Before Brian Williams was the Emmy-winning anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," he struggled to find a job after dropping out of college.
Now earning a reported $10 million annual salary, Williams went bankrupt in his early 20s after "a failed experiment in local news."
It wasn't until a news director in Washington, D.C., took a chance on him that Williams resumed his on-air career years later.
MediabistroTV spoke to Williams, 55, about his big break and success after failure.
Growing up in New Jersey it was "very clear all along that I had to work, I had to support myself. I was working a series of jobs and I had an epiphany [after dropping out of GWU] that I had to at least try something that I always wanted to try."
"My late mother always used to say about people on local news in New York, 'I think you could do better than some of these people.' I don't know what she based that on, but I loaded up what few belongings I had and moved to Pittsburg, Kansas."
"I worked at a small television station for 13 months and started making $168 a week for a seven-day work week."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider