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“During the years I was with Andy Kirk we starved almost. I remember not eating for practically a month several times. But we were very, very happy because the music was so interesting, and you forgot to eat, anyway.”

–Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was born on May 10, 1910, in Atlanta, Georgia, as Mary Elfreda Winn. She never knew her father until she was in her twenties. Her mother drank and worked doing a lot of laundry to support the kids. Her mother also liked to play the reed organ and kept Mary there while she

For some, diplomas are (barely) worth the paper they’re printed on. These star entrepreneurs jumped right in.

While the rest of us were negotiating curfews and cramming for the SATs, some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs ditched high school to start building their fortunes.

Many did it out of necessity; others had a mentor (or at least a backer looking to piggyback on their success). All, however, had a demon drive to build something of their own. Even at a young age, that commitment and passion can win over investors.

“Investors really look at the person and the quality of his or her idea more than their experience,” says Brad Burke, managing director of Rice University’s Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, which incubates new companies.

For all the new entrepreneurship programs popping up at business schools, there will always be a slew of born entrepreneurs who prove that high school diplomas, let

Beyonce Knowles is finally breaking her silence about Kanye West storming the stage at the VMAs to declare that she should have won Best Female Video instead of Taylor Swift.

“Well, I knew his intentions, and I knew he was standing up for art; and he told me before, when they said the nominees, he’s like, ‘You have this award,’” Beyonce, 28, told O: The Oprah magazine editor at large Gayle King (via MTV News) at the Billboard Awards over the weekend, when she was named Woman of the Year.

See what the stars wore to the MTV VMAs

“When they didn’t call my name, he was, like, completely shocked,” Knowles says. “And when he walked on the stage, I was like, ‘No, no, no!’ and then he spoke, and I was like, ‘Oh, no, no, no!’”

Knowles — who handed the mic over to Swift after winning Video of the Year later that