Daymond John

Daymond Garfield John was born on February 23, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City, and grew up in Hollis, Queens. He began working at the age of 10, following his parents’ divorce, taking on early jobs like handing out flyers. Throughout high school, he engaged in an alternating work-and-school program, which fostered his entrepreneurial drive. After graduation, he operated a commuter van service and worked as a waiter at Red Lobster, balancing these roles with his ambition to build a business.

John’s entrepreneurial journey expanded when he started FUBU from his mother’s house in Hollis, Queens. His mother assisted him by teaching him to sew and dedicating their home to the growing business. Noticing an opportunity in popular wool ski hats being sold for $20, John and a neighbor created about 90 hats, selling them for $10 each and making $800 in a single day in 1992. This success led to selling screen-printed T-shirts and eventually expanding to hockey jerseys and sweatshirts. He recruited long-time friends J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin, and later Carl Brown, into the business. Through strategic product placements in music videos and the support of LL Cool J, FUBU gained visibility, leading to significant retail interest.

In 1994, FUBU secured $300,000 in orders at the Las Vegas fashion trade show Magic. To fulfill these orders, John and his mother took out a second mortgage on their house and, after many rejections for a bank loan, used their remaining funds for an advertisement in The New York Times. This ad led to a crucial deal with Samsung Textiles, enabling them to produce their orders. FUBU has since achieved over $6 billion in global sales and is recognized at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture. In 2009, John joined the cast of ABC’s reality series *Shark Tank*, investing his own money in various entrepreneurs and playing a significant role in the show’s 16 seasons.