Why Mia Cupcake?

I get this question a LOT: Why do you go by Mia Cupcake?

I have been Mia Cupcake since 2007. It was a really big year for me – I got involved with roller derby, I joined Twitter and I got fired from a really big job I thought I was going to have forever.

I was a single mom with a young son, and I was 100% a mess. No job, and living with my parents, and trying to start this thing called roller derby.

And then my first serious boyfriend and I broke up, and I went into a really bad downward spiral.

Around this time came the moment I had to pick my roller derby name, the one I would compete under and the one that would follow me for the rest of my career.

I was baking all the time, since I didn’t have a job. I was baking dozens and dozens of cupcakes and going around and spreading the frosting love all over. I was baking for everyone and smiling and sharing the sweetness.

But I was not eating.

And I was going home every night and crying.

I went home one night after roller derby practice, with the directive I had to come up with a derby name. The one I had chosen and was set on had been taken, and along with the loss of my job and my boyfriend, it was too much.

I showed up for the next practice with armloads of cupcakes.

And my coach at the time yelled “HEY CUPCAKE. You pick a name yet?”

I burst into tears and said “no, I’ve been working on my ‘mea culpa’.”

One of my teammates said (with her mouth full of cupcake), “I think you mean your Mia Cupcake”.

And that’s the way my roller derby name was born. It’s stuck with me, even after my retirement from the Bellingham Roller Betties 3 years ago.

It’s been 10 years, and that name is just as much my name as Libby (or my legal name) is!

I still hear people yell “HEY CUPCAKE!” when I’m out and about, and I’ve been @miacupcake on every social media since I joined Twitter 10 years ago (today, incidentally!). A lot of my internet friends still call me Mia!

And that’s how I became Mia Cupcake. <3