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Rogue Entrepreneur: Building a Life the World Didn't Have a Name For
323 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 27, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
I had the good fortune to know Elise Krentzel back in the late 1980’s in NYC, during her EK International years. I remember being deeply impressed, and inspired by her fearless enthusiasm, optimism, and an unrelenting sense of determination and belief that all things were possible, and I never forgot that impression she made on me, though we lost touch for more than 30 years.
When I recently had the chance to pick up a copy of Rogue Entrepreneur, I could not put this book down. Elise relives her incredibly personal journey for us through this brutally honest and encouraging story of adventure, wonderment, opportunity, love, loss, and boundless redemption through an unwavering spirit of strength, trust, commitment, and forgiveness.
Let’s face it, all of our lives are messy, if we’re honest with ourselves, and Elise gives us the roadmap for the road less traveled, and yet a road that so many of us long to set out on. True success, in much part, comes from a willingness to dream, to believe, to create, and to walk in another person’s (or even culture’s) shoes, and to use these unbiased observations as precious resources to guide us, and to help shape our vision into a thoughtful reality.
Elise shows us the power of saying yes, facing fears, trusting and loving deeply, and exploring some of the fullest of possibilities in life, which I believe is how we can all find our true purpose.
Of course these types of selfless, and deeply meaningful ways for approaching life and entrepreneurship can no doubt lead to some very hard and painful losses along the way, but it’s even harder to imagine a sweeter, or more satisfying life experience as a result.
This book is Elise’s love letter to everyone who was ever told or made to believe that they were less than, and it’s a beautiful and deeply inspiring story of personal growth, forgiveness, and redemption.
Thank you Elise for this wonderful gift!
Dave Swanson
Westport, CT
When I recently had the chance to pick up a copy of Rogue Entrepreneur, I could not put this book down. Elise relives her incredibly personal journey for us through this brutally honest and encouraging story of adventure, wonderment, opportunity, love, loss, and boundless redemption through an unwavering spirit of strength, trust, commitment, and forgiveness.
Let’s face it, all of our lives are messy, if we’re honest with ourselves, and Elise gives us the roadmap for the road less traveled, and yet a road that so many of us long to set out on. True success, in much part, comes from a willingness to dream, to believe, to create, and to walk in another person’s (or even culture’s) shoes, and to use these unbiased observations as precious resources to guide us, and to help shape our vision into a thoughtful reality.
Elise shows us the power of saying yes, facing fears, trusting and loving deeply, and exploring some of the fullest of possibilities in life, which I believe is how we can all find our true purpose.
Of course these types of selfless, and deeply meaningful ways for approaching life and entrepreneurship can no doubt lead to some very hard and painful losses along the way, but it’s even harder to imagine a sweeter, or more satisfying life experience as a result.
This book is Elise’s love letter to everyone who was ever told or made to believe that they were less than, and it’s a beautiful and deeply inspiring story of personal growth, forgiveness, and redemption.
Thank you Elise for this wonderful gift!
Dave Swanson
Westport, CT
August 28, 2026
If Dolly Parton and Keith Richards had a love child, it would have been Elise Krentzel. She has Dolly’s brains and wisdom and Keith’s toe-tapping wildness. She was still in high school when she started getting notice as a rock’n’roll writer and critic and only 20 when KISS flew her to Japan to cover their Japanese tour. And for the next 25 years she traveled the world building amazing businesses and also losing them. Building relationships and losing some of those, too. And building a story you have to read.
Imagine living in Japan, learning to speak the language, rising up in the music industry and then starting her own business. She also starts her first marriage with a Japanese music producer (and learns how not to behave at a Japanese wedding, particularly if you’re the bride.)
And then one day after 5 years, she lets it all go and heads back to New York, where she grew up. Then to Switzerland, South Africa, the Netherlands, and France. Another marriage, another business that helped change our world.
What you’ll take away from this book is a sense of what it’s like to live a long and winding road, a journey that makes you laugh, makes you cry, and makes you want to ride with her on this amazing journey. This book will not put you down soon. It will live with you.
