Daymond John

Daymond Garfield John, born February 23, 1969, is an American businessman, investor, author, and television personality. He is best known as the founder and chief executive officer of FUBU, a long-standing investor on the ABC reality series Shark Tank, and the founder and chief executive officer of The Shark Group.

John was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and raised in Hollis, Queens. He attended Catholic school for seven years and began working at age ten following his parents' divorce. In high school, he participated in an alternating work and school program that built his entrepreneurial mindset. After high school, he ran a commuter van service and waited tables at Red Lobster.

In 1992, John founded FUBU in his mother's home in Queens. Working with his mother and a neighbor, he sewed wool ski hats and sold them on Jamaica Avenue, making $800 in one day. He recruited friends J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin, added the FUBU logo to sportswear, and secured product placements in music videos. In 1993, rapper LL Cool J wore a FUBU hat in a Gap commercial. After receiving $300,000 in orders at a 1994 trade show, John and his mother mortgaged their home, placed an advertisement in The New York Times, and reached a production deal with Samsung Textiles. FUBU ultimately generated over $6 billion in global sales and was featured at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

In 2009, John joined ABC's reality business show Shark Tank. By May 2017, he had invested over $8.5 million of his own money into featured companies. His notable investments include Bombas socks—which reached over $1 billion in sales—Bubba's-Q Boneless Ribs, and Sun-Staches. He also mentored young entrepreneur Moziah Bridges of Mo's Bows, leading to a licensing deal with the NBA.

John is the founder and chief executive officer of The Shark Group, a brand management, consulting, and speaking agency in Miami. In 2015, he co-founded an entrepreneurial education program later rebranded as Next Level Success. In 2020, he created Black Entrepreneurs Day, an annual event at Harlem's Apollo Theater held in partnership with the NAACP to highlight Black business owners.

An international public speaker, John is also the author of five books, including Display of Power, The Brand Within, The Power of Broke, Rise and Grind, and Little Daymond Learns to Earn, several of which achieved bestseller status on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal lists. His media appearances include competing on season eight of The Masked Singer in 2022 and serving as a guest narrator for Disney's Candlelight Processional.

John's accomplishments have earned him awards such as Brandweek Marketer of the Year, two NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Awards, Ernst & Young's New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and two Congressional Achievement Awards for Entrepreneurship. In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed him to the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship initiative.