Its always good to see someone you know hit the jackpot. Its even better when they actually deserve it.
Denis Simioni, who we’ll call my cousin because he’s one of those friends of the family that I didn’t even find out I WASN’T related to until I was about 13. Denis and his brother Frank were the type of kids that always had a smile on their face, and though they were much older than me never used that advantage to scar my childhood. I always found that nice.
Denis was a very talented young artist, always at his drawing table. One day he drew a sketch of me as Mr.T. and I loved it.(yes this story is circa 1985). I had it for a long time, and I’ve been looking for it for the past 10 years, if I find it i’ll post it. Its one of those things that get lodged in your memory and I think even if I get Alzheimer’s later in life I’ll still remember that picture. Denis went off to school, hated it from what I hear and dropped out to start his own graphic design company. He worked his ass off and started making a name for himself in the beauty industry. Fast forward perhaps 10 years and he’s now sold his 2nd company, Ojon Corp. (www.ojon.com) to Estee Lauder for an undisclosed amount. Note: when they say “undisclosed” it usually means “we don’t want anyone to know how much money they threw at us”
Check out these great articles in the Globe and Mail and the Hamilton Spectator for the full story, its a great read. In the spectator article there’s even a picture of Denis’ brother and COO(Chief Operating Officer) Frank.
For a more indepth history of the products and Denis miraculous discovery of the Tawira tribe in Honduras, visit the OJON website to see the UNBELIEVABLE story behind Ojon and why its one of the best business stories around. Like the article says, it really does read like a modern day Indiana Jones.
Oh ya…and go out and buy some too. I bought some Ojon products for my ex-girlfriend because she had really long hair and wanted to fix all of her split ends, make it shinier, and other things that I still don’t understand. She fell in love with it. That’s probably not the strongest recommendation the product’s received, but it’ll have to do.
And by the way, the woman in the ad above is Denis’ wife. They say that behind every successful man is a great woman, and that being said, I happen to be taking any and all applications for great women.