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Fortune
Fortune
Sydney Lake

Lowe's CEO used to make $4.35 an hour working at Target. His secret to climbing the corporate ladder was volunteering for jobs 'nobody else wanted'

Marvin Ellison speaks at an on-stage panel (Credit: Al Drago / Bloomberg—Getty Images)

Some professionals got their start working in retail—but not nearly as many of those same workers made it all the way to the top of a Fortune 500 company. But Marvin Ellison did. 

Ellison got his start making just $4.35 per hour working part-time at Target while he was in college at the University of Memphis. Now he’s president, CEO, and chairman of Lowe’s, a $161 billion home-improvement giant and one of only 10 Black Fortune 500 CEOs. That’s just 2% of the entire group.

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