Rags To Riches: 10 Self-Made CEOs Who Started With Nothing (PHOTOS)

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.

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Lloyd Blankfein, CEO And Chairman, Goldman Sachs

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Blankfein, a postal worker’s son grew up 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 told NPR. He was a strong enough student to earn a full ride to Harvard. The realization 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 found out they used to be neighbors.

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Blankfein, a postal worker’s son grew up 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 told NPR.

He was a strong enough student to earn a full ride to Harvard. The realization 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 found out they used to be neighbors.

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