When “Shark Tank” mogul Daymond John says he owes his success to his mother, it’s not just a figure of speech -- he really does.
Way back when, Daymond’s clothing company FUBU was just getting off the ground and he got an order for $300,000 worth of products. Great, right? Problem is, no one would give him a loan. In came his mother Margot, who mortgaged her Queens, New York house in order to get him the capital he needed.
She believed in him so much that he didn’t even need to ask. “She was the one who came up with the idea,” he tells Rach.
That wasn’t the first time Margot sacrificed for her son in a big way.
As a single mother, she worked two and even three jobs in order to give him the best life possible. She saved up her money so that she could send him on trips to different cities every summer so he could see other ways of life. And when he was held back in 7th grade, she hired a babysitter so make sure he stayed home all summer as a punishment.
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Daymond says that the crack epidemic hit his neighborhood hard, and many of his friends were involved in that scene. He said it was hard avoiding it, but he had a great mom to help keep him on the right path. “She made me feel so loved, and like there was nothing in the world that could stop me from what I was doing, as long as I listened to her,” he tells Rach.
The biggest lesson she ever taught him? “That I was always responsible for my actions,” Daymond says.
So what was he like as a kid? “Daymond was a little mischievous and he was always figuring out legitimate ways he could make money,” his mom tells Rach. “Plus, he was really responsible and always knew how to handle money.”
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“I didn’t have much of it so we had to make it stretch,” Daymond chimes in.
Watch the video below to see the super-tight mom and son play a game of “Mama Knows Best,” in which Margot has to guess Daymond’s responses to a number of questions. (Spoiler -- she knows her son really, really well!) Plus, check out Rach’s Mother’s Day surprise for Margot.
