Peace, love and happiness fill the life of John Paul DeJoria, aka JP. If you didn’t know, he is one of the richest men in the world standing on an empire worth billions. And guess what? He calls Central Texas home.
OK, let’s catch you up on the life and times of JP just in case you bump into him sometime.
JP is the poster guy for the American dream of rising up from humble beginnings on the West Coast. He began working early in life to help support his family. As a kid, he slung newspapers, did a stint in a Los Angeles street gang and eventually made his way to the Navy.
After serving our country, JP continued working odd jobs and was even homeless at times to make ends meet. He pumped gas, did janitorial services and sold all sorts of products from encyclopedias to life insurance – whatever it took to keep food on the table.
He eventually hooked up with hair stylist Paul Mitchell, and with a loan of $700, they founded John Paul Mitchell Systems.
Fast-forward 30-plus years, and John Paul Mitchell Systems now produces more than 90 products sold through 90,000 hair salons across the United States and in 45 countries worldwide with annual retail sales of a billion dollars.
JP also launched the Patrón Spirits Company, now the maker of one of the best-selling premium tequilas on the market.
He is a philanthropist who supports numerous medical causes and others that protect animals and the environment. He has six children and is married to Eloise Broady, the beautiful spokesmodel for John Paul Mitchell Systems and former Playboy playmate.
OK, now that you know a little more about JP, we can get back to his mantra of peace, love and happiness. I got a chance to sit down with JP one-on-one and talk about his life, particularly about an annual Austin motorcycle ride for charity called PLH, which is short for Peace, Love and Happiness.
I have known JP for about five years now, and I am always astounded at how humble a guy he is. We first met when I was anchoring the morning news in Austin. Gary Spellman, a friend and business associate of JP’s, approached me to help promote the PLH charity ride. Well, since it was for charity and I love motorcycles, it was a natural fit.
When I asked JP about how the ride started, he said, “It’s around my birthday, and instead of doing something for me, I wanted to do something for others, so Gary and I decided on some local charities and got the ball rolling. Success unshared is failure, and when you are fortunate, you can contribute either time or money to changing the world, and we do a little of both with the PLH ride.”
Oh, did I forget to mention that JP loves motorcycles and has a few of his own?
“When you get out on the open road with a motorcycle, it’s you and nature with the wind in your face,” he said. “It takes it to a whole new level, especially if you can do that with friends. When you are on a bike, you have to pay attention. It makes you focus on the here and now, and that’s pretty Zen.”
JP brings in a lot of talented people for the PLH ride, including the original easy rider Peter Fonda, who makes it a point to visit Austin to ride alongside JP for the PLH ride.
“We have so many people [who] ride with us, including John Paul Mitchell Systems teams from around the country to celebrities and friends like Peter, Robbie Knievel, even Robin Leach, who drove a 67 Caddy during the first PLH and Texas Gov. Rick Perry,” JP said.
JP and Eloise love Central Texas.
“I moved here to Austin for family values,” JP said. “We looked over the whole world considering where we wanted to raise our youngest son, and we picked Austin, Texas, because of the family values. There are some of the best schools in the country here, and it’s been really good for our family.”
On his sprawling Austin ranch, JP enjoys some of the fruits of his labors.
“I have an earth roamer out here that can go through any kind of terrain on the planet up to 900 miles without refueling,” he said. “I love exploring my Austin ranch and seeing the 12 herds of wild game that are mostly endangered species; going to sleep at night without worrying about paying the bills in the morning, [which] is fun because that worry sucked for so long; hanging with my pals; and making people happy – helping them by sharing some of my time and resources.
“My mother, she gave me and my brother a dime, and we put it in the bucket of the Salvation Army. We are talking about the early ‘50s, and a dime was a lot of money back then: three candy bars, two big Cokes! When we asked her why, she told us there is always someone worse off than we are, so no matter how much or how little we give, let’s always remember that in life. Today our businesses are inundated with philanthropy requests. We can’t support them all, but we are always very happy to help those that we can.
“My advice to young entrepreneurs today is the golden rule ... If you want to stay in business for a long time and you want to be successful, do onto others as you would have them do unto you. Period!”
JP promotes peace in the world through philanthropy, enjoys love with friends and family and is rewarded with overall happiness because he never loses sight of his own life experiences and how important it is to share success.
Celebrating his birthday by giving back to local charities with the PLH ride is a fitting example of the man behind a multi-billion-dollar empire built from the ground up.
So if a cool-looking bearded guy on a brass chopper blows by you with a gorgeous blonde on the back, it’s probably JP and Eloise enjoying a moment of freedom in the here and now.
For more information, visit www.paulmitchell.com.
While NSIDE Publications officially adheres to Associated Press guidelines, exceptions were allowed in this piece as a matter of style.
