Grant Cardone was born on March 21, 1958 in Lake Charles, LA. His father was Curtis Louis Cardone (Deceased February 1968) and his mother was Concetta Neil Cardone (Deceased May 26, 2009). He is the fourth out of five children. His eldest sister, Pam Scott is an educational fundraiser in Cyprus, TX. His next oldest sister, Diane Cardone, currently resides in Lake Charles, LA and is self-employed. His older brother, Curtis Cardone (deceased 1978), was a petroleum engineer. Grant Cardone has a twin brother, Gary Cardone, who is five minutes younger than Cardone.
Grant Cardone graduated from La Grange High School in Lake Charles, LA in 1976. He then went to McNeese State University from 1976-1981 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting. Cardone was recently awarded the McNeese State University Distinguished Alumnus Award 2010.
Cardone moved from Lake Charles, LA in 1987 to Chicago, IL, working for a company that did sales training. Although he technically lived in Chicago, he traveled all over the United States, living in different cities. Grant briefly returned to Lake Charles, before moving to Houston, TX, where he lived for the next five years. He then spent the next 12 years in La Jolla, CA before finally moving to Los Angeles, CA where he has resided since 2003. His home was featured on “How’d You Get So Rich?” where Joan Rivers toured the home and talked to Grant about his story to success.
Cardone is married to actress Elena Lyons. In his book, Sell to Survive, Cardone describes how he met Lyons on the set of a commercial. He also titled the chapter “The Biggest Sale of My Life.” Cardone says he immediately fell in love. Lyons on the other hand didn’t reciprocate the feelings. Cardone describes how he pursued Lyons (in his book he describes it as having to sell himself to her) for thirteen months before she finally agreed to go out with him. They were married a year later. Cardone and Lyons gave birth to their first child, Sabrina, on May 21, 2009.
Early Tragedy
Cardone talks about how the loss of his father at the age of nine and the loss of his brother at the age of 20 were huge influences for who he was to become. Cardone saw his mother struggling with limited savings to raise five children as a single mother. Cardone says that when he had to deal with the death of his brother it only served to cement his resolve to ensure that his family would never have to deal with the insecurities that he watched his mother struggle with.