WEST LIBERTY, WV – Grant Coleman is an alumnus of West Liberty University, graduating in May of 2013 with a degree in Organizational Leadership and Administration in the Business Department.
Coleman began at Belmont College and graduated with an associate’s degree in Mental Health before deciding to continue his education at West Liberty, pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Coleman was supporting himself through college, and due to personal and financial reasons, decided to step away from college at that time.
Following his associates, he pursued a career in mental health, practicing direct care for children from backgrounds of abuse at the Children’s Home of Wheeling and Youth Services of Wheeling Inc.
Continuing his career, Coleman moved to prevention-specific services, aiding children with the tools and support systems to avoid falling into detrimental paths in life. Ultimately, however, he realized that without a completed bachelor’s degree, there were limited opportunities for growth in his career and returned to West Liberty to finish his bachelor’s in Organizational Leadership and Administration as part of a cohort program within “West Liberty’s Highlands Campus.”
Coleman went on to explain the differences and personal benefits of a cohort degree program.:
“A cohort degree is a specific type of program where you are with a small group of people through every step of the process. My group consisted of only eleven or twelve individuals that I attended every class with. The program was amazing for me at the time because many of the classes were at night, which allowed me to continue working full-time and support myself. The difference with a cohort program is not only that I was with the same group of people that I grew close with, but also that in a cohort program, we only took one class at a time and focused on it completely for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next class. The classes were designed in a way that was useful because everything that we learned was simultaneously applicable to real-life situations, which helped me to grow in my education through hands-on experience. The classes were also less test-focused. There were occasional quizzes, but the bulk of our grades were based on detailed papers of what we had learned and how we had applied it, which we then presented to our cohort at the end of each course.”
Upon graduation, Coleman remarked at the number of career opportunities that were opened to him and almost immediately took a managerial position within prevention services in Jefferson County, and following that, to the Neighborhood Center as part of the Catholic Charities organization.
During his time at West Liberty, equipped with new business management skills, Coleman began operating a small kettle corn business on weekends, “Wheeling Feeling Kettle Corn LLC.” Once moving up within his career at mental health services, Coleman felt another calling to utilize the business aspect of his degree and go into operating his own local business full-time.
In 2020, he opened the first location of his local coffee shop chain, Mugshots, on Main Street in Wheeling. Statistics from the Chamber of Commerce state that 18% of small businesses will fail within the first year, and over 50% will fail within the first five years. However, Coleman has beaten the odds with Mugshots, which not only celebrated its fifth year in business this year but also an opening of a second location in Moundsville in November of 2024.
Surviving obstacles that many other small and large business models alike have struggled to overcome, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the streetscape projects in Wheeling that prevented patrons from being able to find parking, Coleman attributes much of his business’s success to the skills he developed during his time at West Liberty. Mugshots is a product of both sound business practices and a desire to create a safe local environment where anyone is welcome to sit down and be met with a delicious hot drink, personal conversations, and meaningful connections with their community.
During our interview, I asked Coleman, “Which classes or teachers inspired or helped to shape your education and success the most?”
“My professor, Butch Maxwell, taught a class called ‘Leadership in Film’ where he taught us about how effective leaders operate by having us watch clips within movies that depicted strong leaders and analyze their leadership skills, what they did well, and what they could improve. I learned a lot about the mindset and actions of effective leadership throughout that course. Richard Reisbeck was another professor and great mentor of mine who taught me about the functions of running a successful business and introduced me to many important connections that helped me to get where I am today. Finally, Dr. Michaud was the designer of the program that I was in, which balanced learning with hands-on experience, which was exactly the kind of educational environment that I thrived in. Dr. Michaud was deeply invested in the success of the students and had a personal relationship with each of us, helping us along the way.”
The final question that I asked Coleman was, “If there is one piece of advice that you could offer to current students, what would it be?”
“Get everything that you can from your mentors and teachers, be present, ask questions, create opportunities for yourself to grow. Enjoy your time and make connections with those around you because your community is your strength. Finding meaning, joy, and fulfillment in what you do is the ultimate measure of success. Seriously consider what you’re doing and choose something that you are passionate about because the world of job fields is rapidly changing, especially with the advancement of AI, so pick something that you deeply love and want to pursue because you cannot guarantee what that field might look like in 10 years. Don’t focus on what will make you the most money; focus on what will bring you joy because time and life are finite, and once they’re gone, you can’t get them back, so spend your life in pursuit of your passions and leave this place better than you found it.”
