John Paul DeJoria is an American entrepreneur and co-creator of the Paul Mitchell hair product line. He is the founder of The Patrón Spirits Company and a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell hair product line. He is a self-made billionaire who has overcome adversity, including being homeless twice and living out of his car, selling shampoo and encyclopedias door-to-door to make ends meet. After partnering with Paul Mitchell in 1980, he struck gold, turning a $700 investment into the John Paul Mitchell Systems, which currently generates $1 billion in yearly sales. Mitchell died of cancer as their company grew, and DeJoria took over. He founded more than a dozen more companies, including Patrón Spirits, House of Blues, and DeJoria Diamonds. He is fascinated by a variety of businesses, including biological sciences, telecommunications, and boats. As a philanthropist, DeJoria has signed a ‘Giving Pledge’ with 150 other billionaires to donate half of his earnings to the betterment of the world. He donates to over 160 nonprofits around the world. He pledged never to test his products on animals, instead opting to test them on himself as an animal lover. He now resides in a $50 million house in Malibu, California, complete with all the comforts imaginable. He still works hard and gives back as much as he can, despite being in his 70s. All of his business decisions are made with altruistic considerations in mind. “Everything will be fine in the end,” he believes, “and if it isn’t fine, it isn’t the end.” He also feels that true achievement is defined by doing something to benefit someone else.
Childhood and Adolescence
On April 13, 1944, in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, he was born John Paul Jones DeJoria, the second son of an Italian father and a Greek mother.
His parents split when he was two years old. As a result, at the age of nine, he and his older brother began selling Christmas cards and newspapers to help support their mother.
He grew up on Garden Avenue in Atwater Village and then in Revere. As a result, he attended Atwater Elementary and John Marshall High School. In 1962, he graduated from high school. His mother abandoned him and his brother, and they were placed in an East Los Angeles foster family.
He joined a street gang as a directionless adolescent but changed his ways after his high school math teacher advised him that unless he gave up the dark life, he would never succeed in life.
The Career of John
John Paul DeJoria joined the US Navy aboard the USS Hornet at the age of 17 and served for two years. He didn’t have enough money to go to college when he left the Navy in 1964.
So he went to work for Collier’s Encyclopedia as a salesman. Over the next five years, he worked as a caretaker, a shampoo door-to-door salesman, and an insurance salesman, among other things.
In 1971, he worked as a salesman selling hair care products for Redken Laboratories, where he learned about hair care products. He was given responsibility for two divisions after a year and a half: scientific schools and chain salons. He was sacked from his position in 1975 due to a disagreement over business methods.
He then went to Fermodyl Hair Care, where he taught sales to the management and sales team. Despite a 50% increase in revenue, he was sacked because he didn’t fit in, according to the firm.
He became a member of the Institute of Trichology and began selling the institute’s hair care products. He was paid $3,000 per month plus a 6% commission on a new business he brought in. He was sacked after a year because the company could no longer pay his wage.
In 1980, he and his hairdresser friend Paul Mitchell were both having financial difficulties, so they decided to start a business together, forming John Paul Mitchell Systems with a $700 loan.
They made the decision to create items for professional stylists that would help them cut down on the time it took to style a client’s hair. A single-application shampoo and a leave-in conditioner were the first products they developed.
While they struggled for the first two years, the company made $1 million in gross revenue in the third year, and the goods took off, eventually reaching thousands more salons.
DeJoria has always been a strong supporter of environmental causes. In 1986, a businessman named Michael Gustin approached him and encouraged him to invest in a company that would conduct advanced gas and oil exploration while keeping the environment in mind; DeJoria agreed, and the two formed Gustin Energy Cos.
Paul Mitchell died in 1989. The Patrón Spirits Co. was founded by DeJoria and his buddy Martin Crowley with the goal of producing delicious tequila.
His product proved to be costly, but even at $37 per bottle, he felt there were customers who were ready for a high-end product. They had sold approximately 2,450,000 cases as of 2011. Patrón is owned by DeJoria to the tune of 70%.
He is a co-founder of the House of Blues nightclub chain, as well as a shareholder in Madagascar Oil Ltd., Solar Utility, Sun King Solar, Ultimat Vodka, Pyrat Rum, Smokey Mountain Bison Farm, LLC, Touchstone Natural Gas, and a number of other companies. He also works as an executive producer in the film industry.
John’s Major Projects
John Paul DeJoria is best recognized for co-founding the John Paul Mitchell Systems (Paul Mitchell) hair care and style product line. Along with being a multibillion-dollar corporation, the company is also noted for its ethical beliefs, having been the first professional cosmetics brand to oppose animal research in the early 1980s.
Achievements & Awards
In 2012, John Paul DeJoria was honored with the prestigious Lone Sailor Award for his contributions to the country and society.
He received the Humanitarian Award from The Dream Foundation in 2014 for his outstanding contributions to Dream Foundation projects.
In the same year, the Board of Directors of Beauty Business West presented him with the Legend of Beauty Award for being an innovator whose thought, devotion, and practices have significantly impacted the course of the beauty industry.
He also earned the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer, and AIDS Research’s Lifetime Humanitarian Award in 2014 for being one of the world’s most famous corporate executives.
John’s Personal Experiences
John Paul DeJoria’s first wife abandoned him and their two-year-old son in 1966. She seized everything they had, including their only automobile and all of their money. As a result, DeJoria was unable to pay his rent and was forced to evacuate his apartment, forcing him to live on the street with his baby son.
He married Eloise Broady, whom he met on a blind date, in 1993. DeJoria is the father of six children, three of which are Eloise’s.
He is a Food4Africa supporter.
In 2008, he joined Nelson Mandela in Food4Africa’s efforts to feed over 17,000 orphaned children. In the same year, he gave almost 400,000 youngsters with life-saving meals. Grow Appalachia, an organization that promotes healthy eating and teaches farming skills, was formed by him in 2009.
When Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was jailed in Germany for interfering with shark finning operations in 2012, he showed his support and campaigned for him.
He plans to create around 700 full-time jobs for the residents of Barbuda, a Caribbean island off the coast of Antigua that he bought for real estate interests. He also vowed that 1% of all sales on the island would go to the people who live there.
DeJoria also keeps himself occupied by assisting in the demining of landmines, assisting the homeless, and collaborating with other organizations to protect wildlife and the environment.
He has appeared in a number of films, including ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ and ‘The Big Tease.’ He appears in the second season of ‘Weeds,’ as well as Patron advertisements on television. He also appeared on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ reality show.
Estimated Net Worth
John Paul DeJoria has a net worth of $3.1 billion and is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is well known for co-founding The Patrón Spirits Company and the wildly famous Paul Mitchell hair product line.
According to reports, John Paul Mitchell Systems generates over $900 million in annual revenue.