...“ Rags to Riches” Taylor Buffington 5665 BADM 304, Spring 2014 Just like many people, we all dream of making it big and creating a name for ourselves in the world. In Daymond John’s case he did just that, along with perserverance and determination. Daymond turned his fast money scheme into a million dollar brand , which further more opened the door and led him into many more million dollar deals later in life. He was born on February 23, 1969, and grew up in ‘Hollis’ Queens, New York. Along with his seven brothers and sisters, Daymond was raised by his single mother. In his teens, he attended Bayside High School and during that time he participated in a co-op program. This allowed him to go to school on a alternating weekly basis and maintain a full time job at Red Lobster. Daymond’s first step into the entreprenueral field came from his want of a ‘tie-top’ hat that was a big fashion trend in his later teen years. Because they were such a high demand, tie-top hats were also pricey. Having learned and gain the ability to sew from his mother, Daymond began making personal ‘tie-top’ hats for his friends and himself. He saw this as an opportunity to make decent money and with the help of his neighbor, Carl Brown, they sewed around 100 hats and sold them for $10 in front of New York Coliseum. From one day’s profit, they together made $800 and realized it would be something worth continuing. He began by recruiting childhood friends, J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin, and...
Words: 801 - Pages: 4
...rich and famous. recently people have begun to think that the way the world is set up only the wealthy can move up and the poor and middle class moves down. but perhaps it is just the fact that the only people willing to work their way up the fiscal ladder are the people who know how to do it. If more people knew how to move up the fiscal ladder, more people could pull themselves out of poverty and become a success. Many Americans still believe in equal opportunity. this is because either they have witnessed it, or they have experienced it personally. if someone has not seen success or even heard about a success story how would they know that the land of opportunity is thriving? Maybe nowadays there is not any proof of a real life rags to riches story. J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur said "we are all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for himself... We have no princes, for whom we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world" (243). This country was founded on the principal that anyone can move up in life if you work hard for what you want. Horatio Alger carries this principal through out many of his stories. In Ragged Dick, Dick works to save his money and eventually move up in the work world. after saving a child from drowning, he is offered his dream job because his hard work and pure heart showed that he was worthy. "You have done me so great a service that I wish...
Words: 747 - Pages: 3
...6 rags to riches From Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs to J.K. Rowling, entrepreneurial success stories are the stuff from which American dreams are made. Much like these famous names, the six self-made millionaires we’re profiling have one thing in common: Thanks to hard work, determination and sound advice from mentors, friends and family, they’ve been able to build thriving businesses from the ground up. The rise to the top can be bumpy. In fact, some of the entrepreneurs we talked to were homeless during the early years of their companies. That’s why they all agree that it’s important to help others in need. All, including Radio One’s Catherine L. Hughes and Life is good co-founder Bert Jacobs, give back to the community by volunteering time, donating to charitable organizations or running their own charities. Catherine L. Hughes Age: 64 Occupation: Founder and chairperson, Radio One Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Sometimes the ones who love you the most will give you the worst business advice." By conventional standards, Hughes wasn’t destined to build a successful multimillion-dollar media company. She was a teen mom by 16 and never graduated from college, but had brief stints at area universities in her hometown of Omaha, Neb. Despite her limited formal education, Hughes, who credits publishing legend John H. Johnson as one of her mentors, worked her way up at Omaha’s KOWH radio starting in 1969 before heading to the nation’s capital to become a lecturer...
Words: 1640 - Pages: 7
...Uzair Sumra Robert Guffey English 100 30 November 2015 What Is The American Dreams? Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book written by Hunter S. Thompson published in the year 1971. The book is a reflection of American politics during Thompson’s time. It is written with the author (Thompson) as the main character, but he uses a fictional name to avoid repercussions and allow for more artistic license. The book takes place in the early 1970s and the main character, Raoul Duke, is sent to Las Vegas to write an article on the 4th annual “Mint Race 400” buggy race. Under the advice of his lawyer (Dr. Gonzo) both drive out to Las Vegas on a nonstop LSD and mescaline trip. Unfortunately, Duke and Gonzo engage themselves in an adventure of the lifetime. Somehow things go berserk and both of them end up abandoning work and engaging in an experience that involves disparaging everyone around them. The obvious theme of the book is The American Dream. Thompson wrote a lot about the American Dream and just like most people, he believed in the American Dream. Hunter S. Thompson portrays the American Dream as illusionary, as there are some places where he says that the American Dream is about money. The American Dream is a phrase which is heard, at some point, by most people today and the meaning has been understood since the founding of America. The definition of the American Dream appears to be different for most people, depending on their views. Probably the most accepted explanation...
