Get Your Own Coffee: Underestimated, Overlooked, and Now the Boss

Suzanne Hopgood was eleven when she got her first real job bussing tables at her parents' hotel in New Hampshire. By seventeen, she was running the place. That's when a chef threw a knife that barely missed her head because she'd forgotten to include turkey on the menu. It wouldn't be the last time she had to duck and weave in her career.

In Get Your Own Coffee, Hopgood takes readers through her journey from that small-town beginning to chairing multiple corporate boards, including a NYSE company during what became known as Director Magazine's article, "Board from Hell." Along the way, she shows how she navigated a business world where the rules for women weren't just different--they were kept secret until you broke them.

When her first boss told her, "You will always be underestimated. Use it to your advantage," she couldn't have known how valuable that advice would become. She's had a boss grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and carry her into a business meeting. She's been fired for refusing a boss's late-night advances at her condo. She's been fired for "insubordination." She's watched male colleagues take credit for her ideas while ignoring her voice at the table.

But she also became Chair/CEO after the proxy contest that The Wall Street Journal called "The Shot Heard Round the World," fired executives who thought she didn't have the authority, and slammed her files on the table before walking out of negotiations--only to have the deal she wanted waiting when she returned.

Between the corporate battles, Hopgood shares the joy she found with her husband Frank during their forty years together, biking through Southeast Asia, navigating the streets of Moscow and São Paulo, and finding laughter even in his final days.

She learned that getting ahead doesn't mean playing by other people's rules. Sometimes, you have to create your own--and sometimes, you just have to be bold enough to take a stand.

Author: Suzanne Hopgood
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
Published: 10/21/2025
Pages: 188
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.30d
ISBN: 9798891880955

About the Author
Rising from a small-town upbringing in Littleton, New Hampshire, where she bussed tables at her parents' hotel, SUZANNE HOPGOOD entered the business world at a time when women were only expected to be nurses, teachers, or secretaries. Instead, she forged a path through banking and real estate, where she learned that being consistently underestimated could become her greatest strategic advantage.

Her expertise in hotel and corporate crisis management led her to found The Hopgood Group, through which she worked with major financial institutions like John Hancock and Mellon Bank. In 1998, she made headlines when institutional investors elected her as Chair and CEO of Furr's Restaurant Group Inc.

Hopgood's governance expertise extended to chairing multiple corporate boards and serving as Managing Director of Board Advisory Services for the National Association of Corporate Directors. Her work took her around the world, speaking on corporate governance in Moscow, Hong Kong, Beijing, and South America.

Beyond her corporate career, Hopgood served for ten years as the Governor-appointed Chair of Hartford's Capital Region Development Authority, overseeing the development of three thousand apartments in downtown Hartford with a 92 percent occupancy rate.

Now retired, Hopgood divides her time between her hometown of Littleton, New Hampshire, Hartford, Connecticut, and Thailand, where she continues to travel extensively.