Given cupcakes’ widespread popularity, it’s worthwhile to recognize their female foundation on this Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.
Entrepreneur and author Wendy Diamond founded the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization in 2013. The driving force behind Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, the nonprofit is holding a conference today online and at the United Nations in New York.
A handful of states and cities have issued official proclamations marking Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, which is celebrated in 144 countries and 65 universities, according to WEDO.
With regards to cupcakes, it was Eliza Leslie of Philadelphia who first published a “cup cake” recipe in an 1828 cookbook. In modern times, it was an actress who patronized the women-owned Magnolia Bakery in real life, leading to the Sex and the City cupcake scene of 2000 that propelled cupcakes to the forefront of pop culture.
It was a woman who introduced the first cupcakes-only bakery in 2005. Every cupcakery that has since opened is a conceptual copycat of Sprinkles Cupcakes. Founder Candace Nelson reflects on her entrepreneurial path in her newly released book Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion into Profit.
In its debut week, Nelson’s book ranks fourth on the Wall Street Journal list of bestselling business books.
Nelson’s business trajectory was the topic of a Today Show segment, among abundant newsmedia coverage. Here and here are excerpts of the Sprinkles story. Nelson shares more in her newsletter and Wall Street Journal column.
A serial entrepreneur, Nelson is now focused on her pizza restaurant Pizzana. She is a co-founder, co-owner, and/or investor in several other companies.
Elsewhere in cupcakelandia, we see an act of entrepreneurial faith and courage in the return of the Original Crumbs Bakeshop. The founders have repossessed the cupcakery they sold in 2012, a brand that underwent two bankruptcies and a tarnished reputation in the 2010s.
If Sweet Success is the philosophical guidance, Leslie Polizzotto of The Doughnut Project is proof of concept, an entrepreneur who’s living the book’s prescription in the flesh.
Polizzotto outlines her approach to entrepreneurship in these Thrive, NBC, and Ladies Who Launch interviews.
Worcester, Massachusetts, bakery owner Renee Diaz reflects on a “decade of cupcake struggle and success in the Canal District.” Diaz writes an entrepreneurship column for the Worcester Business Journal while running her cupcakery.
While on this topic, I note two other women entrepreneurs whose posts appeared in my feed for National Entrepreneurs / Entrepreneurship Day on Nov. 15.
It was instructive to report on this business, D.C.’s first cakepoppery.
Jeni’s Ice Cream factors into my ongoing aggregation of all things everything bagel.
Cupcakes get the last word. An Instagram post about today’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Summit states, “Believe you can and you are halfway there.” Sprinkles conveyed a similar message on a 2019 charity cupcake benefitting Step Up Women’s Network.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 