Michelle Sassoon is the Chief Operating Officer of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a business that she and her husband set up in 1996 when they chanced upon the company in California, USA. The Sassoons were the first to franchise the store outside California and it was an instant success. Today, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf employs about 700 people in Singapore and has a total of 78 outlets in Singapore and Malaysia.

Furthermore, rather than setting their sights on Asia alone, the Sassoons have taken over The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf business worldwide. It is the world's largest privately-held specialty coffee operation with over 475 stores globally including regions like Australia, Brunei, China, Egypt, Israel, Indonesia, Korea, the Middle East, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Apart from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, the Sassoons have been responsible for spearheading numerous lifestyle concepts in Singapore and Asia.

Michelle has dealt with a diversity of industries from entertainment and show business to lifestyle apparel and accessories retailing, right through to luxury watch retailing and distribution. In the early 1990s, under the SunVic Group, Michelle focused on entertainment and introduced over 50 acts in Singapore. These included big stars like Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Alanis Morissette. SunVic also launched its own production, the mammoth opera Aida in Singapore. In terms of fashion watch retailing, SunVic is responsible for brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Jennifer Lopez and Anne Klein. Under the family's Rubina Group, the Sassoons are involved in luxury names like Cartier, Rolex, LVMH and Richemont brands. They also have a stake in Corum Singapore, covering markets in Southeast Asia, South Asia and IndoChina. Michelle has also been at the forefront of luxury watch retailing and distribution in Indonesia through the company, Time Place International.

As a highly successful entrepreneur and businesswoman, Michelle's work philosophy is based on integrity, hard work and consistency. She holds fast to the principle of treating others the way she would like to be treated and believes in giving her staff a sense of ownership in their work and helping them realise their fullest potential. Michelle is a dynamic, lively and positive personality and has been successful in achieving both a highly successful career as well as maintaining a rich family life.

Michelle's entrepreneurial spirit can be attributed in part to her family's business endeavours. Her grandfather started the clothing store Hilda's in Singapore and Malaysia. Michelle spent many long hours learning the ropes of the business and dealing with customers, despite the fact that she was just a young student then. Another strong influence in her life is her husband, Victor Daniel Sassoon, who is CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Through her husband, Michelle has learnt how to grow from her mistakes and to cut her losses at the earliest opportunity. Michelle takes failures in her stride and believes there is always something to be learnt from every experience. Rather than to get emotionally attached to the experience, one must have the strength and ability to move on. This she believes is the mark of a true entrepreneur.

In order to succeed in business, Michelle believes in passion, creativity, a clear sense of direction and the ability to communicate clearly. She recognises that recruiting and training is an ongoing process and that the only thing constant in a business is change. As such, most important for Michelle is to be able to set up a system that can accommodate and thrive amidst change.

Michelle has been instrumental in the success of her family's business ventures to date and dares to try as many different things as possible. She believes that the lack of knowledge should not be an impediment to exploring new ground, because everything can be learnt and with perseverance comes success.

Michelle has been recently nominated to the Young Presidents Organisation. She is an avid reader and prioritises her Saturday afternoons to reading a wide variety of books, from fiction to non-fiction, as well as management books and business articles. She enjoys cooking, music and travelling with her family, involving activities like skiing, snorkelling and diving. She has a deep appreciation for culture and the arts. But above all else, Michelle's greatest satisfaction in life is her five children. Through them, she has learnt to see things in different perspectives. She is forced to leave her cares behind and finds great joy in building a strong relationship with them.