Senator Kamala Harris has scripted history by becoming first woman, Black and Indian-American vice president of the United States 👸🏿
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Harris is known for many firsts 😎. She has been a county district attorney; the district attorney for San Francisco – the first woman and first African-American and Indian-origin to be elected to the position 😀
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She was born to two immigrant parents: a Black father and an Indian mother. Her father, was from Jamaica, and her mother from India.
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Harris was born in Oakland and grew up in Berkeley. She spent her high school years living in French-speaking Canada – her mother was teaching at McGill University in Montreal.
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Her mother told her growing up, “Don’t sit around and complain about things, do something,” which is what drives Kamala every single day ⚠️💪
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She attended college in the US, spending four years at Howard University, which she has described as among the most formative experiences of her life.
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After Howard, she went on to earn her law degree at the University of California, Hastings, and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
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She became the top prosecutor for San Francisco in 2003, before being elected the first woman and the first black person to serve as California’s attorney general in 2010, the top lawyer in America’s most populous state 🤗.
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In her victory speech, Harris said that while she may be the first woman to occupy the vice president’s office, she would not be the last. 🤗
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Her victory indicates that no door is closed to Indian-Americans in public life in the country.
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Remember – you can always be the 1st in some category so don’t stop and reach out for your dreams! 🤩
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Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
“Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there“. 😉
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Robert Downey Jr. grew up “Surrounded With Drugs“. His father was a drug addict who allowed him to use it at age of 6 😳. His father now regrets this decision but for Robert drug use was in a way an emotional bond between him and his father.
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Robert Downey Jr. started acting at the age of 5 and during his childhood he had minor roles in his father’s movies. In 1987 came the role that started his career. He played the role of a drug addict in the movie “Less Than Zero”. His realistic performance got him many positive reviews and offers from top directors 😁
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The doors in Hollywood were wide open for him for the next 4 years. From 1996 through 2001 Downey was arrested many times on charges related to drugs 😒. He went through a few drug treatment programs but unsuccessfully 🤷🏼♀️
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In 1999 after he missed another drug test he was arrested again and spent 1 year in prison. In prison, he worked in the kitchen washing dishes for 8 cents an hour and slept on a 3-inch mattress.
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After Robert DJ was released from prison it appeared that he left the drugs behind him and started a new chapter. He was cast on the hit series Ally Mcbeal where he was highly praised for his work🤩. But that new chapter was all a lie, he was still doing drugs 😞
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In 2001 he was found in an ally behind a motel, barefoot and in a fetal position. He was arrested and fired from the series he almost went bankrupt 🤷🏼♀️
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In 2003 he met the love of his life, his current wife Susan Levin. She insisted that she would only marry him if he gave up drugs for good. So after so many years of struggles he was ready to work really hard to make a full recovery and never use drugs again 👍
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In 2008 Downey started playing the iconic role of Iron Man 🤖. There is no doubt that Robert Downey Jr. has been through very hard times in his life, but he doesn’t let anything stop him. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, his net worth is now $300 Million 💰
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Remember: It’s ok to ask for help. You don’t have to do everything alone.
Source: www.smileyfeed.net
Peter Dinklage was born in Morristown, New Jersey. His father was an insurance salesman, who was usually without a job 😰. And his mother was an Elementary-School music teacher. 👩🏫 His childhood was not easy because he was born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism 🙁.
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When he was younger, he was often in anger and depression about his condition and put up walls around him 💔.
But As years passed, even though it wasn’t easy, Peter accepted his condition and realized that you just need to have a sense of humor 😀. You have to know that It’s not your problem. It’s theirs.
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He was always attracted and fascinated with theater 🎭, music 🎶, and films 🎬. Because of that, Peter studied for a drama degree at Bennington College, and also took part in several productions before he graduated.
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He moved to New York with his friend to build a theater company. They moved into an unheated apartment filled with rats 😬. But soon, because they didn’t have money to pay rent, they had to move out. He had to make some money to survive in the big city. He was really struggling as an actor because he only had offers to play elves and leprechauns 🙄. He turned down those job offers out of principles, he felt that they were insulting to him as a dwarf.
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So his acting career was put on hold. For the next 6 years, Peter had to work at a data processing company… 🙁
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In 2011 came his most impressive and significant role as Tyrion Lannister in the series Game of Thrones. “I had one hesitation, because of the fantasy genre, I told him I didn’t want a really long beard and pointy shoes and they assured me this character and this world wasn’t that. That he was a womanizer and a drinker, and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him, so I signed on” 😁
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He became one of the most loved and respected characters in the GoT, but also in real life. Taking this role changed his life. Peter Dinklage won a Golden Globe Award 🏆for his performance in Game of Thrones. He also won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
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But what if he didn’t take the leap? What if he didn’t see past his fears and stayed at his job? What an inspiration 🤩
Gal Gadot is an amazing actress who became famous for her incredible role as Wonder Woman. But before she landed that role she was facing constant rejections and almost gave up on acting 🤷🏼♀️.
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Gal Gadot was born in small town in Israel. Her parents raised her to always believe in herself and never doubt her value 🤗.
Before becoming famous she used to work many jobs. When she was 12, she was babysitting for her neighbors 👶. As a teenager, despite getting a lot of attention for her looks, Gal Gadot was not really interested in modeling. So, instead of making money working as a model she decided to get a job at Burger King 😅
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Before finishing high school, her mother decided to enter her into the Miss Israel Beauty Pageant and even though Gal wasn’t interested, she decided to just go with it and so at the age of 18 she became Miss Israel and went on to compete in Miss Universe 🤩 But she deliberately sabotaged herself from winning, because that wasn’t her dream 🤷🏼♀️
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She knew she was destined for something else. She really hated being in the competition, so she tried very hard to lose 😮
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After finishing high school Gal Gadot served her mandatory 2 years of service in the Israeli defense forces 💪
The military training brought a lot of self-discipline in her life and shaped her to be the person she is today 👊🏻.
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After serving her time she went on to study law and in the middle of her studies her agent called her to audition for the role of a Bond Girl in the movie “Quantum of Solace” – she didn’t get the part, but this moment changed her life – she found her new passion. 🤩
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Her 1st role in Hollywood was in the movie “Fast & Furious” (2009). And she was cast as a result of her military training.
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This path was not an easy one. It was filled with a lot of obstacles.
Source: https://www.smileyfeed.net/
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1963, Michael Jordan is one of the greatest ever examples of hard work and ambition beating out natural talent 💪
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After childhood spent in NYC, Jordan’s family moved to North Carolina where Michael spent his early years playing football and basketball, growing skilled at both sports.
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One of the turning points in MJ’s life came during his sophomore year of high school. Ambitious Jordan tried out for his school’s team but apparently he wasn’t tall enough to make the team 🤷🏼♀️ (180cm at the time).
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This rejection set a fire inside Michael Jordan and instead of joining the varsity team, he opted to play in the school’s Junior Varsity division, believing that he could prove his worth and eventually advance to the higher-ranked squad and he most certainly did 🤩
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If it hadn’t been for his initial rejection it’s possible that Jordan never would have applied himself.
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After high school, Jordan breezed through college on a basketball scholarship, becoming one of the country’s most respected and acclaimed college basketball stars 🏀
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During his professional career in the late 1980s, Jordan became one of basketball’s biggest stars 🤩
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Of course as any great sports career has its ups and downs, and Michael’s is no different. At the peak of his career, Jordan was accused of having a major gambling problem. He quickly retired from basketball, choosing to instead focus on his less successful baseball career ⚾️
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In 1997 Jordan announced his return to the NBA in one of the world’s shortest press releases. Consisting of two words – “I’m back.” 😎
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If Michael Jordan’s career shows anything, it’s the value of hard work and endless determination. He was never the most genetically gifted athlete in the NBA 😅, nor was he the most talented 😉. He wasn’t a never-ending success either – Jordan will be the first to tell you he failed many times. What he is, is an individual that never gives up on his goals 👏, and takes the steps required to achieve them 🤩
Source: https://successstory.com
This Story About Pablo Picasso Teaches an Important Lesson 🙏
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From the age of 5 Picasso drew compulsively. He drew on anything he could get his hands on & sketched everything he saw 🎨
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On his 19th bday he left his family in Spain and immigrated to Paris, the art capital of Europe at the time 😍
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The young Pablo could barely speak a word of French, had little money and lived in a small studio.
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For a short while, Picasso made some headway, until his close friend, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide.
Traumatized by the death of his friend he began to create sombre paintings in only shades of blue and blue-green, which led to withdrawal of his art dealers support.
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Left with little money, Picasso returned home to Barcelona to live off his family 😞. His father reprimanded him for his failure & said that he had no chance of making a living as a painter 💔
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1 year later, however, Picasso mustered up the courage and traveled back to Paris to have another shot.
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This time Picasso would strike gold.
In 1904, a wealthy American, Gertrude Stein, discovered Picasso’s artwork and bought 10 of his paintings for 800 francs 🤩
She also commissioned Picasso to paint an image of herself, which would later become the famous Portrait of Gertrude Stein
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By 1905, Picasso had become the favorite artist of the Stein family, and G.Stein began to exhibit his paintings at her home in Paris
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In 1907, at the age of 25 years old, Picasso created his breakthrough painting The Young Ladies of Avignon: arguably the most important painting of the 20th century, which launched the cubism art movement and shaped modern art 🖼
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By the time he passed away, Picasso was widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time & amassed a net worth close to $500 million 💰💰💰
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In 2015, Picasso’s “Version O” sold for $179.4 million, as one of the highest ever sold auctioned artwork 😳
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It may look like Picasso was an overnight success but his story would say otherwise: it took nearly 20 years for his hard work for the breakthrough moment of success to arrive.
There Are No Shortcuts to Success ⚠️
Source: https://thriveglobal.com
If you’re looking for some inspiration to progress in your career then look no further than the successful life of Jack Welch 🤗
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Jack Welch was born into poverty. Although, he worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, Welch was never distracted from his studies and performed well academically throughout middle and high school 👨🏻🎓.
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In 1957, Jack Welch graduated from a university with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, Welch went for higher studies and in the year 1960, he graduated with a Masters and a PHD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
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Welch’s 40-year affiliation with GE started in 1960 when he joined the company’s ‘plastics’ division as a chemical engineer. Welch’s annual salary at the time was $10,500. Over the next decade, Jack Welch continued to impress the C-suite executives—winning their respect and admiration, and this led to him being appointed as the youngest vice president in GE’s history in 1972.
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7 years later, in 1979, he was promoted to the position of Vice Chairman, and in 1981, he became the eighth chairman and CEO of General Electric.
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Under Welch’s leadership, GE experienced tremendous growth with the company’s value increasing by 4000% during Welch’s tenure.
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With Jack Welch at the helm, General Electric acquired new businesses, streamlined operations and ensured that every business under the company’s banner was among the best 💪
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The revenues of GE in 1980—the year before Jack Welch became the company’s Chairman and CEO, was just over $25 billion. In 2000—the year before Welch’s retirement, GE’s revenue was $130 billion 💰
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Additionally, Jack helped increase the company’s market value from just $14 billion to over $400 billion, making GE the largest and most valuable company in the world 🌍
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He was a man on mission and someone not scared or discouraged by obstacles that came in his path. The successful life story of Jack Welch is the perfect inspiration for anyone looking to progress in their career or make it as a successful entrepreneur 😉
Source: https://percentotech.com
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Connery was born in Edinburgh, to poor parents, and a house that had no bathroom, only a communal toilet outside 😬
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The actor, the youngest in the family, slept in the bottom drawer of a wardrobe until he was 8 😨
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Things only got worse when WWII broke out. He was only 9 then.
