How Did I Get Here?

Russell Simmons

Producer and entrepreneur
  • Education
  • August Martin High School, Jamaica, New York, class of 1975
  • City College of New York
  • Work Experience
  • 1979–84
    Music manager
  • 1984–98
    Co-founder, Def Jam Recordings
  • 1992–2004
    Founder and chief executive officer, Phat Fashions
  • 1995–Present
    Co-founder and chairman, RUSH Philanthropic Arts Foundation
  • 2003–Present
    Co-founder, UniRush
  • 2007–Present
    Author
  • 2007–14
    Founder and chairman, Global Grind
  • 2007–Present
    Founder, Simmons Design Group
  • 2013–Present
    Co-founder, Narrative
  • 2013–Present
    Operating chairman, All Def Digital
  • Life Lessons
  • “You can’t fail till you quit.”
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  • “Block out 20 minutes every morning for meditation.”
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  • “I worked at Orange Julius. I served hot dogs and stuff. I didn’t know better then—I’m vegan now.”
  • “I went for four years and studied sociology, because it was the easiest thing I could find. I didn’t graduate.”
  • “We signed the Beastie Boys all the way through Kanye.”
  • With kids at RUSH Foundation, 2010
  • “It’s the leading online destination for celebrity entertainment, music, culture, and politics for the new, post-racial America. We just sold it.”
  • Argyleculture bow tie
    “I have a lot of fun designing clothes for Argyleculture and Tantris, our yoga line.”
  • With daughters Aoki and Ming Lee during the Bombay Sapphire Art for Life event, 2014
  • “I was managing Kurtis Blow, Houdini, Jimmy Spicer, Run-DMC, and a bunch of others. I knew what to do because it was natural: protect and brand them.”
  • “Tommy Hilfiger put me in the business in the first place. He gave me direction and helped me out.”
  • “I got friends in the ’hood who get their check, get online to pay their bills, and are locked out of the banking industry. They needed an alternative.”
  • “This is where I go to work every day—my film and TV companies run out of here. I have 11 pictures set up in Hollywood. I am Hollywood.”
  • With Oprah, 2014
  • With Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin, 1987