Russell Simmons is a legend. He may be a bit of a controversial figure (sorry, Russell, it’s true) but that only makes working for him that much more interesting…and better, in my opinion. Boring never got anyone anywhere.
Anyway, today is his birthday (he’s officially 56) but thanks to yoga, meditation and that wonderful vegan diet he likes to tweet about, he doesn’t seem a day over 30, or maybe even younger (but with the wisdom of someone twice his age). Basically, if we could all be like Russell at 56, we’d probably want to live forever. But since we can’t be him, working for him is kinda just as good.
Here’s why.
He’s funny as shit and extremely insightful – and he’s reachable. Do you know how important that is? Yeah, you’re working for a celebrity, but you’re not running around doing petty stuff. He may call the shots but he trusts us to actually do our job. And you get like 30 years of his experience to learn from.
It may be stressful because I don’t think he ever sleeps, or takes weekends off, and who knows what time zone he’s working from on any given day, but I guess when you’re a designer, yogi, entrepreneur, a father and family man, a philanthropist, mentor, vegan (I’ve tried it…don’t know how you do it) an author, brother, an uncle, of course…
and an all-around boss, sleep has to come second. So that guy on TV that curses a lot but also meditates and seems super zen all the time? That’s really him. Seriously.
And here’s a shameless plug for his new YouTube venture, All Def Digital – he can totally laugh at all the bullshit, including himself, and that’s a quality I’ve learned is soo fucking important…
So, Happy Birthday, Russell! Now here are a bunch of pictures of you that everyone needs to see…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images, Splash News
