Joe L. Dudley, Sr.*

One of 11 children, Joe Dudley was raised in a three-room farmhouse in Aurora, North Carolina. He suffered a severe speech impediment, failed the first grade, and was labeled mentally retarded by his teachers. But his mother never gave up on him and always told him she believed in him.

Dudley lived on a farm with his parents, grandfather, and 10 siblings. Their small house burned to the ground when Dudley was young. But rather than succumb to the tragic loss, Dudley's parents urged their children to seek something that couldn't be taken away from them: an education. Often, however, the crops took precedence over school. If it was harvest time, Dudley did not go to school unless it was raining. "Sometimes, school would be in session for five or six weeks before we had a chance to enroll," he says.

Although his older brothers and sisters did well in school, Dudley struggled. His younger sister caught up with him in school, passed him by, and went off to college. Finally, Dudley decided he wanted to improve himself and his chances in life. He began by re-reading his elementary school books. "I started with first grade and went all the way up to the 10th grade," he says.

After high school, Dudley attended North Carolina A&T State University, majoring in poultry science. To help pay his tuition, he collected eggs and fed the chickens on the university's farm. He also did domestic chores for a professor on weekends. In the summer of 1957, he became a door-to-door salesman for Fuller Products and changed his major to business administration to sharpen his sales skills.

After graduation, Dudley and his wife, Eunice, moved to New York, where he continued to sell Fuller Products for five years. During that time, he met S. B. Fuller, who became his friend and mentor. In 1967, the couple moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, and opened their own Fuller Products distributorship. At night, they began concocting their own products, packaging them in old mayonnaise jars and empty containers collected from beauty operators. By 1976, they had opened a chain of beauty supply stores, beauty salons, and a beauty college bearing the Dudley name.

Dudley later moved to Chicago and took over as president of Fuller Products, and then he moved back to Greensboro in 1984 to continue building his own business.

A nationally recognized humanitarian, Dudley sponsors several scholarships to his alma mater. He also conducts classes that promote business entrepreneurship. Dudley says he shares the Horatio Alger Association's commitment to helping deserving youth receive a college education. "I think the keys to success are desire and persistence," he says. "Success is a journey, not a destination."