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 that connected with the audience.
The world, unaware of Chris and his rags-to-riches story, came to know of his existence for the first time. Garner and his siblings constantly suffered abuse at the hands of his stepfather. Changing foster parents, Gardner was at the mercy of the lord. His childhood was unstable, and his biological father was 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 worked as a research lab assistant at UCSF. The pay rate was not sufficient for him to maintain the daily expenses of his growing family, so 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 involving many hardships and struggles. One fine day, a person came into life and changed his career 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.”
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