CHRIS GARDNER: BIOGRAPHY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Chris Gardner is an American entrepreneur, single father, and international speaker, author of the book The Pursuit of Happyness. This work quickly became a best-seller that was translated into more than 40 languages, including 6 Chinese dialects.

In 2006, In Pursuit of Happiness also inspired a movie bearing the same name as the book. Critics praised both the film and Will Smith's lead performance. He received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Academy Award nominations.

Angela George, via Wikimedia Commons

Later, in 2009, he published his second book, Start where you are, which was published in May 2009, just one year after the global financial crisis. This work was also successful but not quite compared to the success of her previous book.

As a lecturer, Gardner spends 200 days a year traveling the world speaking on crowded stages. Her followers are motivated by the concepts developed in her lectures: universal dream, the C-5 plan and empowerment.

Biography

Early years

Christopher Paul Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on February 9, 1954. Chris only knew his father's name - Thomas Turner - because he never took care of him. He lived all the time with his mother Bettye Jean Gardner and Freddie Triplett, his stepfather, whom his mother married when Chris was a child.

On the other hand, Chris had an older half-sister named Ophelia, the product of his mother's previous relationship with a married school teacher named Samuel Salter. He also had two other younger half-sisters born to the Triplett-Gardner union, Sharon and Kimberly.

According to her biography, living with her stepfather was not pleasant. Both Chris and his mother were frequently victims of Freddie's episodes of violence and alcoholism. He especially remembered an event in which a complaint from his stepfather sent his mother to jail for several years.

During his mother's incarceration, Chris lived with maternal uncles in Milwaukee. During this time, his aunt instilled in him an intense love of reading. Meanwhile, with his uncle Henry as a father figure, he developed the values ​​with which he grew up as a father of a family.

Professional life

Upon finishing school, Gardner took the advice of his Uncle Henry and joined the United States Navy. He was assigned to serve at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he was for a four-year term.

There he met Robert Ellis, a renowned American cardiac surgeon, who suggested that he join the research team at San Francisco Veterans Hospital. In 1974, the young Gardner left the Navy and took up the position of a clinical research assistant at the hospital.

Over the course of the next two years, Gardner performed impeccably in his position. She took over a clinical laboratory in 1976 and, at the same time, was writing medical articles together with Ellis. However, this job did not pay him enough, and he was forced to start working as a medical equipment salesman.

Change of profession

On one occasion, while working as a salesman, he saw a well-dressed man driving a Ferrari and curiosity flooded his mind. He wondered what kind of job the driver would have to have these kinds of luxuries.

Decidedly, Chris stopped the chauffeur and struck up a conversation with him. This is how he learned his name and his profession: Bob Bridges, stockbroker. As time passed, they became friends and Bridges trained Chris Gardner in the world of stock trading.

Career in the stock market

Chris Gardner tried his hand at numerous brokerage training companies. In all of them he devoted all his enthusiasm to his training. He even quit his job as a salesperson for a while to devote more time to his training.

Soon, he was hired by the New York brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds as an apprentice, without pay. During all that time he kept selling medical equipment, a job he had to take up again. In 1982, he became a full-time employee.

Five years later, he had become a skilled stockbroker, so he decided to start his own trading company: Gardner Rich & Co in Chicago, Illinois. Then in 2006 he sold all of his shares and founded Christopher Gardner International Holdings with branches in San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

Then came internationalization. Chris became involved in a business with South African investors, whose main objective was to create meaningful employment opportunities.

Personal life

On June 18, 1977, Chris Gardner married a math expert, Sherry Dyson. However, the couple had many problems while they were living together. While still married, he had an affair with a young woman named Jackie, from whose relationship Christopher Jarrett Medina Gardner Jr. was born in 1981.

After breaking up with his wife, Chris moved to live with Jackie, and four years after the birth of their first child, they had a daughter whom they named Jacintha, although this relationship also failed. Gardner was accused of physical violence and took responsibility for his son despite the limitations of the breakup with his wife.

This part of his life corresponded to the training period in the securities brokerage company. Then, he had to face economic hardship, lack of food and homelessness in the company of his son. The experience of that part of his life was the subject of his book and, later, of the film.

Social commitment

Having suffered poverty and abuse as a child, Chris Gardner has taken it upon himself to provide homes and a decent standard of living for the underprivileged. It financially helps organizations like the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church of San Francisco in California, which provides shelter for the homeless.

In the same way, he is a member of the board of directors of the National Fatherhood Initiative. This is a non-profit organization that aims to improve the well-being of children through the promotion of responsible parenthood.

References

1. Chris Gardner. (s / f). I'm Chris Gardner. I'm an Entrepreneur, Single Parent and the Author of the 'Pursuit of Happiness.' Taken from chrisgardnermedia.com.
2. Gordon, D. (2016, December 05). Chris Gardner: The homeless man who became a multi-millionaire investor. Taken from bbc.com.
3. Gardner, C. (2009). The Pursuit of Happiness. New York: Harper Collins.
4. The famous People. (2017, October 04). Chris Gardner Biography. Taken from thefamouspeople.com.
5. Lynn Yang, J. (2006, September 15). 'Happyness' for sale. Taken from money.cnn.com.