Meet Our Founder
Ginger Flesher-Sonnier
Founder/CEO, The Ginger Brands
@the.ginger.sonnier
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International Winner
Best Female Entrepreneur
Consumer Services Category
Ginger was the winner of Best Female Entrepreneur at the 19th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals around the world, organized in seven juries.
In a nutshell: it’s the party you don’t need an invitation to.
Callie Evergreen, FSR Magazine, April 2024
A math teacher turned entrepreneur has struck the right entertainment equation ...
John Thomason, Delray Beach Magazine
Ginger Flesher-Sonnier brings experiential dining to Delray Beach with Thrōw Social...
Jock Fistick, South Florida Business Journal
Girls to the Front: 13 Badass Women Changing DC's Cultural Landscape
Being founder and CEO of some of the most buzzworthy hangouts in D.C. is no small deal.
Thrōw Social Looks to Be 'Golden Ticket' of Eatertainment Industry...
Ben Coley, FSR (Full Service Restaurant) Magazine
How a Math Teacher Built a Ludicrously Profitable Escape Room Empire
Meet Ginger Flesher-Sonnier, who's making the Disney World of escape rooms in the DC area.
Flesher-Sonnier’s empire was born in DC and today has nine themed rooms, across Georgetown and Alexandria. She doesn’t just make escape rooms, though. She makes the Disney World of escape rooms—escape rooms that look like Hollywood film sets.
Amanda Whiting, Washingtonian Magazine (Oct. 2018 Issue)
Watch the RHOBH ladies visit Kick Axe Throwing® Brooklyn
"Tits out!" The ladies have some fun and shenanigans at our Brooklyn, NY location of Kick Axe Throwing®.
TODAY
TODAY Dads Sharpen their Skills at Kick Axe Throwing
Ahead of Father’s Day, TODAY’s Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Carson Daly share an adventure and a few beers at Brooklyn’s Kick Axe Throwing, where they have an honest conversation about kids and parenting.
Oscars Attendees at Four Seasons Gifted $13,500 Boozy Axe-Throwing Experience
The experiential sport will get the VIP treatment at the Oscars, with a $13,500 gift certificate from Kick Axe Brooklyn.
ICSC - NEW YORK DEAL MAKING
'How Food and Entertainment Are Redefining Destination Retail'
- Javits Center, NYC
Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF): Amsterdam
Trending now: Experiential and Competitive Socializing
Ginger Flesher-Sonnier, Founder & CEO of The Ginger Brands, shares insights at GRIF 2019
Ginger is the founder & CEO of the experiential hospitality group, The Ginger Brands, LLC, which includes the brands Escape Rooms Live®, Kick Axe Throwing®, and THRōW Social®. A former high school Mathematics teacher, Ginger spent most of her adult life teaching students Calculus, Statistics, and acting as the high school’s competitive Mathletes coach. After an early retirement, she discovered her entrepreneurial spirit.
Ginger is responsible for opening the first escape rooms in Washington, D.C. in 2014, as well as the first axe throwing bar in the world in New York City in 2017. Her newest concept, THRōW Social®, which combines unique backyard-style games with food, libations and live music, has been dubbed the ‘Golden Ticket’ of Eatertainment and is receiving great acclaim in Washington, D.C. and Delray Beach, Florida. Ginger recently was awarded Best Female Entrepreneur in Consumer Services for 2022 by the Stevie International Business Awards.
All of Ginger’s venues are like boutique hotels, with her axe throwing bars immersing you in a Canadian Lodge, while her THRōW Social® locations whisk you away to tropical Palm Beach. Her escape rooms have been deemed ‘the Disney World of Escape Rooms’. Ginger’s brands have been featured on the TODAY Show, CNN, VICE, RHOBH, and in such publications as TIME magazine, Fast Company, WBJ, and the New York Times, among many others.
By focusing on growth, Ginger has set her place at the table of major entertainment players so that she can continue to create captivating spaces that allow people to unplug, engage, and escape their everyday life. Seeing and hearing people enjoying themselves, laughing, and communicating organically has always been her main motivation.
Ginger plans to continually expand her current brands, as well as venture into new concepts that she is constantly developing.
When not creating something new, Ginger loves spending time with her family, husband Darren & daughters, traveling, listening to live music, being warm, & drinking fruity cocktails. You can find her splitting her time between her native Bucks County, PA, NYC, DC and sunny Southern Florida...
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
NEXT/GEN Restaurant Summit
- September 2023 Atlanta, GA
Entertainment Experience Evolution
- March 2023 Los Angeles, CA
Women Rock The Biz Summit
- March 2022 Delray Beach, FL
'Celebrity' Judge - Lucky in Love Dating Game
- February 2022 South Florida
GREATER DC SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT SUMMIT
- 2020 Washington, DC
IWD - International Women's Day Panel
- March 2020 Washington, DC - 'Dainty Doesn't Do It'
ICSC - NEW YORK DEAL MAKING
- December 2019 Javits Center, NYC - 'How Food and Entertainment Are Redefining Destination Retail'
Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF)
- 2019 Amsterdam, NL - 'Competitive Socializing: Fad or Future?'
Transworld Escape Room Conferences
- 2017 Expert Panel St Louis, MO
- 2017 Seminar Presenter Niagara Falls, NY
- 2018 Seminar Presenter St Louis, MO
University of Maryland
- 2018 Guest lecturer, University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
Smith Sports & Entertainment Business Program
George Washington University
- 2017 Guest Lecturer, Entrepreneurship