Imagine living in Japan, learning to speak the language, rising up in the music industry and then starting her own business. She also starts her first marriage with a Japanese music producer (and learns how not to behave at a Japanese wedding, particularly if you’re the bride.)
And then one day after 5 years, she lets it all go and heads back to New York, where she grew up. Then to Switzerland, South Africa, the Netherlands, and France. Another marriage, another business that helped change our world.
What you’ll take away from this book is a sense of what it’s like to live a long and winding road, a journey that makes you laugh, makes you cry, and makes you want to ride with her on this amazing journey. This book will not put you down soon. It will live with you.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Rogue Entrepreneur is not simply a book about entrepreneurship. It is a book about refusing to live inside someone else’s definition of what a life should look like.
What stayed with me most was Elise Krentzel’s willingness to tell her story without sanding down the difficult edges. Her journey moves through different countries, careers, cultures, relationships, risks, and reinventions. But underneath all of that movement is a deeper question: What does it cost to choose your own path?
Elise writes with courage, humor, and a refreshing lack of pretense. She does not present entrepreneurship as a shiny formula for success. Instead, she shows the uncertainty, mistakes, audacity, resilience, and strange turns that come with building a life that has no obvious blueprint.
This is a memoir for people who have ever felt that the conventional path was too small for them.
You do not have to be an entrepreneur to connect with it. You only have to know what it feels like to wonder, "What would happen if I stopped living the life I was supposed to live?"
A bold, unconventional, and deeply human read.
- Allana Pervez
What stayed with me most was Elise Krentzel’s willingness to tell her story without sanding down the difficult edges. Her journey moves through different countries, careers, cultures, relationships, risks, and reinventions. But underneath all of that movement is a deeper question: What does it cost to choose your own path?
Elise writes with courage, humor, and a refreshing lack of pretense. She does not present entrepreneurship as a shiny formula for success. Instead, she shows the uncertainty, mistakes, audacity, resilience, and strange turns that come with building a life that has no obvious blueprint.
This is a memoir for people who have ever felt that the conventional path was too small for them.
You do not have to be an entrepreneur to connect with it. You only have to know what it feels like to wonder, "What would happen if I stopped living the life I was supposed to live?"
A bold, unconventional, and deeply human read.
- Allana Pervez
August 29, 2026
First up, a disclaimer. I haven't actually read this book - at least not all the way through. Without making this the All About Me section, when it became available for me to read, I was in a pretty raw space emotionally, and I'm still not as strong as maybe I need to be. But I think this serves pretty much to show, hopefully as viscerally as the author, how powerful this book is that it had me bent double with tears. Such intensity as in her words are so pitifully rare in business books: but then this isn't just a business book - it's about life, growth, the holistic business of getting on with things with due deference to circumstances. It's real, it's human, it understands that business people are people first, despite what certain ventures expect. And this is where this book scores the most, in the parts I have read, because the stories Elise tells are so powerful, so visceral, so human, so real, is it any wonder I was crying?
Review of advance copy received from Author
A truly inspiring journey of courage, resilience, and reinvention.
Rogue Entrepreneur is much more than a story about building businesses, it’s about having the courage to take the unconventional path, embrace uncertainty, and keep reinventing yourself when life doesn’t go according to plan.
What I loved most is Elise’s honesty. She doesn’t present entrepreneurship as a perfectly planned journey, but as a messy, unpredictable adventure filled with risks, setbacks, unexpected opportunities, and lessons along the way.
Her experiences across different countries and cultures make the book especially engaging, and her storytelling brings each chapter to life. It left me with a simple reminder: sometimes the “rogue” path is exactly the one that leads you to where you’re meant to be.
A memorable read for anyone who values independence, courage, and the willingness to create their own path.
Rogue Entrepreneur is much more than a story about building businesses, it’s about having the courage to take the unconventional path, embrace uncertainty, and keep reinventing yourself when life doesn’t go according to plan.
What I loved most is Elise’s honesty. She doesn’t present entrepreneurship as a perfectly planned journey, but as a messy, unpredictable adventure filled with risks, setbacks, unexpected opportunities, and lessons along the way.