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He had limited education, leaving school at 13 to go to work as a milkman with St Cuthbert’s Co-operative Society 🥛.
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“I educated myself, which may be why I still sometimes feel just like a little boy when I meet intellectuals,” he has said.
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Employment records from 1944 show that aged 14, Connery earned 21 shillings a week as a barrow pusher. By 16 he had his own milk cart, making him the envy of every teenage milkie in town, but at 17 he joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman.
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2 years later he was discharged on medical grounds and returned to Edinburgh where he worked in a steel mill, delivering coal and polishing coffins at a cabinet makers.
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In late 1951 he landed a part-time job as a stagehand at the King’s Theatre. He was also in demand as a model at the Edinburgh College of Art after taking up bodybuilding 💪
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It was his impressive physique that provided him with a route out of working-class life. He heard a report that young men were being auditioned for a production of South Pacific at the Theatre Royal.
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Regarding how he became James Bond, he recalled how he almost lost the role, as his broad shoulders and Scottish accent, led the creator of 007, Ian Fleming, to insist that the burly Connery was not at all the Bond he had envisaged.
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They met in the early 60s after the young actor won the career-defining role following his fledgling career on stage and television, including a part in a BBC production of Anna Karenina.
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But Connery had the requisite mix of sexual attraction and aggression needed for the part and eventually won over Fleming.
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He attributed his success to his tough upbringing and to his inner strength 💪
The first thing you learn about Lizzie is that she’s different. Her looks are inevitably a part of that, because Lizzie was born with an extremely rare genetic condition which prevents her from gaining weight.
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Yes, that does mean she can eat whatever she wants 😅—as she once joked in her multi-million viewed TEDx talk, “it’s exactly as good as it sounds.” 😜
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But being unique poses inevitable challenges, and Lizzie’s story proves that you don’t have to let your circumstances define you 👊. Since finding a distressing online video of herself at the age of 17, she has moved on to become a highly successful motivational speaker, an anti-bullying activist, an author and a YouTube star 💪
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Here’s her short interview with National Geographic:
* What’s a day in the life of Lizzie Velasquez like?
-Every day is different. Some days are full of travel to go to speaking events and some days I work from home and film my YouTube videos.
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* You say that you haven’t always been so optimistic, and had to learn ‘tricks’ to become as positive as you are. How does one learn such things?
-One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was to stop comparing myself to others. It’s so easy to fall into a hole of doubt but if you stay on top of it and remind yourself of something you do like about yourself, eventually it will become second nature 😊
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* You’ve mentioned that your family is a huge support network for you. What would be your advice to people who don’t have supportive families?
-It only takes one person to make a difference 🤗. If you have a friend, a relative, or someone at school that you can trust and feel safe with, I’d encourage you to reach out to them.
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Lizzie is a great example of just being yourself, not caring what others say, not comparing yourself to others and basically of living a happy life no matter what! 😊
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Jennifer Lawrence was born in Kentucky in 1990. She has 2 older brothers. Jen was a tomboy – she barely used to ever play with girls. Since she couldn’t fit in with the rest of her classmates in school, she started developing anxiety. 😟
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The only place she felt safe was on stage. She never hesitated in participating in church plays and the ones in school but she dropped out when she was 14.
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“I struggled through school, I never felt very smart. And when I’m reading a script I feel like I know exactly what it would look like if somebody felt that way,” she said. “That was a whole part of my brain that I didn’t even know existed. Something that I could be confident in. And I didn’t want to let it go.” 🤗
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While Lawrence’s decision to drop out was influenced by how seriously she took her acting career, her revelations are a reminder that there is no single path to success. “I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do and I didn’t want anything getting in the way of it.”
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She was spotted by a photographer who saw the beauty in her and made agreements with some ad and TV agencies. She was 14 then.
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Jennifer got her big break from the movie “Winter’s Bone” in 2010 which got her to be nominated in the Oscars for Best Actress. This nomination got her the spotlight. She was only 20 years old then.
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After this movie, she got roles in “Like Crazy” and “The Beaver.” Later on, in 2011, she was offered a role in “X-Men: First Class.” After X-Men series, she got another elite role in the movie “The Hunger Games.” The role of Katniss was physically demanding. She had to receive training in tree climbing, archery, yoga, and combat.
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Currently, Jennifer lives in Beverly Hills, California. She has her foundation called Jennifer Lawrence Foundation. She donated $2mln for installing the cardiac intensive care unit at Kosair Children’s Hospital.
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So much success and appreciation at Jennifer Lawrence’s age is an inspiration for all of us.
Source: stepfit.co.in
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While Page has pushed Google towards becoming one of the most indisputable search engines in the world, his story started off in quite a different way.
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Back in the day, when Page was 22 a sudden idea rendered him sleepless. Realising sleep wasn’t going to be his friend that night, Page spent the entire night studying the different links on the World Wide Web and by the morning, he began to read information in a brand new way 🤔
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Later on he ran into Sergey Brin. The two grew so close through the years because of their shared ideas they started working on the multiple links Page had amassed during his sleepless night and finally, Eureka struck!
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The different links he saw from what he downloaded became the basis for an algorithm, PageRank, which would later be used to create his first search engine, BackRub. A few years later, Page renamed BackRub to Google.com.
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The concept of the unique search engine was accepted immediately. Because the platform was becoming such a success, Brin and Page had no option but to spend all their free time on the developing the website. 🔸️
The first version of Google went live in 1996. Created with Page’s basic knowledge of HTML, the new platform of Google was visually appealing and extremely pleasing. Not only did it make the website really quick, it also helped in making the website extremely user friendly. This propelled Google to the top instantly and with over 1 billion URLs by the year 2000, Google was quickly becoming the most popular search engine in the world.
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However, through all the changes and everything that could have gone wrong, Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s Google is now at the top. Page’s and Brin’s brainchild was all set to bring information to people in the fastest way possible!
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Today, Google is the most widely used search engine and Larry Page’s net worth is estimated at $51,3 billion 💰💰💰 Source: startupstories.in 📸 pic taken in Greece in 2015
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Warren Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930. He had an Interest in business and investing from the young age itself 🤓 Therefore, he started various businesses in his childhood only. Buffett sold chewing gums, Coca-Cola bottles, weekly magazines door-to-door.
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When he was in High School, he made money by selling golf balls, daily newspapers and stocks income.
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In 1945 Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local Barber Shop. Within months, they bought several more in 3 different Barber Shops across Omaha. The business was sold later in the year for $1,200 to a War Veteran 💰
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He had an interest in stock from childhood as his father had a brokerage firm. He bought 3 stocks of Cities Service at the age of 11. When he was a teenager he was highly inspired by a book called “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. He bought a land when he was 14 with $1,200 of his savings. Above all, by the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated $9,800 in savings 💰
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Warren always wanted to work and learn from his idol Benjamin Graham. He was ready to work for Graham for free but Graham refused but in 1954, he received a call from Graham himself and from 1954 he worked as a securities analyst at Graham-Newman Corp.
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In 1956 Graham retired and closed his partnership. Buffett in the same year started his Buffett Partnership Ltd. Using the techniques learned from Graham, Buffett was successful in identifying undervalued companies and he became a millionaire 💰
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One of such companies was Berkshire Hathaway. He began collecting stock in the early 1960s and by 1965 he had assumed complete control of the company. Despite the success of Buffett Partnership, he dissolved the firm in 1969 to focus on Berkshire Hathaway.
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Following Berkshire Hathaway’s major investment in Coca-Cola, Buffett became director of the company from 1989 until 2006. He was also a director of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings, Graham Holdings Company and Gillette Company. 🔸️
Source: www.theamazingwriter.com
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He applied for jobs 30 times. Got rejected. He was frustrated. He taught in the University and his pay was $10 a month.
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In 1994 he discussed that he was going to do something different called Internet. They said „This is a stupid idea, we’ve never heard about the internet and you know nothing about computer”.
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Nobody believed that he could be successful. Everybody said „He’s thinking about something that will never work” 🤷🏼♀️
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He tried to borrow $3000 from banks. It took him 3 months but he still couldn’t get it. He talked to over 30 or 40 venture capitalists. Everybody said no. Lots of people said Alibaba is a terrible model.
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He thought this could be big. He believed that he has to work to prove himself.
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Finally he managed to get $50000 from 18 founders and started his company. For the first 3 years he didn’t have even $1 revenue from his business. It wasn’t easy but they kept going.
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Little by little he built his business. 📈 Now after 16 years he has Alibaba group, Tmall group, Taobao group and Alipay and people say to him „You are so smart, how could you make a company like that” 🤔
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He says: „Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jack Welch, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg – the difference between those people and others is that they are always optimictic for the future. They never complain. They always try to solve problems of the others. When you’re optimistic it’s always opportunity” 🤗
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Jack Ma was 1st businessman from China to be on Forbes’ cover. Forbes ranked him 21st on its “World’s Most Powerful People” list. 💪 He also serves as a role model for startup businesses. In 2017, Ma was ranked 2nd in the annual “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list by Fortune.
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As of March 2020, Ma is the wealthiest person in China, with a net worth of $42.3 billion, as well as one of the wealthiest people in the world, ranked 20th by Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes 💰💰💰
📸 pic taken in China in 2012
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Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian and author who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution 🤓.
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His book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy laid the foundations of classical mechanics.
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Newton was educated at The King’s School, Grantham, which taught Latin and Greek and imparted a significant foundation of mathematics 🤓
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He was removed from school and returned to Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth in 1659. His mother attempted to make him a farmer, an occupation he hated 😡
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Head-master at The King’s School, persuaded his mother to send him back to school. Motivated partly by a desire for revenge against a schoolyard bully, he became the top-ranked student 🏆
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In 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. He started as a subsizar—paying his way by performing valet’s duties—until he was awarded a scholarship in 1664.
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In 1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became calculus.
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Soon after Newton had obtained his BA degree in 1665, the university temporarily closed as a precaution against the GREAT PLAGUE 🌍😷. Newton’s private studies at his home in Woolsthorpe over the subsequent 2 years saw the development of his theories on calculus, optics, and the law of gravitation.
He did that all while staying at home during big epidemy! ⚠️
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Maybe you can use that time to work on some of your projects? 😊
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Later on Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of colour based on the observation that a prism separates white light into the colours of the visible spectrum 🌈
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He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and made the 1st theoretical calculation of the speed of sound.
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Take isaac as an example, stay at home and work on your discoveries! 😁 📸 pic taken in China in 2012
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He was born in 1966 in Glasgow and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He changed 17 schools between the ages of 5 and 17! Being raised by an alcoholic father and a mother who worked as a cook in the day & as a nurse during nights Gordon had pretty tough childhood.
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He earned a degree in hotel management in 1987. He became so passionate about cooking, that after graduation he placed himself under the top European chefs and learnt tricks of the trade from the pioneers of his time. He apprenticed with M.P.White in London, worked for A.Roux at Le Gavroche and then under master chefs J.Robuchon and G. Savoy in France.
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In 1993 Ramsay undertook the kitchen of the newly opened Aubergine in London as the head chef and in just 2 years earned the hotel a two-star rating from Michelin ⭐. He was awarded the “Newcomer of the Year” at the prestigious Catey Awards.
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He opened “Restaurant Gordon Ramsay” in London that eventually earned a three-star rating from Michelin ⭐. Gordon was driven by a stubborn ambition to succeed.
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He opened numerous restaurants including Petrus and a second Gordon Ramsay in London + eventually Verre in Dubai. He was named “Chef of the Year” in 2000 and “Independent Restauner of the Year” in 2006 by the Catey awards 🏆.
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In 2006 Gordon decided to go global thus expanding to USA, Australia, Canada, and South Africa 🌍
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It is his TV show appearances that earned him the celebrity status. In 1996 he appeared as a judge on cooking show Masterchef. Later on he appeared in documentaries including the “Boiling point” which tracked his work life and showed his struggles of opening his 1st restaurant.
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Gordon Ramsay was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006. In 2013, he was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame.
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His story might appear a fairytale, but it is far from it. Till date, he has opened 49 restaurants out of which 23 have been shut down. He had to suffer losses that run in millions 💸. Source: http://doerlife.com
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After graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in electrical engineering (and getting quick MBA in Harvard), Bloomberg got a job at investment bank Salomon Brothers in NY.
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His first task was to count out and organise the millions of stocks and bonds in the bank’s vault but his quick thinking and remarkable work ethic soon saw him rise up the ranks to become partner at the young age of just 30, in 1972 👏
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In 1978 Bloomberg was given the task of running the firm’s information technology division. It was here that Bloomberg found his niche 🤓
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After being eased out of the company Bloomberg set about putting what he’d learned in those IT offices into practice 💪
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Bloomberg used his payoff to set up an information technology company called Innovative Market Solutions. Bloomberg set out to give brokers better information at lightning speeds, and he soon found that they would pay handsomely for the service.
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“The Bloomberg’s” with their in-depth intel on the bond market soon made their inventor a billionaire, and the richest man in NY. The company’s success skyrocketed in the 1980s and prompted Bloomberg to brand out into other media, launching Bloomberg News and Bloomberg TV 📺
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In 2001 Bloomberg decided to enter the world of politics running for mayor of NYC under the Republican banner. He won taking office in 2002 at a poignant time for a New York still reeling from the September 11th attacks. Bloomberg set about rebuilding the city, and restoring its sense of pride and its famous hustle and bristle.
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Bloomberg used data, facts and analysis to transform an enormous, dynamic city hitherto run on instinct and half-guesses.
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It is this remarkable combination of entrepreneur, data-driven governor, and staunch egalitarian that makes Michael Bloomberg so keenly relevant today.
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His net worth is $63 billion which makes him 12th richest man in the world. Bloomberg is currently running for president against Trump 💪
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Bong Joon-ho was born in South Korea in 1969, the youngest of 4 children. His father was a graphic designer while his mother was a full-time housewife.
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While Bong was in elementary school, the family relocated to Seoul. Bong enrolled in Yonsei University in 1988, majoring in sociology.
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He co-founded a film club named Yellow Door with students from neighboring universities in which Bong made his first films – Looking for Paradise and a White Man.
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In the early 1990s Bong completed a two-year program at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. His graduation films Memory Within the Frame and Incoherence were invited to screen at the Vancouver and Hong Kong international film festivals.
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Shortly afterwards, Bong began shooting his first feature Barking Dogs Never Bite. The film was shot in the same apartment complex where Bong had lived after getting married 😮
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Response from critics was positive but slightly muted. Nonetheless, the film was invited to Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival and it won at Slamdance Film Festival and Hong Kong International Film Festival.
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Bong’s second long feature film Memories of Murder was adapted from a popular stage play centered on a real-life serial killer who terrorized a rural town in the 1980s and was never caught (although a suspect confessed to the crime in 2019). It was released in 2003 and proved an immediate critical and popular success. The film also received an unusually strong critical reception in France and the U.S.
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His next movie The Host marked a step up in scale in Bong’s career and indeed for the Korean film industry as a whole.
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All movies he directed were written by Bong too.
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Bong studied Martin Scorsese films and cited Quentin Tarantino as one of his major filmmaking influences – pretty amazing that he was nominated in same category with both of them at this year’s Oscars! And he won with them! 🏆
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Kobe was born in Pennsylvania in 1978. His father was an NBA player & moved to Italy in 1984. Bryant grew up in Italy & took baby steps towards his basketball career there. He returned to Philadelphia in ’91 & joined the Lower Merion High School basketball team 🏀. With spectacular display of skills Bryant joined the NBA in 1996 💪
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Bryant showed his brilliance in the limited chances he got to play as a rookie. With each game he kept on improving & he soon became indispensable for the Lakers. Lakers had to wait till 2000 when the Bryant & Shaquille O’Neal won them the championship title.
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Bryant broke many records establishing him as a top player. At the age of 23 Bryant was the youngest player to win 3 NBA titles.
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During the 2003-04 season, Bryant suffered big career setback. A hotel worker in Colorado charged him with sexual assault. The case was eventually dismissed. However, the damage was done. He lost out on endorsements, reputation, and more 😞
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Bryant refused to buckle under pressure. With every move he showed what perseverance and hard work means 💪 He adopted an insane work regimen, dedicating himself completely to making the Lakers champions again. In 2006, he scored an unbelievable 81 points during 122-104 victory. It was a testing period for Bryant but he constantly delivered results.
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Eventually his hard work paid off with the Lakers emerging champions again in 2009 & 2010. Bryant played an important part in the victories and that earned him the NBA Finals MVP awards.
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He was always the 1st player in the gym, strictly following his exercise regimen. Bryant gave up his favorite foods to be in good shape. He once asked Nike to remove a few millimeters off his shoes to improve his reaction time—1/100th of a second. This shows his attention to details 😳
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He succeeded not only in basketball – In 2015 he wrote a poem about him retiring. Then he changed that poem into a short animation movie that got an Oscar for best animated short movie in 2018 🏆
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Born in Barbados, Pepper moved to London when he was very young with his six sisters and three brothers. He attended Sedghill Secondary school.
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His first job was at a McDonald’s, after which he spent 6 months as a fireman, and then became a train driver on the London Underground 🚇
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He claims to have got bored very easily, and used to stop the train between stations, turn off the lights, and start talking on the loudspeaker system. “I used to say stuff like: ‘This is your driver speaking… or is it?’ in a really spooky voice.” 😅
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It was in 1996 that a television executive passenger on one of his trains offered him his card, and asked him to call him. 🤩
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After providing numerous voiceovers for TV channels and adverts, he began doing movie trailers, with his first being Space Jam in 1996. He also voiced in the video game Shadow Man.
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He came to prominence following his voice-over work for Armageddon and Independence Day, when he was mistaken for Hollywood voice artist Don LaFontaine.
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Pepper is also a stage actor, having appeared in an Edinburgh Festival production of Jeffrey Archer’s Prison Diaries. More recent work has included a long-standing relationship with the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1, where Pepper provided idents and voiceovers for various segments of the show.
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In October 2015, Pepper replaced Peter Dickson as the voiceover of British reality show The X Factor.
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In April 2017, Pepper served as announcer during Bradley Walsh’s week of hosting The Nightly Show.
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With over 100 movie trailers under his belt, Redd Pepper is the voice behind all your favourite blockbuster hits 🎬
His story shows us that you never know when you’ll find your true passion and/or talent! 😉
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Later on he lived in Seattle and then LA where he continued to work in clubs and was discovered by record producer Dootsie Williams. He recorded rhythm and blues songs with several labels between 1955 and 1962 and released his first comedy albums.
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But that wasn’t enough, he wanted to be famous. 😎
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He was working at the world famous Dolphin’s of Hollywood record store in LA in 1970 when he began hearing obscene stories of “Dolemite” recounted by a local man named Rico 🧐
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Moore began recording the stories and assumed the role of “Dolemite” in his club act. In 1970–71 he recorded 3 albums where with jazz and R&B musicians playing in the background he would recite raunchy, sexually explicit rhymes 😎
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The recordings were usually made in Moore’s own house. The album covers and contents were often too racy to be put on display in stores but the records became popular through word of mouth and were highly successful in black American communities.
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But that still wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to make a movie 🤷🏼♀️. None of the studios was interested in his scripts so he spent all his savings and financed the movie himself hiring his friends as actors and crew.
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The movie Dolemite appeared in 1975 and has been described as “one of the great blaxploitation movies” of the 1970s. The film was followed by 3 sequels.
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Moore continued to release albums through the 1970s and 1980s.
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He came to be a major influence to many later rap stars like Snoop Dogg or Busta Rhymes. He is even called the godfather of rap 😎. He also inspired many people to become comedians e.g. Eddie Murphy who now produced and starred in the latest movie about Dolemite 🤗
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Musk’s father was an engineer & his mother was a dietitian in South Africa. Both parents recognized Elon’s passion for technology and encouraged him to pursue it. Musk bought his 1st computer at age 10 and taught himself programming 🤷🏼♀️
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He graduated high school in ’88 and moved to USA so as not to take part in South Africa’s compulsory military service. He got into Queen’s University, then to the Wharton School of Business. After earning bachelor’s degree in economics, he was accepted into a high-energy physics graduate program but he dropped out and decided to pursue an entrepreneurial route rather than an academic one 😎
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Musk teamed up with his brother Kimbal and created an IT company called Zip2. Elon describes the first 2 years as a grind but eventually local and national newspapers began to use Zip2. In 1999, search engine AltaVista bought Zip2 for $307 million 💰😅, a record deal at the time! 😅
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By 2000, Musk was working with P.Thiel and M.Levchin on X.com, which later became PayPal.
1 year later, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion (Musk’s share was roughly $180 million 😅💰). Musk finally had enough capital to focus on his real passion: space engineering 🛸.
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Musk joined forces with engineers M.Eberhard & M.Tarpenning at Tesla Motors in 2004. He participated in the design of the 1st electric car, the Tesla Roadster. Tesla has become one of the most popular & coveted car brands in the world, even beating out GM and Ford.
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Musk has also taken his ambitions with SpaceX, collaborating with NASA and the Air Force to design rockets and conduct military missions 🚀
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He hopes to collaborate in the mission to send an astronaut to Mars by 2025 🛰.
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Musk’s net worth is now $20.8 billion 💰💰💰. As of June, 2018, he owned 33,737,921 shares in Tesla which is valued at roughly $11.6 billion! 💰
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“I had been bullied at school,” Winslet told children at a We Day U.K. charity event in London. “They called me Blubber. Teased me for wanting to act. Locked me in the cupboard. Laughed at me.”
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“I wasn’t the prettiest, I was even told that I might be lucky in my acting if I was happy to settle for the fat-girl parts.”
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Actress told kids how, if she could overcome her coming-of-age hurdles, so can they. 💪
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“I didn’t lock myself away and give up on my dream, I fought back. I had to ignore the negative comments. I had to believe in myself. I had to choose to rise above it all, and I had to work hard. You have to be indestructible to do what you love, and believe that you are worth it.”
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Winslet explained how, in spite of the fact that she didn’t “have the perfect body” according to Hollywood standards, she was still able to be successful.
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“One day, I was cast as Rose in Titanic, the most unlikely candidate—Kate from the sandwich shop in Reading—suddenly acting in one of the biggest movies ever made! You can be from anywhere and you can do anything, believe it 💪”
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“I learned to embrace my flaws, to make no apology for who I am. I decided that I simply wouldn’t listen when they said my body didn’t fit. This is who I am, the real me, Kate from Reading.” 😊👏
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“When I was 16, I was fat. It was a family thing. We’re all big eaters. I lost the weight doing Weight Watchers.” But that was not the end. When she was cast in Titanic, James Cameron nicknamed her “Kate Weighs-a-Lot.”
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“I was fat. I didn’t know any fat famous actresses. I just did not see myself in that world at all, and I’m being very sincere. You know, once a fat kid, always a fat kid.”
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Sometimes in between earning 7 Oscar nominations, Winslet has also snagged a lucrative beauty contract with Lancôme—one with a special no-retouching clause that would make “Kate from Reading” proud. 👏
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Article from: Vanity Fair
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Michelle learned to read at home by age 4 and skipped the 2nd grade. By the 6th grade she was taking classes in her school’s gifted program where she learned French & advanced biology. Michelle attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School for gifted children. In 1981, she graduated as class salutatorian .
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Michelle attended Princeton University graduating in 1985 with a B.A. in Sociology. She went on to study law at Harvard Law School, where she took part in demonstrations calling for the enrollment and hiring more minorities. She was awarded her J.D. in 1988.
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After graduating in 1988, Michelle worked as an associate in Sidley Austin in the area of marketing and intellectual property. In 1991, she left corporate law to pursue a career in public service, working as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago.
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In May 2005, Michelle was appointed VP for external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She was also a board member for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
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In 2007, Michelle scaled back her career to attend to campaign obligations during Barack’s run for president where Michelle campaigned on his behalf. She traveled the country, giving talks and making public appearances.
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As first lady of the US Michelle worked on support of military families, helping working women balance career & family and encouraging national service. 🔸️
The Obamas volunteered at homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the Washington area 🙏. Michelle also made appearances at schools, stressing the importance of education and volunteer work.
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n 2012, she announced a new fitness program for kids as part of her Let’s Move initiative. She wanted young people to try out a new sport. In 2018, Michelle published her memoir, Becoming.
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Michelle is so much more than just a „wife of a man who was a prestident”. We should all take example from her!
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Obama was only 2 years old when his father left the family. Soon, his mom remarried and for 4 years Obama lived with her and his stepfather. This was in Indonesia where his step sister Maya was born. At the age of 10 he was sent back to Hawaii (where he was born) to live with his grandparents and to attend a prominent school.
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He was one of few black students, which was sometimes difficult for him. He was a good student with some problems. Through hard work and with the help of scholarships Obama started to climb the ladder of success.
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He studied political sciences and international relations in NY. He helped poor people in Chicago, and studied law at Harvard University. Later he became the director of the most important law magazine in the US and married his wife Michelle. 😊
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From 1992 until 2004 Barack taught at the University of Chicago. He also worked for several firms as well as working on voter registration projects in the city.
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Obama’s legislative career began in 1996 with his election to the Illinois Senate, and culminated in his success in the US Senatorial Election of 2004. Winning a large number of counties in Illinois Obama secured a seat in the U.S. Senate and began his political career.
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Barack Obama served as a senator from 2005 until 2008. He was opposed to the Iraq War and proactive in working to introduce bills aimed at reducing intimidation of voters and underhand tactics surrounding election results.
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In 2007, Obama had his eyes on the Presidency of the US. He faced stiff competition from both within his own party and from the Republicans.
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Obama ran a unique and effective campaign that emphasized his qualities for the role. In 2009, Obama became the 44th President of the US.
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Barack Obama’s success story shows that regardless of your background, your race, or your political affiliation, there’s a path to success that’s possible if you’re willing to take a unique look on things and play to your advantages 😊
When he was 10 he found out his biological father left years before and he was actually raised by a stepfather.
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While spending summers in Texas he was introduced to the space industry where his grandfather worked and got Jeff interested in science 🤓. One time, he converted his parents’ garage into a laboratory where he made things like cooking contraptions from an umbrella or an alarm system using parts from Radio shack. He set to Princeton to study physics but he switched majors and graduated in computer science and electrical engineering 👨💻.
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He started a job in NY for a high tech startup in the financial industry. When he failed to raise money for a fax newsletter startup he looked for another business and ended up at Wall Street.
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He knew it wouldn’t be long when internet commerce would be introduced and he came up with the idea for an “everything store”. After talking to his bosses and telling them his idea, they encouraged him but told him “it was better off left to someone who doesn’t already have a good job”. So he quit 🤷🏼♀️
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His road to success wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows. His first item to be sold were books. He started working in his garage with his wife and 2 programmers, initially, investing all his money. He officially started Amazon then 🤗.
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He somehow raised 1M from colleagues, family and investors. He started packing hundreds of books by hand but with every step he took forward he was tackled by his competitors. It was only when he met Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, who invested in him, he started making profits 📈
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It took Amazon more than 6 years, but in 2001 they posted their first quarterly profits. Now Amazon is the world’s largest ecommerce company with a revenue of over $232.9 billion 💰
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Of course there were downfalls, Bezos lost hundreds of millions when his investments went bust (pets.com, gear.com) but like a good sport he got back up and recovered and that led him to become the richest man in the world (even topping Bill Gates) 💰💰💰
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He went through enormous difficulties in his life but he never gave up 💪. He was running out of cash and he got so broke that he stole his wife’s jewellery and sold it. He even ended up homeless and was sleeping at the New Jersey Bus Terminal for 3 weeks.😰
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Things got so bad that he spent many days without food. He had to sell his loyal companion, his dog to a stranger at liquor store for $25 because he didn’t have the money to feed him. He walked away crying 💔.
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Sylvester had a dream to become an actor but people laughed at him. He was born paralysed in the lower left part of his face because of this his, speech was slurred. Most people thought that it was a death rattle for an acting career. Everybody rejected him. 😞
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During his hard times, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner 🤼♂️. He got an idea to screenplay this so he began to write a script for a movie 🎬. He didn’t sleep and banged out the script in 20 hours! He tried to sell it to the producers and he got an offer of $125,000 straight away 😎 but he wanted to STAR in the movie, he wanted to be the MAIN ACTOR. The studio refused him and said that he, “Looked Funny and talked funny.” 🤷🏼♀️
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Few weeks later they offered him $325,000 but didn’t want to consider him in it, therefore he still refused. Eventually, the producers agreed, they let him act in the movie but only paid him $35,000. 🙄
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It was the blockbuster movie- Rocky!!! It earned $225 million in global box office 💰💰💰. The movie won 3 Oscar awards and Sylvester Stallone was nominated for the BEST ACTOR 🏆. The Rocky was also included into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever.
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He loved his dog so much that he waited for the man he sold his dog to for 3 days at the liquor store. Stallone begged him to get his dog back but the man refused. In the end Stallone had to pay $15.000 for the same dog! 🐶
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Having no interest in studies, he dropout from school at the age of 16 years to start magazine named “Student.” 📰 It was a mail-order record business. He made a quick buck by selling advertisements to local businesses.
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He started selling mail records to the students who bought the magazine. His idea worked so well that within one year, he opened his own recording label and recording studio and named it as “Virgin Records.” 💿 Branson became millionaire by the age of 23. 💰
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Branson was in his late twenties and was going to Virgin Island to meet his girlfriend. At the airport, his final flight to the Virgin Island was cancelled. It was the last flight of the day and he was really desperate to go there, but he couldn’t unless he chartered a private airplane that could take him to the Virgin Island 🤷🏼♀️. But he didn’t have that much money and at that time, an idea clicked in his mind. He picked up a small blackboard and wrote “Virgin Airlines $29” on it. He sold the tickets to the people who too wanted to go to the Virgin Island. He used that money to pay for the chartered plane and everybody reached their destination with the help of “VIRGIN AIRLINES.” ✈
And after that, he acted upon that idea to make it the real business and founded Virgin Airlines. 🤗
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„Successful people start before they feel ready” he says. They don’t wait for the perfect time to arrive and guaranteed success plan. He lives his life with only one mind set and that is “Screw it, Let’s do it.” And he has even written a book on it name, “Screw it, Let’s do it: Lessons in Life.” 😉
From the outside, Keanu looks like another Hollywood success story but Keanu’s journey to success did not come easy.
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At 3 years old his father left their family and didn’t stay in contact after moving and finalizing the divorce from this mother. He attended four different high schools and dropped out of school without ever earning a diploma.
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After high school, he lost one of his close friends, River Phoenix (brother to Joaquin Phoenix), from a drug overdose. Less than 2 years after the death of his best friend Keanu and his newly married wife lost a child as she was born stillborn. The death was so tragic it ended their relationship. 18 months later his ex-wife died in a tragic car accident, losing yet another person he loved. 💔
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Despite tragic event after tragic event Keanu pushed through and went on to be an incredibly successful actor.
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Despite having an estimated net worth of $100 million dollars Keanu lives a very normal life, including riding the subway in NYC. As he said, “Money is the last thing I think about.”
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Keanu Reeves story, while very tragic, can still be a huge source of inspiration for people. His story shows that no matter how successful people look you have no idea what they are going through on the inside. It also shows that you should never give up when tragedy strikes.
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Also that money doesn’t change things, it only magnifies what is already inside you. In Keanu’s case, it only made him more of the good person that he is. It’s been said that he gave around 75% of his money from the Matrix back to the makeup and special effects team for their amazing work.
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Unlike other celebrities, he continues to stay humble and be a generally good guy. Keanu is also an active philanthropist and helps causes and organizations that have affected him personally. 🙏
Story from iamfearlesssoul.com
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Steve was born in 1955 in San Francisco, he was adopted.
His father exposed him to electronics at a young age, showing him how to tinker with each piece. The school recommended that he move ahead to high school but his parents did not move forward with this recommendation.
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Jobs met Steve Wozniak during his summer internship at Hewlett-Packard. Jobs got this internship after asking the company’s president for parts needed for a school project. The founder was so impressed that he offered Jobs this internship 🤗.
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Jobs tried his hand at a degree in Reed College but left after a semester. 2 years later in 1976, Jobs established Apple Computer along with Wozniak in the Jobs’ family garage.
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Wozniak came up with user-friendly personal computers while Jobs marketed these products. Company sales reached $139 million after Apple II’s release. Apple became publicly traded in 1980 with a $1.2 billion market value. Unfortunately, this success didn’t last long. By 1980, the market was much more competitive and the Apple III failed to match the sales of the previous models. CEO John Sculley ousted Jobs. Steve sold his shares and resigned.
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In 1986 Jobs launched NeXT Computer Co. that was meant to change research. It was way too expensive and didn’t sell. Jobs started shifting NeXT’s focus to software – a classic example of constantly trying to reinvent to become successful.
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He also took the chance to develop a company he purchased from George Lucas, Pixar Animation Studios. His $50 million investment led to the production of big movies.
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Although Pixar thrived, NeXT could not find success and Jobs sold it to Apple for $429 million. He also returned to Apple as its CEO the following year. By this time, Apple had a $708 million quarterly loss. Jobs’ was able to revive the company and bring success.
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Jobs’ life is a testament to how failures open new opportunities 🙏
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When he was growing up Ed got bullied every day for his stutter and oversized glasses. As a kid he had a surgery that went wrong and it left him with a lazy eye and very severe speech problems. The other kids would mock him so he stopped talking in class 🤐.
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Yet that didn’t stop him from singing at church and playing guitar in his room 🎶. It was the only time he felt in control. Speech therapy wasn’t working and he feared being stuck with his stutter forever 😔
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One day, his dad bought him Eminem’s record. Amazed by how fast Eminem rapped he learned every word back to front. He wrote his own music and lyrics and soon enough his stutter was gone. 😊
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He knew that he was meant to make music. He started playing at bars every night. For 4 years he played 12 shows a week 😯.
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Being on the road was tough. When he couldn’t find a couch for the night he would sleep in parks or in the subway 😨. There were some bad nights where he had no money or food and wanted to give up. But he didn’t! 💪
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He knew that if he wanted to make it big he had to move to America 🇺🇸. He arrived in LA without a recording contract or a place to stay. He sent out music to anyone who would listen but heard nothing…until one day. 😉 He booked a show with a local radio host who pushed him up on stage. Terrified he began to play. Slowly, the audience began to smile and sway. And 12 minutes later he got a standing ovation 👏. That radio host was Jamie Foxx. He was so impressed that he let Ed use his recording studio!
