Gigi Butler

Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker, & Founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes.

Watch In Action

Why Book This Speaker

Gigi speaks from the heart and loves interacting with her customers and fans. At every personal appearance engagement, Gigi offers a question and answer period as well as a meet-and-greet session where attendees have the opportunity to say hello, get some words of encouragement, get a photo taken and have Gigi autograph a copy of her autobiography. Gigi receives scores of letters every month from people who have learned about Gigi’s story by attending one of her speaking engagements, seeing her on TV or reading about her. They all appreciate Gigi for providing hope, inspiration and belief that they too can become just as successful as Gigi.

Traveling From: Fernandina Beach, FL

Keynote

RISE – RECOVER – RECREATE

Gigi Butler is a remarkable entrepreneur and inspiring speaker who has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide with her incredible story. As the founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes, her journey started with only $33 left in her bank account when she decided to open up a single cupcake shop in Nashville, Tennessee, which she courageously built into a $33-million-per-year company and nationwide phenomenon.

Gigi’s relentless determination, resilience, and unwavering passion made her small business a sweet success story. However, her path to success has not been without its challenges. In her latest speech, Rise, Recover, Recreate, Gigi openly shares her experiences and imports lessons on rising from the ashes, recovering from loss and adversity, and recreating from scratch to shine bright.

Gigi says, “Life isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being original.” Her engaging presence, captivating storytelling, empowering messages, and genuine spirit resonate with audiences as she imparts valuable lessons on entrepreneurship, leadership, and the importance of pursuing one’s dreams.

Watch Gigi in Action

About Gigi

Gigi Butler, entrepreneur and founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes, admits her story of success is full of sweet irony. Gigi opened her first Gigi’s Cupcakes location just off Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee in 2008. Gigi’s Cupcakes is now the largest cupcake franchise in the world.

With an entrepreneurial spirit that needed an outlet at the age of 15, Gigi opened her first business, Gigi’s Cleaning Company, which she continued to grow once she moved from California to Nashville in 1994. She cleaned houses during the day and sang at downtown Nashville honky-tonks at night. After a decade of pursuing a career as an entertainer, the heartaches of the music industry hit home.

Gigi decided to step back and focus on her financial future. While building a sweet empire was never part of her plan, Gigi realized that her culinary and business skills could take her places she never dreamed about. She decided to take a chance on her other passion – baking.

Gigi learned her love for baking at an early age as she came from a long line of bakers who taught her unique family recipes. As an adult, Gigi felt that baking had become a lost art that needed to be resurrected. Even though people rarely have time to bake from scratch, they still enjoy eating delicious home baked goods, especially ones that reminded them of their childhood.

After being turned down by various banks and down to her last $33, Gigi went out on a limb and in 2008 leveraged several personal credit cards to fund the first Gigi’s Cupcakes store. She gambled everything she had to open her first location. Fortunately, her sweet treats quickly became Nashville’s delicacy dessert of choice. Shortly thereafter, Gigi’s Franchising, Inc. was born, and Gigi’s Cupcakes locations began popping up throughout North America.

Among her other duties for Gigi’s Cupcakes, Gigi served as Head of Product Development, Through her own creativity coupled with a unique open relationship with and feedback from customers, Gigi was responsible for expanding the initial menu offering from 32 to over 278 cupcake recipes.

Gigi had the honor of being on the hit CBS TV Series “Undercover Boss”. Gigi’s episode, which was viewed by over 15 million people and continues in reruns, became one of the show’s fan favorites. She wears her heart on her sleeve and in the show, interacts with employees incognito. Gigi claims this was one of the most rewarding experiences in her life.

Over the course of the next decade and as the number of Gigi’s Cupcakes locations grew, Gigi became a sought-after public speaker. Her motivational, inspirational, and entrepreneurial ‘rags-to-riches’ story has become a centerpiece for corporate events, business, and social gatherings as well as on college campuses (and especially those with entrepreneurial programs). Always leaving the crowd wanting more, Gigi offers the attendees access to her deepest thoughts, fears, successes, and failures, with an emphasis on how to fight fear and look at it as a motivator rather than an obstacle.

The Secret Ingredient

Gigi’s autobiography “The Secret Ingredient: Recipes for Success In Business and Life” was released in December 2018. Gigi shares her personal success story, her hard-won business acumen and the life-changing inspiration that she’s gained from a challenging life. Each chapter includes a piece of business advice and a delicious sweet and savory recipe.

Listen to Gigi on The Action Catalyst Podcast

Gigi was the keynote speaker for our “Learn. Grow. Connect Conference for Women. She was humble, humorous, and relatable. We received great feedback from Attendees, who loved hearing the unexpected twists and turns of her incredible success story.

KATY F.R.

Director of Communications and Marketing Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce
Gigi Butler was fantastic. She was able to craft a message for our students that combined her story, expertise, and success that translated into principals of do’s and don’ts for any innovator. Her delivery was exemplary. By combining humor, examples, singing, and an informal but highly focused presentation, she demonstrated her command of delivering a keynote speech and gave our students immediately useful takeaways. True inspiration took place. The students left feeling excited and motivated and ready to tackle their first year at UF.

JEFF C.`

ED.D., Director, University of Florida Innovation Academy
[Gigi] was vibrant and energetic! Her story and her message were so inspirational. All of our guests loved meeting her one-on-one. Thank you Gigi!

MELISSA R.

Vice President of Guest Experience, Huntsville Botanical Garden