Mia Bauer

Co-founder - Crumbs Bake Shop

Graduating from law school and working as a legislative counsel where she grew tired from the lack of creativity in law, she decided to follow her childhood dream and opened a bakery in Manhattan Upper West Side in 2003. Beginning as a mum-and-pop store selling baked goods, she realised their cupcakes were the most popular due to selling out of them every day. Demand grew from local residents repeatedly asking for their specialty cupcakes. Her and her husband decided to expand their cupcake selection and now there are 67 stores across the United States.

One million cupcakes are produced a month with 50 varieties of gourmet cupcakes available. In 2010 they were named one of the top 10 Breakout Companies by Inc. And received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in Retail and Consumer Products the next year. In 2011 they became a publicly traded business and listed on the stock exchange and is the largest cupcake chain in the United States.

 

Liz Lange

Founder, Creative Director - Liz Lange Maternity

Never intending to be an entrepreneur or fashion designer, Liz graduated from Comparative Literature and worked at Vogue for a few years. She left to work for a struggling fashion designer that she admired. At the same time her friends were getting pregnant and had the same complaint that they couldn't find anything they liked to wear while pregnant. She noticed that pregnant women always had to spend on new clothes during the pregnancy and that fitted material looked much better on them compared to oversized traditional outfits. She then started a made-to-order business where word quickly spread and the business grew to what it is today. 

There are Liz Lange flagship stores at Madison Avenue, Beverly Hills, she has dressed celebrities, appeared on Oprah and partnered with Nike and Target. She sold her majority interest in Liz Lange Maternity for million and continues to be their creative director and face of the brand.