Daymond John

Daymond Garfield John was born on February 23, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City, U.S., into the middle-class family of Caribbean parents Margot and Garfield John. He was the only child in the family and was raised in Queens, New York.

His parents were not financially sound. Daymond credits his parents for teaching him the value of hard work early in his life. Things came crashing down when he was 10 years old. His parents divorced, and his father left the house. His mother, who was a homemaker, could not secure a job. Thus, the family sank into poverty.

Soon, Daymond John decided to be the man of the house and began working. He was raised in the Hollis region of Queens, which was dominated by a low-income black population back then. He mingled with the society kids there. The community was inclusive, and everyone knew and helped each other.

He began working different jobs quite early. He sold pencils and shovelled snow. At the age of 10, he became an electrician’s apprentice and fixed the electrical issues in and around the Bronx region.

Sometime in the 1980s, the hip-hop music scene flourished in New York, and Daymond was heavily influenced by it. He wanted to be a part of it, like many other teenagers. However, being black, he could not afford the clothes that the hip-hop artists wore.

He was still in school back then and was not able to focus on his studies. Years later, he found out that he suffered from dyslexia. This led him to move away from studies. He thus decided to skip college and begin his own business. However, in order to do that, he needed capital investments. He thus began working as a waiter to save enough for his business venture.

Daymond John learned to sew from his mother when she pushed him to start doing something worthwhile with his life. Daymond came across some wool ski hats in the market and found them to be extremely overpriced. He thus bought some low-cost fabric and sewed about 80 wool caps, selling them at $10 per piece.

His neighbor helped him in sewing and selling the hats. Thus, he made $800 through his first business venture. This gave him a lot of confidence, and he began working harder.

His mother realized that her son had some real talent in what he was doing. She decided to take a big risk to help her son and thus mortgaged her house to lend him $100,000 to invest in his business. In 1992, he laid the foundation of his company, ‘For Us By Us,’ which was shortened to ‘FUBU.’ He also continued to work as a waiter.

Marketing the brand was the biggest challenge during its early stages, and Daymond John somehow knew that he needed to get some celebrities on board to promote it. Over time, as the hat business began running smoothly, Daymond began sewing screen-printed T-shirts. As the business grew bigger, he appointed two more friends from his neighborhood and gave them the responsibility of selling the T-shirts.

In order to expand the business, they started selling the T-shirts in large consignments in the northeast region. Over time, they began sewing the ‘FUBU’ logo on hockey jerseys and T-shirts. They designed the logos to match the hip-hop trends, and their brand of clothes became extremely popular with the masses.

One of the biggest promotional ideas they had was to get some public figures to wear their T-shirts. For the next 2 years, they began lending their brand of clothes to upcoming rappers. They chose 10 rappers, including Will Smith, and their brand was featured in about 30 music videos.

Despite the fact that ‘FUBU’ was still a small-time apparel brand, its presence in popular music videos created a general perception that it was a big brand. Many stores began contacting them, and Daymond and his company started supplying in bulk.

In 1993, Daymond John had a big breakthrough when he managed to convince his childhood friend and rapper LL Cool J to wear a ‘FUBU’ T-shirt to a public event. Later, while shooting for a ‘GAP’ advertisement, Cool J wore a ‘FUBU’ hat and used the phrase “for us by us” in one of his rap songs.

Around the same time, Daymond managed to receive orders worth $300,000. To deliver the goods, he needed to ramp up the work, and for that, he needed more cash. He asked many banks for loans but was rejected by 27 major banks. His mother gathered some money and put up an advertisement in ‘The New York Times.’ The effort worked, and ‘Samsung Textiles’ came on board, helping ‘FUBU’ complete the orders.

Currently, ‘FUBU’ happens to be a global brand and has managed to earn more than $6 billion in sales. Daymond, being its founder and CEO, has become a national celebrity and an inspiration for the young black American population that has mostly been marginalized and deprived of equal opportunities to grow. Daymond also speaks as a motivational speaker at public events and is known as a black icon.

In 2009, Daymond John was offered a spot on the business reality show ‘Shark Tank.’ According to the format of the show, individuals pitched their business ideas to investors, with the hope of receiving funding. By 2017, Daymond had invested more than $8 million of his own money in different ‘Shark Tank’ ventures.

He has been one of the most popular investors on the show. He received widespread appreciation for deciding to mentor a young entrepreneur named Moziah Bridges, the owner of ‘Mo’s Bows.’ As a result, ‘Mo’s Bows’ grew by leaps and bounds and recently signed a great deal with the ‘NBA.’

In September 2015, he spearheaded the business skill-development program named ‘Daymond John’s Success Formula,’ to help small businesses grow. It was later renamed ‘Next Level Success.’

He has written four books: ‘The Brand Within,’ ‘Display of Power,’ ‘Rise and Grind,’ and ‘The Power of Broke.’ He has been a ‘New York Times’ bestselling author. He has also won several awards, such as the ‘NAACP Award,’ the ‘Asper Award,’ and the ‘Essence Award.’

Daymond John married his first wife in his early 20s and had two daughters with her. He was busy devoting time to his business at that time. Thus, his wife left him. The marriage finally ended in a divorce.

In 2018, Daymond married Heather Taras. They had a daughter, Minka Jagger.

In 2017, Daymond was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He then underwent a successful surgery and is now cancer-free.

Daymond John is a self-taught entrepreneur who started his clothing line, FUBU, from scratch and turned it into a multi-million dollar business.

He is a motivational speaker and author, sharing his insights on business and success with audiences around the world.

Daymond John is an avid collector of vintage cars and enjoys restoring classic vehicles in his spare time.

He is a dedicated philanthropist, supporting various charitable causes and organizations that focus on entrepreneurship and education.

Daymond John is also a passionate mentor, offering guidance and advice to aspiring entrepreneurs through his role on the TV show “Shark Tank.”