Homeless Waitress to Millionaire in Two Years

Dani Johnson grew up on welfare. She was pregnant with her first child at 17, and by 21 she had no home. Fortune describes her as a broke and homeless cocktail waitress at that point in her life.

She recalls hard evenings during her time on welfare, including nights when there was little to eat. In one interview she recalled getting home at nine at night and having popcorn for dinner.

Her break came through selling. She began with a weight-loss product that she sold from the trunk of her car, and she became a millionaire by 23, a couple of years after she had no home. Later she expanded into services around relationships, finances and personal growth.

Johnson is the chief executive of Destiny Global, has written several bestselling books and has appeared on many television shows. She was a featured participant in the ABC reality series Secret Millionaire, which places self-made millionaires in some of the country's poorest areas to find and reward unsung community heroes. For a week she hid her identity and lived on 40 dollars, in a one-bedroom apartment in the Western Heights neighbourhood of Knoxville, Tennessee. Fortune also reports that she gives away over a million dollars each month to help children in need around the world.

Taken together, the two accounts describe a path from a childhood on welfare, through a period at 21 with no home, to a business she built in a couple of years. Oprah.com presents her today as a business owner, a bestselling author and a motivational speaker.