John Paul DeJoria

About John Paul

• I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
• 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.
• I didn’t have the grades for a scholarship, so I chose to join the U.S. Navy rather than go to college.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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!
• 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.