Her experiences across different countries and cultures make the book especially engaging, and her storytelling brings each chapter to life. It left me with a simple reminder: sometimes the “rogue” path is exactly the one that leads you to where you’re meant to be.
A memorable read for anyone who values independence, courage, and the willingness to create their own path.
October 2, 2026
This book captures some of the most important and harrowing moments of the author's life with poise, elegance, and a vivid intensity that transports the reader to not only another place but multiple remote destinations at numerous moments in time. From the austere, quiet desperation of Switzerland to the steamy, bustling streets of New York City, this is no mere story, but an epic adventure revealed and detailed with a raw emotional veracity that the world needs more of. Krentzel does not simply recount her life but she interprets it from an enlightened viewpoint that only a self-actualized mindset can provide. Highly recommended.
October 2, 2026
Rebel Entrepreneur feels like Elise herself: bold, curious, unconventional, and willing to carve her own path. There’s plenty of anthropology and psychological themes in the book, where she observes the people, behaviors, risks, and unwritten rules of entrepreneurship. From getting bankrolled by strangers to taking leaps that don’t come with guarantees, Elise brings you into the fascinating messiness of what it looks like to build something your own way and ask for what you really want.
Review of advance copy received from Author
A story about being a girl, taking risks, living with those choices, and going 'rouge.'
In Rogue Entrepreneur, Elise Krentzel doesn't go rogue in the Mission:Impossible sense of the word; but rather uses the second book in her trilogy of memoirs (I also read Krentzel's first book UNDER MY SKIN–a story of Elise's younger self prior to Rouge Entrepreneur) to tell her story with unapologetic and colorful flair.
The book is witty and has enough sharp humor, messy confession, and raunch to keep the reader engaged and feeling like they're a part of Elise's journey. Her silhouettes and stories feel like an invite into the group chat you've accidentally been added to, and are clearly written with heart.
Elise Krentzel's voice is bold and self-aware, never stopping to diminish or tamper the reckless or embarrassing parts of becoming oneself as a young woman in Japan, America, and Europe.
Outside of the Tokyo night life and Japanese bathhouses, Rogue Entrepreneur touches on the associated costs of forging your own path inside a world that puts too much pressure on you to understand its complexities and pressures. Going 'rouge' brings freedom, but it also brings deep sorrow, loss or pain that cannot always be laughed away. Elise Krentzel does not pretend every choice was wise–instead, she makes the case for owning the life that unfolded due to her experience.
In Rogue Entrepreneur, Elise Krentzel toys with the idea that self-love is not about avoiding mistakes—while taking the reader on a different and more mature journey than UNDER MY SKIN–and that life is about learning to live with the hard choices, without abandoning or isolating yourself. If you can accept the bruises alongside the victories, then maybe going rogue is not such a bad way to find your way home after all.
In Rogue Entrepreneur, Elise Krentzel doesn't go rogue in the Mission:Impossible sense of the word; but rather uses the second book in her trilogy of memoirs (I also read Krentzel's first book UNDER MY SKIN–a story of Elise's younger self prior to Rouge Entrepreneur) to tell her story with unapologetic and colorful flair.
The book is witty and has enough sharp humor, messy confession, and raunch to keep the reader engaged and feeling like they're a part of Elise's journey. Her silhouettes and stories feel like an invite into the group chat you've accidentally been added to, and are clearly written with heart.
Elise Krentzel's voice is bold and self-aware, never stopping to diminish or tamper the reckless or embarrassing parts of becoming oneself as a young woman in Japan, America, and Europe.
Outside of the Tokyo night life and Japanese bathhouses, Rogue Entrepreneur touches on the associated costs of forging your own path inside a world that puts too much pressure on you to understand its complexities and pressures. Going 'rouge' brings freedom, but it also brings deep sorrow, loss or pain that cannot always be laughed away. Elise Krentzel does not pretend every choice was wise–instead, she makes the case for owning the life that unfolded due to her experience.
