Self-Made Cinderella

It’s rare to hear of a business leader who was once a Hooters waitress. Or a girl whose family survived being fed on $10 a week, for a while. Or who got her start selling clothes in a mall.

Kat Cole, now president of Cinnabon Inc. did all of the above.

(Click here to read her exclusive profile!)

Today she’s laying the groundwork to reach her goal of doubling annual consumer revenue to turn Cinnabon into a billion-dollar global food brand. Her success record started at age 19 when for Hooters, she opened restaurants in every continent (except Antarctica) – by her 28th birthday.

Just back from a nonprofit mission, teaching people at an elderly homeless center in Ethiopia to cook Cinnabon-like snacks they can sell, Cole tells Little PINK Book how her difficult childhood led to her sweet success today.

LPB: What’s your success secret?
KC: Being respectful, bold, curious, and having an insatiable sense of urgency. I use what I learned as a young person in business. Success is just an equation. You need a combination of time, capital, talent and connections. If you don’t have one of those, you just need more of the others.

LPB: What’s your biggest pet peeve?
KC: People who don’t realize they are capable of more. I came from a background that could have created limitations to my professional success. I had a single mom and a father who battled alcoholism. I helped my mom raise my younger sisters. I didn’t see people going to college. Yet, we turned out fine. So, when someone says, ‘It can’t be done, or ‘we don’t have the resources we need,’ I say: That’s not good enough. We can always figure something out.

Read more…

By Cynthia Good

“Success has little to do with resources.
It is driven by how badly you want something.”
Kat Cole