People Who Sparkle: Johnny Cupcakes

Do you know the Cupcake Man, the Cupcake Man the Cupcake Man? Do you know the Cupcake Man who lives on Newbury Street? If you don’t- its your lucky day…cuz I’m about to dish the dirt!

Johnny Cupcakes is one of our entrepreneur super heros…similar to He-Man. Jodie and I have a whole buffet of dreams and sitting down with Mr. Cupcake and picking his genius cupcake batter filled brain is HIGH on the list. Johnny doesn’t actually make cupcakes. He makes tshirts and sells them at his three stores, that look like bakeries - he sells loads of them! In fact Johnny Cupcakes was just named one of Inc. magazines fastest growing companies (if you don’t read Inc. magazine…that’s a HUMONGOUS SIZED deal). Here’s the skinny: Johnny started his company kindve as a joke right after high school. He was given the nickname Johnny Cupcakes (think Johnny Appleseed, Johnny Pretty Much Anything Sounds Good…right?). As a joke, Johnny made a shirt with Johnny Cupcakes on it and WHAMMO…everybody wanted one. Fast forward 9 years he has literally built a tasty cupcake clothing empire. Johnnys shirts are crazy cute and his stores look like bake shops. PLEASE read his story here, he does a much better job of telling the tale than I do:

How Johnny whipped up his batch of awesomeness: His Story

Ten ways Johnny Cupcakes makes the world sparkle (in no particular order):

1. His brand was built from creativity and straight up love of the product.

2. He encourages people to take chances and get off their butts! College kids are always told to take internships at mega corporations rather than turning their own dreams into realities…I know I was. Johnny speaks at colleges and gives kids the confidence they may need to take the leap and do their OWN thing.

3. He hasn’t sold out to a corporation and you can’t find his shirts in malls.

4. He had ADD…. Can I get a holler for the hyper kids (like me!)!!!

5. He was born in 1982- so were we.

6. He has been able to employ his mom, dad, sister and friends!

7. He has his very own Pee Wee Herman suit and bow tie…complete with white platforms.

8. Everybody loves Johnny once they hear about him! Jodie just asked a total stranger she met on Johnnys facebook fan page to bring us two copies of “The Cupcake Chronicles”, Johnnys newslettery type deal. This boy, Mike, met us a coffee shop here in Chicago just because that’s how nice Johnny’s fans are and how much they want to spread the word. Check out the pics of our chronicles below!

9. He hosts events to get to know his fans/customers. We’re obviously a fan of parties….so is he J

10. He’s irresistibly delicious!

Peace, Love & Glitter,

Ellie

P.S. Glittermammaz, If you haven’t voted for us in the Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers competition yet….GET ON IT WOMAN! Thank you kindly.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE.

For your viewing pleasure....

Happy Wednesday everybody. Hope you are all having a great week. I am in Michigan and having a great time babysitting my niece, GiGi. And chillaxin with my sister and her huz. Wanted to post a few pics from two of last weekends events. Theses events were "Big Glitter Events" and really busy...which means we didn't have time to take lots of pictures. Enjoy the few we have and....

Stay Sparkly, Ellie

"Peace with Reese".... an extravagant batmitzvah put on by our new fave city event planner, Bambi! Check out WWW.BCREVENTS.COM to see her work...this woman knows how to throw a bash! She didn't miss a detail. The guests all dressed in their 1960's best and looked amazing. This is such a great party theme!

Update: Sept 4 2009

Just got some pics from the photog at "Peace with Reese"! AMAZINGNESS. I have one website for all of you.... WWW.MATTPOWERSPHOTOGRAPHY.COM Matt captured some great moments. If you really want to be "wowed" go to his site and drool over his portfolio!

okay from here on are my amateur no so masterpiecey pics!

One of our superstar Glitter Girlz....MEOSHA! how beautiful is she?!!!!

"Make A Jamaica" Charity Event. The weather wasn't exaclty "jamaica-y" but it was a super fab event! This event was a benefit for Little Angels and we had the opportunity to provide all the kids activities...even for the boys! painting, hair, t-shirt design... It was our first large event in Elgin and we met some totally awesome kids and parents!

I need to get my sparkly little booty on the road back to the Chi! xoxo.

FASH BASH 09! Krazy Kenzi turns 7!!!!

The Loibens....ahhhh, The Loibens. aka The Glitter Girlz BIGGEST cheerleaders! Jodie and I had the pleasure of meeting "Mr. Lou Life of the Party Loiben" a few years back. Lou started his own party company back in the day, Personalities Inc. and has been more than supportive and helpful with our new adventure. Jodie and I can only dream to bring as many smiles to kids faces as Lou and his crew have brought to kids all over the country. Then there is "Mizz Super Mom Kelli Loiben", Lous wife. We can not thank her enough for all of the buzz they have created for us in the Vernon Hills area and for the opportunity to do both of their girls birthday (Mackenzi and Skyler just happen to the be the cutest little girls in the world btw). One thing is certain....no amount of ad space or PR can get you more attention than one crazy cool mom with a perfectly glossed big mouth!

Friday night we celebrated "Fash Back 09....Kenzi turns 7!" In true Loiben style it was an incredible bash. We had 35 girls all in their house, of course Lou was throwing a dance party in the basement and the girls all designed one of a kind tshirts! This was a family affair...we had aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas....everybody was gettin down and dirty with their fashion designing selves! Pretty awesome.

My two favorite parts of the night were Mackenzi's joke:

Q. How do you make Lady Gaga sad?

A. Poker Face

Q. How do you make Lady Gaga happy again?

A. Just Dance

AND

the concert that 8 of the girls put on at the very end of the night, complete with choreography and a curtain call.

Girls like Mackenzi and her friends along with parents like Lou and Kelli are the reason Jodie and I started The Glitter Girlz. They believe in creativity, the importance of "never growing up", not taking life too seriously and just having a blast!

xoxo, Ellie