Kat Cole

This Hooters waitress got into an MBA program without a college degree and ran Cinnabon by the time she was 32.

At 17, Kat Cole was working as a hostess at Hooters.

Kat had watched her mother leave an abusive marriage, raise three daughters on her own, and work around the clock to make ends meet.

At Hooters, she said yes to everything.

Waitressing, cooking, managing, training.

She learned the business from the inside out.

By 19, she was on a flight to Australia to open the company’s first international franchise.

Soon, she was traveling across continents, helping the brand scale globally.

She’d enrolled in college to study engineering.

But her job kept pulling her away.

Eventually, she made the call: drop out.

Go all-in.

She moved to Atlanta and took a full-time training role.

At 26, she was named Vice President of Hooters.

She helped grow the business from 100 locations to 500.

From $300M to $1B in revenue.

She’d built a global business.

But she still didn’t have a degree.

A mentor called her out: “In restaurants, your rep is gold. But if you ever want to work in tech, finance, or health, you won’t get past HR.”

So Kat found a workaround.

She cold-emailed ten CEOs, asked them for letters of recommendation, took the GMAT, and got into Georgia State’s Executive MBA program.

Without a bachelor’s degree.

While attending night and weekend classes, she took on a new role: President of Cinnabon.

The brand was in decline.

She stepped in and turned it around.

Over the next three years:
– 200 new stores
– Strategic partnerships with Taco Bell and Burger King
– Grocery expansion
– International growth to 56 countries
– Sales surged to $1B annually

She made cinnamon rolls relevant again.

She also became the youngest CEO to appear on Undercover Boss, working shifts in truck stops and malls without anyone recognizing her.

In 2015, she was promoted again, this time to Group President at Focus Brands.

She led operations for Jamba, Auntie Anne’s, Moe’s, Carvel, McAlister’s Deli, Schlotzsky’s and more.

Led two massive restructuring efforts to set the company up for scale.

And represented the company to the board and private equity sponsors.

She was one of the most powerful operators in food and franchise.

Then in 2021, the founder of AG1 (Athletic Greens) heard her on a podcast.

He reached out. She joined as President and COO.

And in 2024, she became CEO.