In Rogue Entrepreneur, Elise Krentzel toys with the idea that self-love is not about avoiding mistakes—while taking the reader on a different and more mature journey than UNDER MY SKIN–and that life is about learning to live with the hard choices, without abandoning or isolating yourself. If you can accept the bruises alongside the victories, then maybe going rogue is not such a bad way to find your way home after all.
August 28, 2026
Reading Rogue Entrepreneur felt like sitting across from someone who has actually lived the questions I think about every day, both personally and professionally, as a cross-cultural human.
This is Elise's second installment in her memoir trilogy, and it doesn't ease you in. She takes you from Japan in 1977 through marriages and divorces, New York, Europe, a party with Andy Warhol, and back again to the harder work of reckoning with childhood, philosophy, faith and spirituality. The throughline is what happens when you plant two feet in two or more worlds and never quite let either one claim you fully.
Elise invites you along for the ride, to laugh and cry and be curious with her. I related to so much of it. There's a moment where she describes not being able to read kanji or hiragana, and having to figure out which bathhouse door in Japan was hers before she could walk through it. I've had my own versions of that moment more than once, standing somewhere unfamiliar, guessing at a system I hadn't yet learned. Anyone who has lived cross-culturally will know that particular flavor of vulnerability.
What sets this book apart from a straightforward travel memoir is watching the entrepreneur emerge underneath the traveler. Elise doesn't just recount decades of reinvention, she shows the instincts and decisions that turned a wandering, outlier life into a business built on her own terms. By the end, she hands the reader something practical: real tips and advice drawn from thirty years of building a life the world didn't have a name for.
This isn't a tidy narrative about finding yourself abroad. It's messier and more honest than that, and better for it. Elise writes as a traveler, a partner, a friend and an entrepreneur all at once, and leaves you with the sense that three decades in, this is still only the beginning.
This is Elise's second installment in her memoir trilogy, and it doesn't ease you in. She takes you from Japan in 1977 through marriages and divorces, New York, Europe, a party with Andy Warhol, and back again to the harder work of reckoning with childhood, philosophy, faith and spirituality. The throughline is what happens when you plant two feet in two or more worlds and never quite let either one claim you fully.
Elise invites you along for the ride, to laugh and cry and be curious with her. I related to so much of it. There's a moment where she describes not being able to read kanji or hiragana, and having to figure out which bathhouse door in Japan was hers before she could walk through it. I've had my own versions of that moment more than once, standing somewhere unfamiliar, guessing at a system I hadn't yet learned. Anyone who has lived cross-culturally will know that particular flavor of vulnerability.
What sets this book apart from a straightforward travel memoir is watching the entrepreneur emerge underneath the traveler. Elise doesn't just recount decades of reinvention, she shows the instincts and decisions that turned a wandering, outlier life into a business built on her own terms. By the end, she hands the reader something practical: real tips and advice drawn from thirty years of building a life the world didn't have a name for.
This isn't a tidy narrative about finding yourself abroad. It's messier and more honest than that, and better for it. Elise writes as a traveler, a partner, a friend and an entrepreneur all at once, and leaves you with the sense that three decades in, this is still only the beginning.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Life is change. Stasis is death, and yet so many of us fear to evolve.
The Rogue Entrepreneur / Elise Krentzel is neither afraid to live nor to change. This book is a literal roadmap to self-fulfillment and the perfect template for those who need encouragement to make their desires really real- at any age.
The entire journey for the Rogue Entrepreneur will eventually be told through three books. This is the second book in the trilogy and, without a doubt, one of the bumpiest rides imaginable, depicting a modern entrepreneurial woman's global journey to find herself and her power.
Intimate stories are shared, detailed depictions of cross-cultural clashes for women, love, and lies, and all that comes when a woman searches for peace and power. The colorful global array of businesses created, marriages made and lost, friendships, baby-making (all sharing such valuable insights into the nuances of cultural expectations across the globe), then finally revealing the most valuable asset of all - peace.Rogue Entrepreneur
In summary, if your life seems boring and you are stymied when it comes to how to change it, this book will inspire you, entertain you, and then give you an actual list of how to make things happen.