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Soon Ed got a call from a singer, she asked him to go on tour with her. It was Taylor Swift.
After years of hard work he finally got his big break 💪.
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His last album debuted at number one in 14 countries and his songs and videos have been streamed billions and billions of times on Spotify and YouTube 😱.
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Despite his 2 Grammy Awards his most prized award is for raising awarness on stuttering. 😊
Story by Goalcast
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After graduating from high school at age 16, Lieber was hired as an editorial assistant for Timely Comics & was promoted to editor in 1942. By that time he had begun writing comic-book scripts for Timely as Stan Lee, a pseudonym that eventually became his legal name 😊. When the group, later named Atlas, struggled financially in 1940-50s Lee created several comic-book series, including The Destroyer, Jack Frost and Black Marvel.
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In 1961 Lee and artist Jack Kirby created The Fantastic Four. The series made him and Atlas—now known as Marvel 😍—major forces in the comics world 💪.
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One year later Lee and artist Steve Ditko created Spider-Man.
Lee and Kirby added another winner to the group when they created The X-Men in 1963. A distinctive feature of Lee’s heroes is that they combine superhuman powers with human insecurities and emotions.
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Marvel continued to prosper and in 1972 Lee became publisher and editorial director of the group.
After working for Marvel for nearly 60 years, Lee began to pursue other projects and in 1999 he formed Stan Lee Media, an Internet entertainment company built around his creations. Eventually his role at Marvel became was chairman emeritus.
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Lee’s new firm did well with its first project – 7th Portal which featured aliens who enter Earth through a “7th portal”—the Internet.
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Film adaptations based on the series that Lee cocreated were highly successful. X-Men and Spider-Man launched blockbuster franchises that earned billions of dollars in box-office revenue worldwide.
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Lee also wrote books on comics and on his own life. His published works include Origins of Marvel Comics, Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee and Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book. In 2008 he was awarded a National Medal of Arts. 🎖
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Stan’s story shows us that it is possible to expand one’s career from a basic employee to a multi-millionaire CEO but also that you can earn a lot depending how wide your imagination is 🤗!
Excelsior!
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Joaquin’s parents joined a controversial cult, formerly known as Children of God, in the 1970s. Phoenix, his folks, and his 4 siblings were traveling with this sect throughout Central and South America. After discovering the harsh truth about the cult—which allegedly encouraged children as young as 3 to explore their sexuality—Phoenix’s parents decided to get the heck out of dodge.
Joaquin has remained mum about any trauma he may have experienced within the cult.
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After leaving the Children of God behind, Joaquin and his family settled in LA but his parents struggled to make ends meet and there was a time when they were homeless or were all holed up in an one bedroom apartment.
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Joaquin’s eldest brother, River, emerged as the breakout star of the family. River was making a transition from child star into more mature roles but he died of a drug overdose when he was 23. Joaquin was then with him and watched his brother die in his arms. 💔. Young Phoenix took 2 years off from acting. Despite putting on a brave face some suspect the loss of his brother damaged Joaquin more than he would admit.
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In 2005 when he was playing a hardcore drug and alcohol addict in „Walk the Line” it began to affect his life tremendously and Joaquin realized he had a problem with alcohol himself and checked into a rehab.
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One of the reasons Joaquin is a legendary actor is because he takes his job very seriously. He got a Golden Globe for Walk the Line and a best actor award in Cannes for You Were Never Really Here 🏆
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However, as much as we love seeing him on screen, he himself is in fact his worst critic. 😨 He acually said that acting makes him feel lonely too.
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Despite all the bad things that happened to him he still made it. He calls it luck but his success is a proof that his hard work paid off. He now owns a $6.1 million house in the Hollywood Hills. Not bad for a guy who once shared a one-bedroom apartment with his entire family, right? 😊
She learned English at a school in Colombia before choosing to study dentistry in college.
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At 18 she married her highschool sweetheart and together they had a son named Manolo. But 2 years later the marriage fell apart. Sofia was left a single mother struggling to make ends meet.
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One day, a new opportunity came knocking. She was at the beach and some casting agent saw her and invited her to take part in a commercial they were shooting. Sofia had her son to think about so she accepted whatever roles she could get.
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At 22, she and Manolo moved to Miami to host game shows and travel shows. She moved to USA to get money, to be able to give her son a great college, healthcare. During this time Sofia scraped together whatever she could to send back home to Colombia.
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But 2 years later everything began falling apart. Her brother was killed in Barranquilla Colombia in the 90’s. Sofia was devastated but she was also reminded of the importance of family. She decided to bring the rest of her family to Florida.
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Years later she had another tragedy to face. Sofia underwent surgery to remove her thyroid, it was cancer.
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Sofia’s big break came in 2009 when she starred in the popular sitcom Modern Family. As her fame grew, her accent became what she was known and ridiculed for. The way she spoke English made it hard for Sofia to be taken seriously but she was not going to allow to be disrespected.
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After all the tragedy, Sofia realized how lucky she truly was. She was contacted by a family in Colombia with a son that needed an urgent bone-marrow transplant and by teaming up with St. Judes hospital Sofia brought the boy to USA to be cured. Sofia also co-founded an underwear company that donates proceeds to women in poverty.
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In 2015 Sofia became the first Colombian actress to receive a star on the Holywood Walk of Fame. ⭐
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Sofia has worked really hard for her success starting from nothing. Her story teaches us that our dreams are attainable no matter what obstacles stand in our way.
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Nicks mother refused to look at him or hold him for 4 long months. Doctors said Nick would be a vegetable.
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He learned to write, operate an electric wheelchair and use a computer with his toes. Rather than sending Nick to a school for children with disabilities, his parents sent him to a public school.
His schoolfellows bullied him and teased him constantly because of the way he looked. Growing up, Nick struggled with depression and felt completely hopeless 😞.
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When Nick was 10 he tried to drown himself in his family’s bathtub. After several attempts, he realized that he didn’t want his loved ones to suffer. Nick eventually came to terms with his disability and worked on adopting a positive attitude 🙏. As he has said “The challenges in our lives are there to strengthen our convictions. They are not there to run us over.” 🙌.
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At the age of 17, he had an inspiring encounter with his high school janitor that changed his life forever. The janitor told Nick that “You’re going to be a speaker”. The janitor saw something in Nick that he didn’t see himself and encouraged him to share his story. Nick gave his 1st speech in front of an audience of 6 students.
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Nick decided to go into Public Speaking to inspire others. Nick founded his non-profit organization ‘Life Without Limbs’. Since then, Nick has traveled to over 60 countries and inspired millions of people around the world. Nick has given over 3000 speeches 💪 His 1st book is a bestselling book and has been translated too over 30 languages.
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Today, Nick is one of the most in-demand motivational speakers in the world. Nick has learned not to let his limitations stop him from enjoying a happy life.
Nick has been skydiving, surfs, swims and paint in his spare time.
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Nick Vujicic’s success story teaches us that anything is possible with a positive attitude💪
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Early death of his father and the illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother, Sydney, to fend for themselves when he was just 9 years old.
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Having inherited talents from their parents they both took acting as best opportunity for a career 🎭. Charlie made his professional debut as a member of a group called “The Eight Lancashire Lads” and rapidly won popular favour as an outstanding tap dancer 🕺.
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When he was 12 he got his first chance to act in a stage show and appeared as “Billy” the page boy in different productions of “Sherlock Holmes”. At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian which eventually took him to the US in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company.
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He scored an immediate hit with American audiences, particularly with his characterization in a sketch entitled “A Night in an English Music Hall”. In 1912 Chaplin was offered a motion picture contract 💰
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In 1916 Charlie was even more in demand and signed with the Mutual Film Corporation for a much larger sum to make 12 two-reel comedies.
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When his contract expired in 1917 Chaplin decided to become an independent producer in a desire for more freedom and greater leisure in making his movies. To that end, he busied himself with the construction of his own studios.
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His first own film was “A Dog’s Life”. His next commercial venture was the production of a comedy dealing with the war. “Shoulder Arms”, released in 1918 and gave Chaplin huge popularity.
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Overall he made dozens movies 🎬, pubished at least 4 books 📖. He played a variety of instruments and was also a composer, having written and published many songs as well as the soundtracks for all his films 🎶
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Charles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well 😳😮
Growing up in Indiana, household responsibilities were often left to him while his mother worked to support the family after his father’s early death. This is how he developed his keen cooking skills as he helped his mother take care of the other children in his family.
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Several different jobs later, Sanders began his entrepreneurial career running a service station in Kentucky while serving his special chicken 🍗 in a dining area within. As business grew, he relocated to a restaurant close by in order to make his original recipe with its blend of eleven herbs and spices accessible to even more customers. He also added a motel to the business.
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In 1935, at forty-five years old, Sanders was dubbed a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor, in recognition of his fabulous cooking skills. Subsequently, in 1940 Sanders created his well-known “Original Recipe.”
Sanders originally prepared his chicken in an iron skillet but soon realized that was not efficient in a restaurant setting. In order to decrease the wait time for his customers, Sanders modified his cooking procedure by making use of a pressure fryer.
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The Sanders Court & Café catered mainly to travelers on their way to Florida through the town of Corbin, Kentucky.However he believed there was an opportunity to market his chicken to restaurant owners across the U.S.
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In his travels, he was rejected on many occasions, laughed at but Sanders persevered, and after a little over 1,000 visits, he finally persuaded Pete Harman in South Salt Lake, Utah to partner with him. They launched the first “Kentucky Fried Chicken” site in 1952.🍗
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In the early 1960’s there were over 600 franchised locations in the U.S. and Canada selling the delectable chicken. Subsequently, in 1964 Sanders sold the franchising operation for $2 million.
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Unlike Facemash, The Facebook was opt-in — any Harvard student could create an account, and by the end of the month, more than half of the undergraduates had done so. Zuckerberg expanded the service quickly, offering it to all Ivy League schools by the end of the spring and more schools the following semester.
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The Wirehog site was created as a companion filesharing site for Facebook users, and by the end of 2004, The Facebook had over one million registered users.
The advertising revenue made it easier to raise venture capital, and Zuckerberg and his associates purchased the facebook.com domain from its previous holder and dropped the “The” from the site’s name.
🔸️ Over time, Facebook became more and more inclusive, opening its doors to all college students, faculty members, and alumni and in 2006 added networks for high school students.
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Since fall of 2006, the site has been open to anyone who wishes to join — a shift away from the student-centric origins which many users have decried.
Meanwhile, a Craigslist-like Facebook Marketplace has been added to the site, along with a platform for offering applications.
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Microsoft purchased a 1.6% stake in the company for $240 million 💰💰💰 in October of 2007, and the following month the Facebook Beacon service premiered.
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Zuckerberg moved to Palo Alto to operate Facebook full time, taking a leave of absence from Harvard; the Facebook offices now occupy four downtown buildings.
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Honda was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan on November 17, 1906. He spent his early childhood helping his father, Gihei, a blacksmith, with his bicycle repair business 🚲. At the time his mother, Mika, was a weaver.
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At 15, without any formal education, Honda left home and headed to Tokyo to look for work. He obtained an apprenticeship at a garage in 1922, and after some hesitation over his employment, he stayed for six years, working as a car mechanic before returning home to start his own auto repair business in 1928 at the age of 22.
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In 1937 Honda began producing piston rings for small engines, which led to manufacturing small engines to be used in motorcycles, and then in 1948 he started producing complete motorcycles as president of the Honda Motor Company. Honda turned the company into a billion-dollar multinational that produced the best-selling motorcycles in the world 💲.
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Honda’s excellent engineering and clever marketing resulted in Honda motorcycles out-selling Triumphand Harley-Davidson in their respective home markets. In 1959 Honda Motorcycles opened its first dealership in the United States 🇺🇸.
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Honda remained president until his retirement in 1973, stayed on as director, and was appointed “supreme adviser” in 1983. His legendary status was such that People magazine placed him on their “25 Most Intriguing People of the Year” list for 1980, dubbing him “the Japanese Henry Ford.”
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In retirement Honda busied himself with work connected with the Honda Foundation.
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Bill’s parents came to know their son’s intelligence and decided to enroll him in a private school, known for its intense academic environment. That was the most important decision in Bill Gate’s life where he was first introduced to computers 💻.
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Bill Gates and his friends were very much interested in computer and formed “Programmers Group” in late 1968. Being in this group, they found a new way to apply their computer skill in university of Washington.
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In the next year, they got their first opportunity in Information Sciences Inc. in which they were selected as programmers. ISI agreed to give them royalties, whenever it made money from any of the group’s program. As a result of the business deal signed with ISI the group also became a legal business. 💰
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Bill Gates and his friend Allen formed a new company of their own, Traf-O-Data. They developed a small computer to measure traffic flow. From this project they earned around $20,000.
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Upon graduating from Lakeside Bill enrolled in Harvard University in 1973. He didn’t know what to do, so he enrolled his name for pre-law. After leaving school, he almost lost himself from the world of computers.
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At the end of Bill’s 1st year Bill and Allen got job in Honeywell. Allen kept on pushing Bill for opening a new software company. Within a year, Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard. Then he formed Microsoft (1976).
🔸️ Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC DOS in exchange for a one time fee of $50,000.💰
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Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on 20th November 1985 and struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Microsoft has been growing ever since. 🔸️
Do something that you are passionate about, Bill Gates loves computers. So find your passion and start a venture around that. You don’t have to create something new, you can take a product and improve upon it so that it is excellent. 😊
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Ever since he burst onto the scene in the 90s, Jay Z’s hard work has never been in doubt. In 1995, the rapper ventured into the business world, making his mark with Roc-A-Fella Records.
As if all luck was on his side, his business prospered as much as his rapping career did.
The talented allrounder is a perfect blend of spitting lines and making smart money moves, which sets him apart from the rest of the industry.
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He has founded his own companies, made worthy investments, found his way into the clothing business, set foot into sports management….and is now worth over $1 billion. 💰💰💰
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Going back to the beginning of Roc-A-Fella Records, Jay Z had made some money by signing with Payday Records.
Rather than blowing up the cash, he thought it wise to have his own label, and that’s how Roc-A-Fella was born. Being his first ever venture, Jay Z was operating his label from a small office in downtown NYC.
Work was being done, with the label’s first release being the rapper’s debut album. Reasonable Success dropped in 1996 and was received positively by the masses. Commercially, it performed modestly, but this was a great sign for a first album.
The label went on to release some of the best music the 90s and 2000s ever saw, especially concerning commercial success. Kanye West’s debut album and the five that followed were all thanks to Roc-A-fella!
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Rocawear came in 1999, and it was Jay Z’s first venture into the fashion industry. The clothing line was widely successful, bring in $700 annually in sales.
Jay Z founded the company with Damon Dash, although the two later fell out in 2006. The rapper took over Rocawear, and later sold in 2007 for $204 million!! 😱
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The 40/40 Club, Roc Nation, Roc Nation Sports, Tidal – what do all these have in common? Jay Z. These are all his business ventures, successful ones at that.
If you’re not following Brendon Burchard (@brendonburchard) you’re missing out. Just watching him will give you new doses of energy 💪.
In the past 2 years he turned his 10k Facebook group into 3M+ members. He’s written 3 New York Times best selling books and Larry King calls him one of the worlds’ top trainers.
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He started from scratch after surviving a horrible car crash. As he saw the end near, he realized we’d all be asked 3 questions at the end of our lives. Did we live? Did we love fully? And did we make a difference, did we matter?🔸️
With those 3 questions he left his corporate job and claimed a path to become a speaker, author, coach and trainer to inspire others with his message to live, love and matter 🙏.
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Brendon deeply struggled when he first started out. In his words, “When I first started out, I did what most authors did – I went broke.” But his mission to inspire drove him to become the legend that he is. He now runs a multiple 8 figure business that inspires tens of millions of people on a weekly basis 😊
This story will inspire you… to realize how anyone can overcome adversity!
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What do you do when you’re born with two digits on each hand and your legs are amputated at the knees when you’re three? Well, if you’re Hee Ah Lee, you become a concert pianist 🎹. She is quite a pro at it now, and you’ll love hearing her play! Just find her on Youtube! 🤗
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Hee Ah Lee was born with sever physical deformities. She only had two fingers on each hand. And her legs ended at her knees. Her doctors didn’t expect her to live.
But she did live 💪. At the age of six she started to play piano. At the time, her four fingers were very weak. She couldn’t even hold a pencil. Her mother hoped playing piano would strengthen her grip.
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It worked. But more than that, Lee found a calling. She now tours the world, playing for stunned audiences. She plays pieces that would be difficult for able-bodied pianists.
This is a true story! 🎹🤗
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Lee’s mother became unexpectedly pregnant while married to a disabled man. Doctors told her that because of a medication she had been taking her child would not be normal. Hee Ah Lee was born with only two fingers on each hand, disfigurement of her legs, and slight brain injury.
When Lee was a pre-schooler her mother decided that she wanted her daughter to take piano lessons and for two reasons. One was that she felt it would help her strengthen her hands. The other was that she felt that if she could master the piano, she could master anything. 💪
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For six months piano schools turned them down then the one teacher who did accept the task got discouraged and wanted to quit. They did not give up though. 💪 It was at age 7 that Lee won Korea’s 19th National Handicap Conquest Contest and was presented with her award by the President of Korea. 🏅
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Today Lee is 34, has won numerous awards, and is a widely traveled concert pianist with more than 200 appearances. Her first album titled “Hee-ah, a Pianist with Four Fingers” was released in June, 2008.
Before he became the legend that he is today, this man was struggling to make ends meet.
In 1919, while working for a newspaper, he was fired by the newspaper editor because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” 😐 In January 1920, he formed a short-lived company with another cartoonist. However, following a rough start, he left temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company.
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He was soon joined by Iwerks, who were not able to run their business alone. Later, though he acquired his own studio which was successful, studio profits were insufficient to cover the high salaries paid to employees. The studio became loaded with debt and wound up bankrupt 😔. After that, he decided to set up a studio in the movie industry’s capital city, Hollywood, California.
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He created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 🐰. Oswald, which was one of his first huge successes in the cartooning business. At that time, he was only receiving a 20 percent cut on his films and was ready to negotiate for higher since he was barely earning.
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He received another setback when his producer stole the character, and also stole his animation crew by negotiating contracts with them. His producer thought he would cave and work with the mere 20% he was paid.
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While most people would pack their bags and return home crying, or work for minimum wages, this dauntless young man went on to create his most successful cartoon character EVER – Mickey Mouse ❤❗. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this amazing person is none other than the entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer Walt Disney 🤗. Reportedly, he was also told that Mickey Mouse would not work since a huge mouse on the screen would terrify women. Well, it seems that women were not scared, for this mouse has continued to share his story on screens all over the world, even today. 😊
This woman needs no introduction. Her books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide. 📚 But there was a time in her life when she was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide 😞. Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child. She signed up for government aid ( she was so poor, she could not afford to support herself and her daughter), describing her economic status as being “poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.”
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In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry 💫 “came fully formed” into her mind. In 1995, she finished the manuscript of her first book on an old manual typewriter. The book was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. ❌
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Editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury advised her to get a day job since she had little chance of making money from writing children’s books. 🤷🏼♀️
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Today, she is United Kingdom’s best-selling living author, with an estimated fortune of over £650mln 💰. In fact, she actually made her first $1 billion in 2004, but lost her billionaire status after donating a large sum to charity. 😍
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She is none other than J.K Rowling – the creator of the Harry Potter series 🧙♂️. Saying that the Harry Potter franchise was and is a success would be an understatement. 😅 :::
Feeling inspired? Just remember: Nothing is impossible. 🤗
He wanted to study film 🎬 at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. However, he was rejected due to his “C” grade average. He applied for the second time but got rejected again. Overall, he applied to USC three times- but was rejected all three times. He then applied and was admitted to California State University, Long Beach, where he majored in English.
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While still a student, he was offered a small unpaid intern job at Universal Studios with the editing department. He was later given the opportunity to make a short film for theatrical release, the 26-minute, 35mm, Amblin’, which he wrote and directed. Studio vice president Sidney Sheinberg was impressed by the film, which had won a number of awards and offered him a seven-year directing contract. It made him the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio. ⚠️ Yes, I am talking about the exceptionally talented Steven Spielberg. 😊
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Today, he is a very successful film-maker and is known for his movies: Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Catch Me If You Can etc. He has directed 27 movies over four decades, has won 3 Oscars 🏆🏆🏆, including two for Best Director. The gross of all Spielberg-directed films is said to exceed $8.5 billion worldwide 💰💰💰. His personal net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion.💰💰💰
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Imagine the kind of films we would have lost out on, had he decided to give up on film-making altogether after being rejected thrice by his dream school! 🤗
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A prodigy rock climber, Hugh Herr, by age eight he had scaled the face of the 11,627-foot Mount Temple in the Canadian Rockies, and by 17 he was acknowledged to be one of the best climbers in the United States. In January 1982, after having ascended a difficult technical ice route in Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, Herr and a fellow climber Jeff Batzer were caught in a blizzard and became disoriented, ultimately descending into the Great Gulf where they passed three nights in −29 °C degree temperatures. By the time they were rescued, the climbers had suffered severe frostbite. Both of Herr’s legs had to be amputated below the knees; his companion lost his lower left leg, the toes on his right foot, and the fingers on his right hand.
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While a postdoctoral fellow at MIT in biomedical devices, he began working on advanced leg prostheses and orthoses, devices that emulate the functionality of the human leg. Using specialized prostheses that he designed, he created prosthetic feet with high toe stiffness that made it possible to stand on small rock edges the width of a coin, and titanium-spiked feet that assisted him in ascending steep ice walls. He used these prostheses to alter his height to avoid awkward body positions and to grab the hand and foot holds previously out of reach. His height could range from five to eight feet.
As a result of using the prostheses, Herr climbed at a more advanced level than he had before the accident, making him the first person with a major amputation to perform in a sport on par with elite-level, able-bodied persons.
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Quite inspiring, huh? 😊
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In the middle of 2009, he was the software engineer that no one wanted to hire. Despite a dozen years of experience at Yahoo and Apple Computer, he got turned down by two of the internet’s most upcoming companies at the time. First Twitter, and then Facebook. 🔸️🔸️🔸️
When he could not find any other company that would hire him, he teamed up with another Yahoo alum, Jan Koum, and built the application that has not only dominated cloud-based messaging, but is also used all over the world. Yes, this person is none other than Brian Acton, who developed Whatsapp. Whatsapp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for about $19 billion USD in cash and stock, making Acton’s net worth around $3.8 billion.
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Once, a young school boy was caught in a fire accident in his school and was assumed that he would not live. His mother was told that he was sure to die, for the terrible fire had devastated the lower half of his body. Even if he would survive, he would be a cripple throughout his life.
But the brave boy did not want to die nor did he want to be a cripple. Much to be the amazement of the doctor, he did survive. But unfortunately he had no motor ability from his waist down. His thin legs just dangled there, lifeless.
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Ultimately he was discharged from the hospital. But his determination to walk was indomitable. At home, when he was not in bed, he was confined to a wheelchair. One day, he threw himself from the chair and pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs behind him. He reached the picket fence, raised himself up and then stake by stake, he began dragging himself along the fence, his resolve to walk undeterred. He did this every day, with faith in himself that he would be able to walk unaided.
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With his iron persistence and his resolute determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk haltingly, then to walk by himself and then to run 🙏
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He began to walk to school, then run to school, to run for the sheer joy of running. Later in college he made the track team.
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In February 1934, in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, this young man who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, who could never hope to run – this determined young man, Dr. Glenn Cunningham, ran the world’s fastest mile. 😀💪
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An epitome of the power of positive thinking and faith in one’s self, Glenn Cunningham continues to be an inspiration for many, and his story, a brilliant testimony to how one can bounce back even when all odds are stacked against one, to the extent that death seemed the preferable option. 🙌
A person who I admire the most lately is Dwayne Johnson, @therock . He went from broke & depressed to the most popular wrestler, one of the highest-earning actors, producer and big celebrity (did you know that he is 4th most popular on instagram?).
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Dwayne spent much of his childhood bouncing between homes in CA and New Zealand. To say that wrestling was “in his blood” would be an understatement. His father, Rocky Johnson, continued the family lineage started by his grandparents.
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When Dwayne was 14, the family relocated to Honolulu while his father was in WWE. Family’s financial security was still unstable. “We were living in an efficiency that cost $120 a week. We come home and there’s an eviction notice.” Dwayne started stealing accesories from shops such as Prada and selling it to tourists.
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By the time Johnson was 16, he was 6’4 225lbs. When he got to Freedom high school in Bethlehem he used teachers’ bathroom one day & was caught and got asked out but Dwayne didn’t leave and was rude. The next day he appologized to this teacher. The teacher not only forgave him but offered him to play football for him.
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He started playing american football, his grades went up and he started setting some goals. He wanted to get into the NFL.
Johnson graduated in 95 but wasn’t ready to give up on football dreams despite the lack of interest from the NFL. He joined the Calgary Stampede but was cut two months later. “The dreams dashed. That was my absolute worst time.”, he says.
In ’96 he decided to follow his father’s footsteps and join WWE. He was still broke and didn’t own any wrestling gear. The audience hated him but he didn’t give up. He decided to stop pretending somebody who he’s not and just be the real him. Only then he started being liked.
In 2001 he made his Hollywood debut in The Mummy Returns. Producers and directors saw the potential. After that he went from one movie to another.
In 2013 and 2015, The Rock was the top-grossing actor. He generated $1.48billion in 2015 only.
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Even though The Rock is on top now he stayed modest & humble. He says he wakes up every day feeling grateful for what he has. 🙏💪
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Winfrey was born in 1954 in Mississippi, to a teenage mother but raised by her grandma. When she was 9, Winfrey was raped by a cousin and over the next few years she was sexually abused by other men. She went to live with her father in Nashville at 14, hiding the fact she was pregnant and gave birth to a son two months early. He died soon afterwards.
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Living with her father and stepmother provided stability and high expectations. When she was 17, Winfrey won a beauty pageant sponsored by a local radio station. Someone at the station noticed her smooth, warm voice and asked her to read a news report on tape. She did it so well she was offered a part-time job.
She moved to Baltimore to work for WJZ-TV as a news reporter and co-anchor of the six o’clock news. It wasn’t a success. Soon enough Winfrey was moved to a morning slot but she and Sher were eventually paired for a talkshow, People Are Talking.
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One of the reasons she gave up news and went into talk was whenever she did a story of children killed in a fire or children murdered she would cry and cry. She wore her heart on her sleeve and people really loved that about her.
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Later on she sent an audition tape to WLS-TV in Chicago. They gave her the AM Chicago morning talkshow which became so successful it became The Oprah Winfrey show and was syndicated nationally. By the time she ended her talkshow in 2011, leaving to set up her own cable channel, she had become a billionaire and one of the most powerful women in the world.
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She has been credited with everything from liberalising US culture to reinvigorating America’s publishing industry with her book club to influencing Barack Obama’s victory.
She is the first black billionaire so in the black community she holds a special place. As a woman she’s shown that it is possible to become a billionaire, without having a husband.
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Oprah is a big example of success. She worked on her dreams, broke many bareers and kept being her true self. It is said that she will run for a president in 2020 election!
The homeless man who became a multi-millionaire inwestor – the story of Chris Gardner.
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It was back in the early 1980s that Mr Gardner, then aged 27, and his toddler son were homeless for a year in San Francisco. Enrolled on a low-paid trainee scheme at a stock brokerage, he didn’t have enough money to raise the deposit to rent an apartment. So Mr Gardner and Chris Jr would sleep wherever they could. In addition to the toilet at a railway station, they’d bed down in parks, at a church shelter, or under his desk at work after everyone else had gone home. They ate in soup kitchens, and what little money he had was spent on putting his son in day nursery so he could go to work.
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Despite this adversity, Mr Gardner thrived in his job. Has was very eager to learn. A natural at selling stocks and shares, at the end of his training period his firm, Dean Witter Reynolds (DWR), made him a full employee. Finally able to rent a home for himself and his son, his career then rapidly ascended into the stratosphere, and in 1987 he opened his own investment firm, Gardner Rich.
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Sounds similar? This is a story you see in „The Persuit of Happiness”. Yes, this is a story based on Chris Gardner’s life.
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Today Mr Gardner, 64, is worth an estimated $60m, travels the world as a motivational speaker, and sponsors a number of homeless charities and organisations that combat violence against women.
Six years after the release of the movie, Mr Gardner’s life changed again in 2012 when his wife died from cancer aged just 55. It made him re-evaluate what he wanted to do for a living, and after three highly successful decades in finance he decided on a complete career change. So realising that he didn’t want to work in investment banking any longer, he reinvented himself as a motivational speaker and author. 🔸️🔸️🔸️
Very inspirational!
We must never give up!
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Robbins was born 1960. He is the eldest of 3 children and his parents divorced when he was 7. While growing up, Robbins worked as a handyman to help provide for his siblings.
During high school, Robbins grew ten inches, a growth spurt later attributed to a pituitary tumor. He has said his home life was “chaotic” and “abusive”. When he was 17, he left home (or actually has been chased out of the house with a knife by his mother) and never returned. Robbins later worked as a janitor and did not attend college.
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This is when he decided that he wants to be rich so that he could help people in need. He made his first million at age 24. Two years later (’86) the huge success of his 1st book ‘Unlimited Power’ launched him into the mainstream.
In 1988 Robbins released his first infomercial, Personal Power, which helped him gain wide exposure. He was selling it as self-help audiotapes. By 1991 an estimated 100mln Americans had seen his infomercials.
In 1997, Robbins began the Leadership Academy seminar.
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Robbins has worked on an individual basis with Bill Clinton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa and many more. He was named one of the “Top 50 Business Intellectuals” by Accenture, one of the “Top 200 Business Gurus” by the Harvard Business Press & in 2007 was ranked on the Forbes Celebrity 100.
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He’s also built an empire. The Anthony Robbins Company is a diversified group of businesses in industries such as hospitality, education, media production, and business services. The companies reportedly have a combined revenue that is approaching $6 billion a year.
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Robbins hasn’t forgotten his humble roots. The Anthony Robbins Foundation feeds more than 4mln people around the holidays each year through “Basket Brigade” and provides fresh water to over 100000 people a day in India. His foundation runs programs to help the homeless, encourage youth leadership, and provide his books and tapes to prisoners.
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Tony Robbins is a great example that you can’t give up despite hard times and just keep on going to reach your dreams!
Such a strong and inspiring woman! 💪
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When Liz became homeless at the age of 15, it was just after her mother died of HIV and her father moved into a homeless shelter. In such a painful situation, most people would only be able to see their immediate circumstances. But Liz would seek a better reality for herself, despite her intense limitations. So she attended a local high school and graduated in just two years. She was then awarded a New York Times scholarship for needy students and was accepted into Harvard University, eventually earning her doctorate in clinical psychology.
She has since written a New York Times best-selling memoir “Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard” which was also a made-for-TV movie.
Liz is inspiring because she didn’t let her circumstances dictate her future. Instead, she chose her own destiny and manifested it, despite overwhelming obstacles. 👏👏👏
Today I want to tell you a story of a friend of mine who took a risk, quit her job and became a travel bloger! She now lives on Bali and has a dream life!
Here’s my short interview with Pink Lemonade:
1. How long have you been working for yourself? How is it?
I’ve quit my last “normal” job in September 2017, so it’s been already 1,5 year that I am my own boss! Yay! It actually feels like forever!
2. What was/is the most challenging part for you being self-employed?
Well being honest the financial part. No one pays you the salary and you don’t have any guarantee if there will be some projects coming next month or not so you need to be very good in money managing and don’t end up broke. Usually the harderst are obviously the beginnings where you mostly rely on your savings and still have to invest a lot in your company to make it work. Nowadays Pink Lemonade is the only source of an income for me and my boyfriend. Still the money we make are way less than what we used to earn before, but the comfort of the life is uncomparable and satisfaction that we work for ourselves gives us huge motivation.
3. What was your milestone momment when you felt you can do it or that you succeeded?
I always knew I will succeed! Just kidding, it wasn’t that easy!
Actually the culmination moment was when I hit my first 10K followers. These days Instagram was growing really fast and my boyfriend said that he sees huge potential in it so why don’t we just quit our jobs and go travel the world? And so we did! Few months after that, we managed to save up some money and went on our first big trip. That time I had only 16K followers.
4. You live from travelling and posting beautiful pictures. You’ve seen many beautiful places, you currently live on Bali. It seems like a fairytale but i’m guessing it’s also hard work. Please tell us about it.
Of course it is! We’re doing everything just by ourselves and our job is veeery time consuming. Also, when you’re your own boss, everything is on your shoulders and you’re carrying the responsibility for everything what’s happening so you’re always working on a full speed and giving 100%. But let’s be honest, living in such a paradise definitely helps!
5. Do you have your own work routine? Do you get up and work on posts/emails 9-5 and then have time for yourself?
We tried to have it as I believe routines keep you well organised, but it was impossible! Every day is completely different for us, we face different challenges, sometimes have to change our schedule last minute and also we travel a lot so a routine simply didn’t work for us. From the other point of view it also has its benefits as I am flexible and whenever I want to meet a friend, put my phone away and shut down my lap top I can just do it.
6. You just released your presets. Do you have any other projects coming soon?
Oh yes! Many! I am so happy that the presets are finally on sale! We’ve also just opened a sister company for Pink Lemonade – Pink Lemonade Digital Marketing Solutions, where we’ll be providing social media services for our clients. My dream was always to have my own brand and it’s still a bit of a secret but we’re thinking of releasing a small series of accessories designed by me in the near future, that would be really amazing!
Ewa is a fitness instructor who built an enormous brand and is now one of the richest and most successful women in Poland.
She is a mentor to me and a true inspiration because she got it all through hard work, starting from zero.
