Michael J. Coles and Catherine Lewis, “Time to Get Tough”

In Conversation with Catherine Lewis, Co-Author and Professor of History, Kennesaw State University

Sponsored by the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Community Partner: Hillels of Georgia

Michael J. Coles, co-founder of the Great American Cookie Company and the former CEO of Caribou Coffee, did not follow a conventional path into business. He does not have an Ivy League pedigree or an MBA from a top-ten business school. He grew up poor, starting work at the age of 13. He had many false starts and painful defeats, but Coles has a habit of defying expectations. His life and career have been about turning obstacles into opportunities, tragedies into triumphs, and poverty into philanthropy.

In Time to Get Tough, Coles explains how he started a $100-million company with only $8,000, overcame a near-fatal motorcycle accident, ran for the U.S. Congress, and set three transcontinental cycling world records.