Leonardo Del Vecchio was born in Milan in 1935 and grew up in an orphanage. He worked in factories and eventually operated his own, making eye glasses under the brand Luxottica. The corporation now produces Ray-Ban, Coach, Oakley, Prada and other fashionable lines. His estimated worth is $22.6 billion.
In 1981 Do Won Chang moved from South Korea to the USA. He washed dishes, pumped gas and cleaned offices. He eventually opened a store called Fashion 21, which sold wholesale clothing at low prices. He changed the name to Forever 21. He is now worth $3.1 billion.
Englishman Magnus Walker dropped out of school at 15. He eventually landed in L.A., where scoured thrift stores for cool clothes, which he resold on Venice Beach. He soon began selling his own designs, and his profits went through the roof. He supplied rock stars with duds. He also began collecting, customizing and reselling Porsches. He bought a dilapidated building in a poor district and wound up renting it to film companies.
IKEA mastermind Ingvar Kamprad was born on a farm in rural Sweden. His family was so poor that he began working at six, selling matches on the street. At 10 he hawked Christmas decorations door-to-door.
Oprah Winfrey was born in a tiny Mississippi town to a teenage single mom who worked as a housemaid. At nine she was raped repeatedly by family members. She moved to Tennessee to live with her father, but the sexual abuse didn't end. Pregnant at 14, she lost the baby soon after its birth.
At 16 John D. Rockefeller was a bookkeeper for a produce shipping company. At 20 he started his own business, earning commissions on selling hay and meat. He soon realized there was money in oil.
Coco Chanel was raised in an orphanage, where nuns taught her how to sew. She used those skills as a professional seamstress. At 23 she began living with a rich man, which helped her learn how to speak and act like wealthy woman.
Lebo Gunguluza, who grew up poor in South Africa, didn't earn his high school diploma until he was 20. He founded Gunguluza Enterprises & Media. By 27 he was a millionaire.
And as almost everyone knows, J.K. Rowling was a welfare single mom when she began writing the Harry Potter series.
There's a message somewhere in all that.
With Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy back in the groove on the golf course, CBS, which broadcasts the Masters, is in its glory.
For the first time in a week I was at my usual nook and, even though it wasn't very windy, it was cold in the shade of the scaffold. I spent a lot of time standing in the sun at the corner of East 13th. My thanks to the gentleman who bought Wicked Prey by John Sandford, the 19th entry in the series, and The Talbot Odyssey by Nelson DeMille; and to the woman who purchased Long Time No See by Susan Isaacs. The highlight of the session occurred as I was breaking down the display. Romanian born artist Andu arrived, looking better and more stable than I'd ever seen him. He's been selling his work on the street in Manhattan on Sundays and says anything inspired by Batman and Wonder Woman sells immediately. He made $135 yesterday and hopes to soon be doing it every day. He bought several items: a beautifully illustrated book on Impressionists, one of the Harry Potter series, a huge educational reader on the three R's for his mom, and Smut Volume One, a compilation issued by nerve.com, which bills itself as "Smutty & Smart."
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