From Jim Crow to CEO

“Most stories out of Flint are not for the faint of heart. It’s a once-great city that has been whipsawed by global economic trends, political malfeasance, and de-industrialization. Yet the underlying spirit of the city somehow endures, and that spirit is captured in the story of Willie Artis. On one level, it’s an in-depth portrait of an entrepreneur. But to call this a business book would be selling it short. It’s really the story of someone succeeding at life in a place all too often defined by failure.” —Gordon Young, author of Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City “We should all be thankful for Willie's commitment, dedication, and support!” —Dave Bing, Bing Youth Institute and former Mayor of Detroit “Willie Artis lives a genuine American success story. From a childhood of hardship in the segregated South to founding his own business and, eventually, dinners at the White House, he forged a life his ancestors could never have imagined...From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin forward, the success-memoir has always been about more than mere worldly advancement...What more could readers hope for than this fascinating account of a life well-lived?” --Tom Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor