Born on 9 February 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, Christopher Gardner a.k.a. Chris Gardner had a very rough childhood and upbringing. In 2006, Chris’s life story was adapted into one of the most iconic movies ‘The Pursuit of Happyness” starring ‘Will Smith’. The movie was critically acclaimed and had a powerful storyline to connect to the audience.
For the first time, the world that was unaware of Chris and his rags-to-riches story came to know of his existence. Garner and his siblings constantly suffered abuse at the hands of his stepfather. Changing foster parents, Garner was at the mercy of the lord. His childhood was unstable, having his biological father not present with him.
“The world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls.”
Chris got married to Sherry Dyson in 1977, but after 3 months of an affair, the marriage was called off when he was found involved in an extramarital affair with a woman, who was pregnant with his child.
In 1981, Chris fathered a child and named him Christopher Gardner Jr. During the birth of his first child, he used to work as a research lab assistant at UCSF. The pay rate was not sufficient for him to maintain the daily expenses of his growing family. He left the job and became a medical equipment salesman.
“You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.”
Gardener was committed to living a sustainable life that would involve so much of hardships and struggles. One fine day, a person came into life and changed his career path forever. He met a man in a red Ferrari who inspired him to be a stockbroker. It cost the gardener a painful divorce, homelessness, eviction and jail to become one of the most influential stockbrokers ever. In 1987, Christopher Gardener started his brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in 1987 and the rest is history.
This part of my life… this part right here? This is called “happyness.”
Voxcel aims to impart not only world-class IELTS coaching but also we look forward to develop the overall personality of our students.