From Textbooks to Triple Crème

In the fall of 2003, Petra Cooper was president of McGraw-Hill Ryerson Higher Education in Toronto, then a $47 million unit of McGraw-Hill. At 41, she was comfortable, successful -- and bored. The industry was being turned upside down by digital media, and a once-growth-oriented job was now all about cutting costs. Rather than making an impulsive switch, Cooper stayed put at McGraw-Hill, using vacations to study cheesemaking, taking online microbiology courses, and starting an artisanal cheese society, which helped her network. By June 2005 she was ready. By the end of 2009, Cooper had 14 employees and $1 million in revenue.