Words: 1082 - Pages: 5
...The American Dream “the widespread belief that, by hard work and individual enterprise, even the most poor and lowly Americans can achieve economic success, a better way of life and enhanced social status in a land of immense opportunity (Watts).” Ragged Dick is really about rising from rags to respectable not rags to riches. I view that Dick is an exceptional character showing that true grit to get what he wants even if its almost out of reach, which shows “The American dream” is something you have to work for. Dick has all the qualities of someone who could achieve his goals with hard work. Dick is a young man who has lived on his own for years, meeting Mr. Whitney changed how Dick viewed people and life. How could a man Dick did not even know have faith in him to appreciate a new suit and not ask for anything in return? But when thinking how “The American Dream” is viewed in Dick’s eyes he sees it as having respect from all and when he is in a suit he receives the respect from his elders. Throughout the book you hear Dick use words such as “bully” when describing something that is very good. In the time that Dick and Mr. Whitney are together you find that Dick starts to show his real thoughts on what he wants to do in the future, which shows that Dick does have a “dream” in a way. When Dick meets Mr. Whitney’s nephew Frank they bond while Dick shows him around New York. During this time Dick discovers that being a boot black is not something he has to do for the rest of...
Words: 1480 - Pages: 6
...n 1945, Sam Walton opened his first variety store and in 1962, he opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Now, Wal-Mart is expected to exceed “$200 billion a year in sales by 2002 (with current figures of) more than 100 million shoppers a week…(and as of 1999) it became the first (private-sector) company in the world to have more than one million employees.” Why? One reason is that Wal-Mart has continued “to lead the way in adopting cutting-edge technology to track how people shop, and to buy and deliver goods more efficiently and cheaply than any other rival.” Many examples exist throughout Wal-Mart’s history including its use of networks, satellite communication, UPC/barcode adoption and more. Much of the technology that was utilized helped Sam Walton more efficiently track what he originally noted on yellow legal pads. From the very beginning, he wanted to know what the customers purchased, what inventory was selling and what stock was not selling. Wal-Mart now “tracks on an almost instantaneous basis the ordering, shipment, and delivery of literally every item it sells, and that it requires its suppliers to hook into the system, enabling it to track most goods every step of the way from the time they’re made and packaged in the factories to when they’re carried out store doors by shoppers.” “Wal-Mart operates the world’s most powerful corporate computing system, with a capacity (as of late 1999) of more than 100 terabytes of data (A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes...
Words: 461 - Pages: 2
...From Rags to Riches The notion of young women marrying wealthy men solely for the purpose of gaining wealth is very prevalent in today’s society. This trend hasn’t only recently begun though, it has been around and this is shown in a couple of stories that we have read over the term. Alexander Pushkin’s “The Station Master” and Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” are two stories that involve a young women going off with a man of wealth and changing their lives. Both of these stories have many similar elements and themes throughout their story lines, but since they are both written by very different writers the differences present themselves by default. To begin, I will talk about the similarities between the two works. Starting from the beginning, most evident similarity is the structure of the characters in the stories. “Anna on the Neck” has a young girl (Anna), her father (Leontych) and a man that lures the young girl away (Alexeich). “The Station Master” also has this same setup with the Dunia, the station master and the hussar. Both girls come from a family that is very low on the social class and don’t have a lot of money along with living without a mother at the time the stories take place. Another similarity is the fact that both women in the stories got drawn into the wealthy life style and didn’t want to go back. Dunia did not have the initial motive to go with the hussar in order to take advantage of his wealth and social standing, she was under the impression she...
Words: 1241 - Pages: 5
...Rags-To-Riches-To Foreclosure Maybe the first step in his downfall was perhaps his decision to build a 20,000 square feet home at a cost of $23 million. A home that was considered so ostentatious that it was featured on MTV’s Teen Cribs. Or maybe his decision at 51 years old to become the next music mogul by launching a record label and a clothing line, which is a bit strange and not reflective of a man that ran one of the nation’s most successful African-American owned I.T. companies. Growing up the middle child of five children in Prince George’s county, a suburb of Washington, D.C., Rodney P Hunt says he made his first million by the age of 17. After realizing that even with both parents having multiple jobs, the family was still struggling to survive. He decided to cut grass in the summers to help out. His services quickly rose in demand and he found himself needing to hire his friends to help him meet that demand. Hunt’s mother made him set his money aside, rather than add it to the household. “My mother made me save every single dime, except what I had to put into the business as far as expenses. By the end of the third summer, I can remember the bank statement: one million, sixteen dollars, and eleven cents. It was the most incredible thing.” (Liebenberg, 2005, p.4) Rodney P. Hunt co-founded RS Information Systems, Inc. (RSIS) in 1992, one of the nation’s most successful African-American owned government contracting firms. The company started out by landing a...
Words: 1054 - Pages: 5
...Kade Terry Eng 102- Tuesday March 19th, 2013 “The Necklace” In Guy De Mauppassant’s “The Necklace” Mathilde Loisel is a dynamic character throughout the whole story. She goes from rags to riches for one night. Then she becomes more conservative when she loses a priceless necklace. Last she finally takes responsibility for the lost necklace. Mathilde is a discontent woman in this story, because she wants to be rich like other people in town. She longs to be beautiful and popular while she is with her friends in town. She and her husband found out the hard way that lying doesn’t always pay off like most people thinks it will. Mathilde goes from rags to riches to attend a formal dinner party her husband is invited to. She lives in her fantasized world for one whole night. She manipulated her husband to give her four hundred francs so she could go purchase a very fancy dress. When she could not trick him in to giving her more money she borrows what she thinks is a very expensive and beautiful diamond necklace from a very rich friend of hers named, Mrs. Forrester. She made a trip over to her friend’s house to ask her if she could borrow some jewelry. She looked through every piece of jewelry Mrs. Forrester had until she found that priceless diamond necklace and when she did “her heart throbbed with desire for it. Her hands shook as she picked it up. She fastened it around her neck, watched it gleam around her neck, and looked at herself ecstatically” (pg202). She...
Words: 762 - Pages: 4
...American Dream As a Myth Erica Rideout HUMN240-F1WW Professor Deborah Rosenstock July 7, 2012 The myth of the American Dream does not have to be taught or learned. Growing up in America, it is imbedded in our minds at a young age that America has it all. American is the land of opportunity and allows its citizens to work hard and gain an uncapped amount of success. However, it is more apparent that this “dream” has transformed into a myth over the several years since its creation. Once upon a time, America was seen as the place to gain opportunity and success. However, as times continue to change, this vision of the dream continues to slip out of American’s hands and more into the mind as a myth. The major component of the myth of the American Dream is a simple one. America is the land of the free and home of the brave. Our American ancestors have fought for freedom and gained it allowing fellow Americans endless opportunities that can lead to great success. These opportunities do not just end with Americans; they are extended to all nationalities that come to America with hopes of living the so called American Dream. Although the American Dream may just be a myth, it definitely gives people hope. Most times, that hope is enough to lead to the drive and determination necessary to reach some level of the American Dream. There are several artifacts that help display the myth of the American Dream. Two artifacts that I have chosen are relevant to views...
Words: 978 - Pages: 4
...| Meaning | Money | | To laugh all the way to the bank. | To make lot of money very easily, often because someone else has been stupid. | A cash cow | A business or a part of a business that always makes a lot of profit. | A blank cheque | As much money to spend as is wanted or needed. | Blood money | Money that has been gained from the death of another person. | Money to burn | To have a lot of money to spend on things that are not necessary | Health | | get yourself back into shape | To get yourself back into shape, you need to take exercise in order to become fit and healthy again. | back on one's feet | If you are back on your feet, after an illness or an accident, you are physically healthy again. | hair of the dog that bit you | This expression means that you use as a remedy a small amount of what made you ill, for example a drink of alcohol when recovering from drinking too much. | look the picture of health | To look the picture of health means to look completely or extremely healthy. | go under the knife | If a person goes under the knife, they have surgery. | Knowledge/Success | | Put through their paces | If you put someone or something through their paces, you test their ability to do something by making them perform certain actions. | Ahead of the pack | If a person or organization is ahead of the pack, they are better or more successful than their rivals. | A pen pusher | To refer to someone as a "pen...
Words: 460 - Pages: 2
...Director Gary Marshall utilises the somewhat contrived elements of the Cinderella fairytale and the cultural suppositions regarding prostitutes in the film Pretty Woman, successfully positioning the audience to accept and sympathise with the lead character, Vivienne Ward. Marshall conveys Vivienne's journey to be akin to that of Cinderella, a woman who is by all means downtrodden and helpless, desperate to leave her current situation, and perhaps naively hopeful of her salvation. This is highlighted by the on-screen rags-to-riches transformation created through Vivienne’s appearance, body language and her interaction with others. Initially, the audience is introduced to Vivienne Ward, the prostitute, who wears stereotypically revealing clothing and interacts with ‘trashy’ people, emphasising the dominant cultural beliefs regarding...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...off as these aristocrats the Chanel family had no real money to their name and not until it took one mind to be courageous and kind did she change the minds of so many around her. As you can plainly tell she has become a household name, a luxury brand. If we allow women to idolize role models of substance such as Coco Chanel we would not be stuck to our phones dissecting and nit picking over every aspect of our being. Our society has become very greedy and self absorbed, as i said earlier history will inevitably repeat itself. We are free thinkers, Coco Chanel is a rags to riches story but with a lot of bravery and several trials and tribulations, had she not had courage to defy the standards of the self absorbed and closed minded aristocrats, her name would not be remembered had she not taken the risks to get here today. Indeed the beauty industry had risen like Coco Chanel, rags to riches, in this case the riches for the beauty industry became billions. Definitely evolving from the times when women weren't allowed to wear makeup or anything that stood out, to now woman expressing themselves through it. ...
Words: 654 - Pages: 3
...through the firstpersons experience and perspective. D. What is Queens?: The Queens area is on of the five districts that forms New York City. Queens is the second most populous borough in New York City. There population has been growing faster and faster recently. It is the most ethnically diverse couty in America, and there is alot of immigrants. Mostly E and S Asians and Hispanics. There is around 67,000 ethnic Koreans, who lives in Queens. The Mass Korean immigration in America started around the 1950s. They came to the county with the intention of earning money, making business and make a good life for their family. E. Is there a RAGS TO RICHES story in the text? Why, why not? Rags to riches means that a person rises from poverty to wealth. But in this case, it is the exact opposite. The girl in the story went instead from rich to rag. She is facing poverty with a rich girl’s habits. At first she lived a luxurious life, when money was never an issue, in South Korea. Her family were millionaires, but suddenly they lost it all over night. They moved to Queens, New York. Berceuse of that, she had to face that she wasnt’...
Words: 881 - Pages: 4
...heroes then serves a more profound purpose in our culture than mere fictional stories. To illustrate this, I have chosen to focus my thought on people's successful careers, that is to say people who started from scratch and reach the top of the social ladder. How can myths and heroes influence people's careers ? Aiming at answering this issue, I will exhibit a rags-to-riches life which is a symbol of the American Dream. Then I will show that political heroes could inspire society as well. First and foremost, one cannot deny that society is based on founding myths, a collective identity forged around common landmarks and shared values. As elsewhere, but even more so the myths of “The American Dream” in the United States is a great example. Indeed it promotes the idea that not only is personal fulfillment due to honesty and hard-working but it is based also on God’s will. As a captain of industry and a generous philanthropist , Rockefeller is a case in point. He was a role model who likely fostered the American spirit of competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship. In the same token, we studied the rags-to-riches life of Oprah Winfrey in an article taken from the website onlineessays.com. Oprah Winfrey overcame the obstacles of being an African American girl in the South in the 50s and 60s to achieve her goal. She started her own show which soon became the Oprah Winfrey talk-show. Her outlet was a tool to broadcast her principles which influenced America. As well as funding...
Words: 642 - Pages: 3
