, and his brother would wake up at 4 a.m. everyday to fold and deliver newspapers. But at <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/10/rags-to-riches-billionaires-jobs-ellison-oprah-oracle-apple_slide_3.html" target="_hplink">one point </a>his mom could not support him anymore, and he was sent to a foster home. He was homeless twice before making his fortune, including <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/33603424/" target="_hplink"> when he was 22</a>, working jobs from being a janitor to driving a tow truck. His second bout of homelessness came<a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/july/202258.html" target="_hplink"> as a single father</a>. His wife<a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/july/202258.html" target="_hplink"> left him and his son</a> and took half of his savings. Dejoria was left<a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/july/202258.html" target="_hplink"> to take care</a> of his 2-year-old son on his own and was so poor he resorted to exchanging soda bottles for change. The <a href="http://www.horatioalger.com/members_info.cfm?memberid=DEJ04" target="_hplink">turning point </a> came when he got a job working as a salesperson at Redken hair company and was influenced to start a hair company with his friend Paul Mitchell. He is now worth <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/10/rags-to-riches-billionaires-jobs-ellison-oprah-oracle-apple_slide_3.html" target="_hplink">$4 billion</a>.
Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul
Oprah Winfrey was <a href="http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/oprah-winfrey.html" target="_hplink">born to unmarried teenage parents</a>. As a child, she split time between her mother Vernita who lived in Milwaukee, Wis. and her father Vernon who lived in Nashville, Tenn. reports <em>the Biography Channel</em>. Her mother was never really around much to take care of her, and <a href="http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/oprah-winfrey.html" target="_hplink">Winfrey was abused</a> by several family friends and relatives in Milwaukee. Winfrey's first job? <a href="http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2137-Career-Growth-and-Change-Before-They-Were-Stars/?cbsid=87fbd671b0104768a8895fef1ae4f999-334234897-wn-6&sc_extcmp=JS_2137_home1&cbRecursionCnt=2&SiteId=cbmsnhp42137&ArticleID=2137>1=23000" target="_hplink"> She worked as a "quiet grocery store worker"</a> and was not allowed to talk to customers. <a href="http://www.people.com/people/oprah_winfrey/biography" target="_hplink">In 1968, she moved permanently to Nashville</a> after becoming pregnant at the age of 14. After her week-old baby died, her father decided to help her turn her life around by instilling strict discipline and making sure that she would get an education, reports <em>People</em>. She <a href="http://www.people.com/people/oprah_winfrey/biography" target="_hplink">eventually</a> became an honors student in high school and attended Tennessee State University on a full scholarship. Winfrey later transitioned into television, and became Nashville's first African-American female news anchor.
Sheldon Adelson, CEO and Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp
Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H84R3O0.htm" target="_hplink">currently </a>the CEO and Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp, which runs The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. <a href="http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/17/business/6658638&sec=business" target="_hplink">Anderson grew up in working-class Dorchester, Massachusetts</a>. His father was a cab driver <a href="http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/17/business/6658638&sec=business" target="_hplink">and </a>his mother ran a knitting store. Adelson’s <a href="http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/17/business/6658638&sec=business" target="_hplink">first taste</a> of business was at the age of 12 when Adelson started selling newspapers on local street corners. <a href="http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/17/business/6658638&sec=business" target="_hplink">Eventually </a>Adelson wanted to own the newspaper corner, and borrowed $200 from a credit union to do so. “I come from a very poor family. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had to work for everything I had,” Adelson <a href="http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/17/business/6658638&sec=business" target="_hplink">said</a>. He has received<a href="http://topics.wsj.com/person/a/sheldon-g-adelson/587" target="_hplink"> honorary degrees </a> from top schools like Harvard Business School and Columbia Business School, but never graduated from college himself. He<a href="http://www.onlinenevada.org/sheldon_adelson" target="_hplink"> studied corporate finance</a> at the City College of New York but dropped out.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks Chairman and CEO
Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz was not the founder of Starbucks <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=194300&ticker=SBUX:US" target="_hplink">but</a> he is the man known for transforming the Seattle coffee chain into a global empire. Schultz's humble beginnings have also influenced the way he runs the company. <em>The Guardian </em><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/20/howard-schultz-starbucks-chairman-interview" target="_hplink">reports</a> that Schultz was always interested in creating a company that his own father (who worked as a truck driver, factory worker and taxi driver) never got the chance to work for. When Schultz was 7, his father <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197692.html" target="_hplink">lost </a>his job working as a diaper service delivery driver after he broke his ankle. Schultz's Starbucks is <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/career-center" target="_hplink">known for providing healthcare benefits</a> to its employees. According <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197692.html" target="_hplink">to</a> <em>Entrepreneur</em>, Schultz grew up in the Canarsie Projects of Brooklyn. Schultz <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schultz-pour.html" target="_hplink">lived </a>in a cramped two-bedroom unit in an apartment building that housed about 150 families. He <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schultz-pour.html" target="_hplink"> recalled</a> how embarrassed he would be when he found out that the sleepaway camp he went to as a kid one summer was "a subsidized program for underprivileged kids". Schultz <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197692.html" target="_hplink">eventually </a>went to Northern Michigan University on an athletic scholarship, being the first person in his family to go to college.
