Cupcake Leader

Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Crumbs Bake Shop

Kids: Daughter, 3; Son, 1

Mia Bauer is an unlikely cupcake guru. After graduating from law school, Bauer, a lawyer, worked as legislative counsel for then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. When she started to tire of the lack of creativity in law, Bauer teamed up with her husband, Jason, to launch a bakery (a lifelong dream). Crumbs was born on the Upper West Side of New York City in 2003. What began as a mom-and-pop shop has morphed into a cupcake empire. Crumbs now operates 34 stores across the country and was recently purchased by 7th Street General Acquisition Corporation for $82.1 million. The company says it could be trading on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange as early as March 2011 and hopes to have 200 stores by 2014. Bauer will stay on with the company as chief creative officer (she’s responsible for all of the company’s unique cupcake flavors among other creative tasks).