Ewa was born in a small city in south Poland, had a normal and very modest life. After graduating from high school she went to Greece where she fell in love with fitness. She got a degree at Pilates Academy Athens & IAFA College Athens and came back to Poland where she started building her brand. She was 27 when she started working on it. Spent lots of time just recording videos of excercises and sending it to random people on Facebook. She says she’s been sending hundreds of messages a day. Later on she started publishing official DVDs with her workouts, in 2012 she started going around Polish cities with BeActive tour and did fitness workshops. In 2015 she launched fitness magazine called Be Active. She was growing and growing. Within next 3 years she launched several more companies: BeDiet where you can buy an individual diet, BeRaw – healthy snacks and suprfood, Missionswim – swimwear, BeDiet Catering and couple more. She has now 28 DVDs, 7 books, you can buy a personal diet (and have it as catering to your home), a magazine, a healthy snack, a swimsuit, fitness holidays with Ewa, and many more. She just launched her jewelry line today and she’ll be sharing income from it with a foundation for women who are victims of violence. Apart from that she has her own program in TV where she talks about health and women issues, she is now a jury in a dance show…that woman works 24/7! It is said that over 1 mln Polish women lost weight with her already! She is a fitness queen in Poland and is now estimated to be worth over 150mln PLN now!
It’s not even about the money but the fact that she built her brand on her passion and she does what she loves while changing others’ lives!
This story trully shows that through hard work you can achieve a lot!
There was a girl. Let’s call her Ana.
In 2011 Ana started writing a book. She never wanted to be a writer but she had a lot to say and share about her outlook on the world and society nowadays so she built it in a story and made a book out of it. As soon as she finished writing it 1.5 year later she was really proud of it, it was a good book hence she wanted to have it published. She started looking for a publishing house, she took part in every writing contest she could find. But it was for nothing.
She took a break and got back to it 2 years later. She changed a bit in the plot as she didn’t like some parts anymore and tried again – contacted a bunch of publishing houses yet it was still for nothing. She decided to print the book herself. She had a graphic made for a cover, a professional helping correcting the text and a proper bindery to make it into a book. She spent all her savings to get 180 copies. What did she do next? Having the book printed she started sending it to…publishing houses. Again. At that time it was 2015 so already 4 years in the making.
She gained some interest from 3 publishing houses but it didn’t work out as they wanted her to put more money into it. She wanted to find a publishing house that will fall in love with her book and will invest in it. After that she took a break again, this time for half a year.
In 2016 she decided to try it different way. She did a research and found a lot of blogs that write books reviews. The book got plenty good reviews, some blogs gave it 5/6, some 8/10 and wrote articles about it trying to bring attention to publishing houses to take that book in and publish it. One chapter got even published in a national newspaper. But still nothing. Still no publishing house interested in making it big.
Having lots of great reviews she decided to take it one step further and she reached out to well-known people in the industry. She managed to get in touch with a man who wrote dozens of books and was later a chairman of jury in the biggest literature awards in the country. He loved the book and wrote a great review. She got even an email from a famous director Krzysztof Zanussi („The Constant Factor”, „Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease”, „The Supplement”) that he sees potential in her book to make it into a movie.
With those 2 reviews from 2 big names she tried again. She packed her book with those reviews as a Xmas present and sent it to over 30 pubslishing houses for Christmas 2016. A month later she started calling each company to see if they got it. She has been calling to all companies EVERY WEEK for a whole year asking if they read it, if they like it etc. In the meantime she kept looking for more publishing houses and got to 44 companies on her list. She kept calling them until she had a proper answer YES or NO. She did not accept answers like „We will read it and will get in touch with you if we like it”, no. She asked how much time they needed to read it and said that she’ll call again to ask for the opinion. She made over 200 calls asking about the book. It lasted whole 2017. She kept hearing „NO” over and over again but she did not give up. 37th answer was „YES”. In the beginning of 2018 she found a publishing house that fell in love with her book and wanted to make it big.
Let’s call her by her real name now. It was Pola Rewako. It was me. My book is being published on February 13th after 7 years of trying to make it happen. This is my secret project i’ve been telling you about. J
Also, I will not stop here. I want to make it into a movie and translate it into English by 2021.
MAJA BLOOM
Today’s Inspirational Story will be in a form of an interview! Please see below and learn about Maja Bloom who played Carrow in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald!
Hi Maja! Welcome to Smiley Society! I’ve just seen Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and i was so excited to see you there! Well done!
Thank you. I hope people enjoy the movie! I know it’s part 2 and maybe if someone is not familiar with the whole world of Harry Potter, they may not know all the characters, or get lost in all the stories, but I hope people will still enjoy it. At the end of the day cinema, I think, it’s a form of escape, time for some relaxation and rest.
How did you react when you heard you got the part?
It was quite a long process. I had my first audition and then I thought that perhaps I did not do very well. You see, actors often question the quality of their work. It was over a month and a half later that I found out I was invited to meet the director. I then read for two parts. I asked myself later whether, after all, I got the first part that I auditioned for or maybe I lost out on that one, and instead I got the second one? So it was either my biggest failure or my biggest success – who knows? Maybe like all in life, all depends on our perception of it all? How did I react? It was kind of amazing and I felt like I ‘broke my spell’ after many castings where I was very close, but did not make it in the end. Many times you try your best and unfortunately the more you try, the keener you may be and sometimes you are too keen. What I mean is, that to give a good performance, to do your best, you have to kind of let go. I think not only in castings, but in life in general. So when I got the part, I felt like I broke my spell. I started to believe myself more earlier on that year, and I saw a result of that. It was amazing. I was actually quite new t the Harry Potter world. I didn’t realise people love it so much and it was and still is very humbling. There are people who are very attached to the characters and you become part of the story that is dear to so many readers and fans. Last year I decided to believe that, as they say, ‘the universe has my back’ and I kind of trusted it would go well, and then it happened so it was a very good feeling.
Carrow, your character, is one of Grindelwald’s „gang” so you got to spend a lot of time on the set with Johnny Depp right? How was it working with him?
Yes, I am one of Grindelwald’s gang and I spent five weeks on set working with Johnny Depp. He was a very nice guy and it was a pleasure to work with him. There are hundreds and hundreds of people on set, so sometimes we would see each other in the morning and not again until afternoon next day, because we had different things to do, make up, costume, etc. And sometimes we spent hours and hours working together and joking around in the breaks. He is very nice, humble, and simply… very normal. One day we talked about Polish mountains, for example, and a lot of other things. He is obviously a big star, but I never felt like I was working with someone inaccessible. Quite the contrary. If it wasn’t Johnny Depp I would just say he was just another great actor that I happened to work with. He’s a musician as well so we talked about music as well. It was overall a great experience.
How did you become an actress in the first place?
Gosh I wish I knew! I always loved performing. I’m not a spring chicken anymore (in my thirties) so in the past few years apart from just acting, I’ve also become a comedian and lets’s not forget first, I am a singer and songwriter, perhaps mainly as I simply cannot live without music in my life. I think I liked the idea of sharing: you can share by writing a book, a blog, a theatre play or movie script. We can share what we go through in stories we tell each other. I think that is the main thing that attracts us to art in general, movies and books and theatre and everything else. It’s about telling a story. I was told in the past that I am most probably on Asperger spectrum. I think because of it I tend to explain a lot and often I think out loud. When I am faced with fellow humans I feel like I have to explain my brain out loud (boring and crazy, I know! 🙂 and people sometimes think that I either like talking or that I am egocentric. I do indeed live in my own often crazy world but would hate to be ever anything close to egocentric, even though many actors are known to be very egocentric. And so, I guess to me it is all about sharing your story and communicating with others with the help of stories. As an actor, sometimes you have to portray someone that you don’t agree with. You can ask what it was like playing an acolyte, an evil character who at one point neutralises a lovely child (spoiler alert). You have to try to understand people from different sides. It can be difficult and painful at times, but if we understand something first then and only then we can try to change it. You have to make sense of your character and why they do what they do. It is all about watching people and watching how the human species works. I have always felt like an observer and like an alien (again, partly due to being on the Asperger spectrum), kind of watching human species from the side. I don’t actually know the exact answer to that question.
Do you have new projects/movies coming up?
I do. Some are not confirmed just yet and some are work in progress. The production of the EP of my original songs has been delayed, but I hope to work on it soon. You can check some demo recordings on my website http://www.planetmaja.com. One thing confirmed and to be released in February 2019 was a really lovely cute story we worked on in September, commissioned by The Plymouth University. It’s based on a a true story. The director, Anya Lewin is an American artist. Her grandma Ada (played by me) was a Polish Jew that spent two years in Cairo, and set up a perfume shop there with her husband. The movie talks about their time in Egypt and then return to Berlin. I play Ada, a lovely lady who had a chance to be independent in 1930s Cairo and then, when her husband finally got his job back in Berlin, had to close it all and get back to being a housewife, which was kind of sad because I guess she really wanted to achieve something of her own. It will be out in February 2019. The movie was shot in 4 different languages which was just incredible. I am trilingual myself (a Brit and a Pole in one, with family in France) and had to act in English, Polish and French. And then of course, since the movie takes place in Egypt, we also had characters and actors speaking Arabic.
Can you explain that to us – You’re both British and Polish but French as well?
I am technically, nationality-wise both British and Polish. My sister is French and so I feel connected to France too. My sister left for France when I was 15. She is my oldest sister and works as a lawyer for French government, while her wife works for French tax office. That’s why I always joke I am probably safe in France since I have contacts in high places. My nephews and niece on that side of the family were born in France, and have French nationality, and so I get to cheer on France too in all sport events. I even learned the lovely French national anthem. It is very convenient to have 3 countries to cheer on in e.g. World Cup so when one of your team loses, you just move on to the other one. I’ve lived in the UK on and off for the past 22 years and I definitely feel very British. My accent unfortunately fluctuates so it can be a bit Eastern European, when I speak to my Polish family, it can be a bit French-y especially when I visit family in Paris, and I get to play French characters sometimes, and then when I travel it can just be a mixture of all, a kind of a neutral travelling accent. I do feel British and I admit I hate when people ask me where I am from on days when my accent is less than British. Or when they ask the worst question of all: ‘…but where are you REALLY from?’ which I consider rude and racist, to be blunt. Well… I wish I knew where I was from! From my mom, and from planet Maja for sure. I was brought up in Wrocław, a lovely city in Poland, which I still consider my home city, besides London, but I have lived so long in the UK and I always felt at least partly British because of British values. And I travelled since I was 17, having worked in Asia, and last year having a partner in Switzerland and being there often as well. So I am not really sure where my home is and where I am from… Nowadays in Poland there is sadly a lot of racism and homophobia which I cannot identify with. I don’t know why, I never felt fully Polish, even though my grandad was in a way a minor war hero. He led a small battalion of young soldiers during The Warsaw Uprising of 1944. He was very Polish and he lost friends for freedom of Poland and Polish people. I think though he would be proud and happy that our family has become more than just Polish. There is nothing wrong in being just Polish, not at all, but I think it’s quite incredible that after all that Poland went through in its history, in 2018 I, his granddaughter, am also British and travel the world and worked in India or Malaysia, my sister is French living in Paris, my other sister lived in Germany and is fluent in German (she’s our family German expert), and my little brother has an Italian fiancee so he will probably have an Italian passport too one day. In that way, I always say, when we all have kids, we will have 4 difference chances for an Olympic medal… which will stay in the same family. 🙂
So nowadays you’re working as an actress, model and also a travel blogger. How do you
Ha, I wish I knew i.e I personally feel I do NOT manage it all at all! I have to prioritise and chose what is most important at the time. Sometimes I only act, e.g. when I am on set for 4 weeks non stop. Sometimes I only travel, and sometimes I take a rest from all and just plan ahead or enjoy the here and now. I have always loved travelling but despite visiting 5 continents and 36 countries, I only started on instagram 5 months ago and am very keen to start documenting my travels better and perhaps building a career around that. Acting and music will always be important for me, but travelling gives you a different perspective and some kind of rest from the world, so I would be over the moon to combine work with travelling. Thank you again for this interview request!
How to be HAPPY 