Guy Laliberte, Cirque Du Soleil Founder and CEO
He's <a href="http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/guy-laliberte-poker-player-529/" target="_hplink">currently</a> the billionaire creator of Cirque Du Soleil and betting big as a competitive poker player now. But <a href="http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/guy-laliberte-poker-player-529/" target="_hplink">Laliberte has been taking big gambles</a> since the early 1980s when he dropped out of college at the age of 19. Strapped for cash but doing what he loved, he <a href="http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/guy-laliberte-poker-player-529/" target="_hplink">worked</a> on the streets of Europe and Canada as a street performer. He blew fire <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/10/rags-to-riches-billionaires-jobs-ellison-oprah-oracle-apple_slide_9.html" target="_hplink">and walked on stilts</a>, and eventually got a troupe together that entertained people on the street -- from juggling and dancing to playing songs. He <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/top-rags-riches-stories/story?id=10636570&page=1" target="_hplink">took his circus group</a> of street performers all the way from Quebec to the Los Angeles Arts Festival in 1987, praying that they would capture an audience. (Laliberte didn't have had enough gas money for the<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/top-rags-riches-stories/story?id=10636570&page=1" target="_hplink"> ride back</a>). But major luck was on Laliberte's side when he and his acrobatic troupe captured casino mogul Steve Wynn's eye. Wynn brought Cirque du Soleil to Las Vegas <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Guy-Laliberte_SY4I.html" target="_hplink">four years later</a>. Since then Cirque du Soleil empire has created Laliberte a $2.5 billion fortune for Laliberte, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Guy-Laliberte_SY4I.html" target="_hplink">according to</a> <em>Forbes</em>.
Roman Abramovich, Oil Tycoon and Owner of Chelsea FC
Roman Abramovich currently ranks as <i>Forbes'</i> 50th richest person on the planet (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Roman-Abramovich_DG3G.html" target="_hplink">as of March 2010</a>) and likes to boast of his status. He now has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/20/abramovich-eclipse-yacht_n_544396.html" target="_hplink">the world's biggest boat</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/20/abramovich-eclipse-yacht_n_544396.html" target="_hplink">the world's biggest plane</a>. But <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Roman-Abramovich_DG3G.html" target="_hplink">has come a long way.</a> Orphaned at a young age, he <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/378446-roman-abramovich-not-your-everyday-owner" target="_hplink">was taken in at age four</a> and raised by his grandmother and uncle in the in a Russian town near the Arctic Circle. He <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Roman-Abramovich_DG3G.html" target="_hplink">later</a> dropped out of college and served in the army, and later started his controversial business career. He reportedly <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/378446-roman-abramovich-not-your-everyday-owner" target="_hplink">sold </a>stolen gasoline to other officers in his unit. After he left the army he got married and<a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/378446-roman-abramovich-not-your-everyday-owner" target="_hplink"> took</a> the money his in-laws gave him on his wedding day and started a business <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/profile/abramovich.shtml" target="_hplink"> selling plastic ducks from a tiny Moscow apartment</a>. Abramovich <a href="http://www.businesswings.co.uk/articles/Roman-Abramovich" target="_hplink">also</a> spent a good amount of time working as a street trader and as a mechanic at a local factory. Selling black-market goods helped to <a href="http://www.businesswings.co.uk/articles/Roman-Abramovich" target="_hplink">triple his wealth</a> and gave him the chance to run a plastic toy manufacturing plant. His ambition eventually landed him in the oil business where he made billions. In 1995 <a href="http://www.businesswings.co.uk/articles/Roman-Abramovich" target="_hplink">he and his business partner bought</a> Russia's Sibneft Oil Company for a song. Abramovich later moved on to the aluminum industry and acquired the U.K.'s Chelsea soccer team in 2003.
Li Ka- Shing, Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and Cheung Kong Holdings
Li Ka-Shing is the richest person in greater China and is also the wealthiest self-made billionaire in Asia with a net worth of $21 billion, according to a <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/billions/2010/05/10/li-ka-shing-opens-up-about-his-early-years/" target="_hplink"><em>Forbes</em> report</a> in May 2010. Ka-Shing is the chairman of two enormous holding companies <a href="http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com/eng/index.htm" target="_hplink">Hutchinson Whampoa Limited </a>and <a href="http://www.ckh.com.hk/eng/index.htm" target="_hplink">Cheung Kong Holdings</a>. (His empire boasts gigantic holdings in health and beauty and shipping industries.) At age 15, he was forced to quit school after his father died of tuberculosis, <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/billions/2010/05/10/li-ka-shing-opens-up-about-his-early-years/" target="_hplink"> eventually finding work in a plastics factory <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/billions/2010/05/10/li-ka-shing-opens-up-about-his-early-years/" target="_hplink"> where he worked 16 hours a day</a>. After years of working at the factory, he eventually <a href="http://www.lksf.org/eng/about/likashing/index.shtml" target="_hplink">created</a> his own company, building on his accumulated knowledge of the plastics industry. His charity organization, the Li Ka-Shing Foundation, was created in 1980 and has donated a total of about $1.45 billion <a href="http://www.lksf.org/eng/about/likashing/index.shtml" target="_hplink">so far</a>. The foundation focuses on medical care and education -- neither of which Ka-Shing received as a child.
Loading comments… 
Huffington Post Sherry Shen First Posted: 08/04/10 09:25 PM ET Updated: 05/25/11 06:15 PM ET