John Paul DeJoria
John Paul Mitchell Systems & Patron Spirits Company
Los Angeles, CA USA
"Success unshared is failure."
Career Roadmap
John Paul's work combines: Business, Entrepreneurship, and Working with Others
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Instead of taking any job out of high school or college, try and find a job or industry that you think you might be passionate about. I had no experience in the beauty industry, but when the opportunity arose to work for a beauty company I took it—even though it was very little money—because I thought I could be passionate about it. I ended up becoming successful because of that passion. Once you find a job you're passionate about, do that job better than anyone else even when no one is looking.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
2.
I was raised by a single mother and would find odd jobs to help her support our family from the time that I was nine years old.
3.
I didn’t have the grades for a scholarship, so I chose to join the U.S. Navy rather than go to college.
4.
After leaving the Navy, I held a variety of jobs, including driving a tow truck, selling encyclopedias door-to-door, and running a boiler room for Time Inc.
5.
When the opportunity arose to work for a beauty company, I took it because I knew that could be an industry that I was passionate about.
6.
I worked for three different beauty companies and was fired from each—though I had helped the companies succeed, the upper management either didn’t believe in me or didn’t think I fit in with them.
7.
My friend Paul Mitchell (a hairdresser) and I founded John Paul Mitchell Systems to sell hair care products—when we started, I put all that I had into the company and lived in my car!
8.
In addition to working with John Paul Mitchell Systems, I co-founded Patron Spirits Company and also spend a lot of time giving back to different communities and charities.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
You're not management material. You're not one of us. You don't fit in.
How I responded:
I worked for three different beauty companies that each fired me even though I had helped them grow and succeed. They thought I wasn't a good manager, didn't think I fit in with them, or didn't want to pay me enough. Instead of giving up, I decided there had to be a better way to stay in the industry and started my own company. It became very successful. I know that if I hadn't gone through those difficult experiences and used what I learned, my company would not have succeeded.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
There were times in my career that I didn't even have enough money to pay my bills. It was stressful but I used my passion and survival instincts to push forward. Using passion to keep fighting and pushing forward through discouragement helped a lot.