The Rogue Entrepreneur / Elise Krentzel is neither afraid to live nor to change. This book is a literal roadmap to self-fulfillment and the perfect template for those who need encouragement to make their desires really real- at any age.
The entire journey for the Rogue Entrepreneur will eventually be told through three books. This is the second book in the trilogy and, without a doubt, one of the bumpiest rides imaginable, depicting a modern entrepreneurial woman's global journey to find herself and her power.
Intimate stories are shared, detailed depictions of cross-cultural clashes for women, love, and lies, and all that comes when a woman searches for peace and power. The colorful global array of businesses created, marriages made and lost, friendships, baby-making (all sharing such valuable insights into the nuances of cultural expectations across the globe), then finally revealing the most valuable asset of all - peace.Rogue Entrepreneur
In summary, if your life seems boring and you are stymied when it comes to how to change it, this book will inspire you, entertain you, and then give you an actual list of how to make things happen.
Review of advance copy received from Author
What a life! What a voice!
“Rogue Entrepreneur” is the second installment in Elise Krentzel’s memoir trilogy, following “Under My Skin: Drama, Trauma & Rock ’n’ Roll”.
Reading this book feels like sitting across the table from Elise as she tells you the wildest stories of her life, from interviewing John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Tokyo and taking on Swiss authorities over laundry restrictions to throwing a dart at a map and moving to France. Her witty tongue, sharp observations, and self-deprecating humor make even the most painful turns in her story engaging. She is a clever writer and those pages keep on turning at fast pace.
The most memorable chapter for me was “Letter to My Unborn Son,” in which she writes about undergoing IVF in Belgium at forty-three, singing during the procedure, and recording her hopes for the child she already loves. It captures her quirky personality, fierce tenderness, and longing for unconditional love. She is candid about losing her brother, caring for her mother through cancer, protecting her son after a devastating accident, and surviving a brutal divorce. Elise never lets circumstance deter her from living her life to the fullest, even in her darkest moments, she finds a way to overcome and thrive.
I highly recommend this funny, messy, and inspiring story of ambition, motherhood, love, painful mistakes, and the courage to keep beginning over and over again.
“Rogue Entrepreneur” is the second installment in Elise Krentzel’s memoir trilogy, following “Under My Skin: Drama, Trauma & Rock ’n’ Roll”.
Reading this book feels like sitting across the table from Elise as she tells you the wildest stories of her life, from interviewing John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Tokyo and taking on Swiss authorities over laundry restrictions to throwing a dart at a map and moving to France. Her witty tongue, sharp observations, and self-deprecating humor make even the most painful turns in her story engaging. She is a clever writer and those pages keep on turning at fast pace.
The most memorable chapter for me was “Letter to My Unborn Son,” in which she writes about undergoing IVF in Belgium at forty-three, singing during the procedure, and recording her hopes for the child she already loves. It captures her quirky personality, fierce tenderness, and longing for unconditional love. She is candid about losing her brother, caring for her mother through cancer, protecting her son after a devastating accident, and surviving a brutal divorce. Elise never lets circumstance deter her from living her life to the fullest, even in her darkest moments, she finds a way to overcome and thrive.
I highly recommend this funny, messy, and inspiring story of ambition, motherhood, love, painful mistakes, and the courage to keep beginning over and over again.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Rogue Entrepreneur is a fearless memoir of reinvention, carrying readers from the music industry of late-1970s Japan through New York, Switzerland, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands with irrepressible energy and candor. Elise Krentzel proves herself an unusually compelling guide: culturally curious, entrepreneurial by instinct, emotionally forthright, and willing to examine her triumphs and painful mistakes with equal intensity. Her extraordinary encounters and ambitious ventures give the book color and momentum, but its real achievement is the deeper story of a woman repeatedly refusing to let failed relationships, family trauma, financial uncertainty, or social expectations define the limits of her life. Blending adventure, humor, heartbreak, and practical wisdom, Krentzel expands entrepreneurship beyond business into the courageous act of continually creating oneself. The result is an inspiring, highly distinctive testament to resilience, independence, and the liberating power of becoming the author of your own life.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
As a business woman myself, I found Rogue Entrepreneur both refreshing and deeply relatable.
Elise Krentzel doesn’t offer a polished success story or pretend that building a life and career on your own terms comes with a neat roadmap. Instead, she writes candidly about ambition, setbacks, reinvention, relationships, and the difficult choices that come with refusing to follow the expected path. Her independence and willingness to take risks, often in cultures and industries where women were expected to behave very differently, make this much more than an entrepreneurial memoir.
I related to her stories about The Netherlands since I am from there, but wherever you're from, it’s an inspiring read for any woman who has ever decided that the conventional route simply wasn’t for her.
Elise Krentzel doesn’t offer a polished success story or pretend that building a life and career on your own terms comes with a neat roadmap. Instead, she writes candidly about ambition, setbacks, reinvention, relationships, and the difficult choices that come with refusing to follow the expected path. Her independence and willingness to take risks, often in cultures and industries where women were expected to behave very differently, make this much more than an entrepreneurial memoir.
I related to her stories about The Netherlands since I am from there, but wherever you're from, it’s an inspiring read for any woman who has ever decided that the conventional route simply wasn’t for her.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Rogue Entrepreneur is an unflinchingly honest, brilliantly written memoir that pulls you into Elise Krentzel’s extraordinary life with wit, grit, and heart. Her globe-spanning journey, through Japan, New York, Switzerland, South Africa, the Netherlands, and beyond, is as thrilling as it is inspiring.
Krentzel’s sharp observations and fearless storytelling make every chapter pulse with raw authenticity. What could have been a simple business memoir becomes a powerful testament to resilience, creativity, and the courage to forge one’s own path. This book is not just a read, it’s an experience that lingers long after the last page.
Krentzel’s sharp observations and fearless storytelling make every chapter pulse with raw authenticity. What could have been a simple business memoir becomes a powerful testament to resilience, creativity, and the courage to forge one’s own path. This book is not just a read, it’s an experience that lingers long after the last page.
September 14, 2026
Review “Rogue entrepreneur”
Author: Elise Krentzel.
Seldom have I read a book so captivating.
Don’t let the title of the book mislead you. I couldn’t put the book down. Elise”s writing is pure, rough and hilarious all wrapped around pure tenderness.
LIving a full life like Elize is not linear.
Take risks , learn and you will find yourself on your way.
Thank you for writing this gem.
Truike Boekholt
(CEO of “Children of the Ganges”
Author: Elise Krentzel.
Seldom have I read a book so captivating.
Don’t let the title of the book mislead you. I couldn’t put the book down. Elise”s writing is pure, rough and hilarious all wrapped around pure tenderness.
LIving a full life like Elize is not linear.
Take risks , learn and you will find yourself on your way.
Thank you for writing this gem.
Truike Boekholt
(CEO of “Children of the Ganges”
Review of advance copy received from Author
Elise takes you on a raw journey of trauma and triumph. Unwilling to be defined by culture or convention she charts her own course this book takes you through the unvarnished truth of that experience, and her skilled writing has you feeling every moment. Buckle up.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Rogue Entrepreneur is an engaging memoir about building a career by taking risks, adapting to new cultures, and refusing to accept the limits others try to impose. One detail that stayed with me was Elise Krentzel’s journey from Tokyo boardrooms to Swiss chalets as she built businesses in countries where women were rarely expected to lead. Those experiences give the book a perspective that feels earned rather than theoretical.
This is less a book about business strategies and more a story about resilience, reinvention, and trusting your instincts when the conventional path isn’t an option. The writing is candid, fast-moving, and filled with moments that show both the rewards and the costs of choosing an unconventional life.
— Melanie Green
This is less a book about business strategies and more a story about resilience, reinvention, and trusting your instincts when the conventional path isn’t an option. The writing is candid, fast-moving, and filled with moments that show both the rewards and the costs of choosing an unconventional life.
— Melanie Green
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews