Michael Gates Gill is an American author, best known for his memoir "How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else." The son of New Yorker writer Brendan Gill, Michael Gill was a creative director at a major advertising agency before losing his job in his early sixties. Facing personal and financial troubles, he started working at Starbucks as a barista. His memoir chronicles this humbling shift from a high-powered executive to a service industry employee, and the life lessons he learned about dignity, community, and personal redemption through this dramatic lifestyle change. Gill's story highlights themes of reinvention, the value of work, and human connections transcending social class.