Chris Gardner
Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ) is an American broker who made the rise from homeless to self-made millionaire.
Life and advancement
Chris Gardner grew up with his mother and stepfather. Due to various circumstances, his mother had to spend some time in prison while he was placed in a nursing home with his siblings. Gardner later joined the Navy . After his time in the Navy, he worked as a seller of medical devices ( bone density meters ), which he could rarely sell. When he met a man named Bob Bridges in San Francisco , who was getting out of his red Ferrari , he asked him if he could ask him two questions. "What do you do? How do you do it? ” Bob Bridges replied that he was a stockbroker. He said you only have to be able to deal with numbers and customers. He also advised him to do an unpaid internship at a company he'd heard of and introduced him to other big brokers. During his internship in San Francisco in the early 1980s, Gardner fell into a financial hole. While he went to work during the day, he and his young son Christopher spent almost a year in shelters for the homeless and sometimes in the toilets of the subway stations.
Chris Gardner got a job after training as a broker and later became a millionaire with his own company, Gardner Rich . With the book version of his story, created together with Quincy Troupe , he conquered the top of the US bestseller list. The book was made into a film under the title The Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith in the lead role.
"I was a child abandoned by my family - so I would never abandon my own child," Gardner says in retrospect. The film, in the making of which he helped as a consultant, reflected his mood and his distress at the time well. In an ABC report , Chris Gardner said: "My head belongs to my company, my heart belongs to my children."
Chris Gardner now supports numerous charities, including the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, where he and his son once lived. He also co-financed a 50 million housing and employment project for people at risk of poverty and homeless people there. In Chicago he advises and teaches homeless people.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gardner, Chris |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gardner, Christopher Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American broker and millionaire |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Milwaukee , Wisconsin |