Bobby Butler is a proud native Washingtonian. He attended Archbishop Carroll High School and graduated with honors in Art and English. He later attended the first private historically black college / university – Wilberforce University in Ohio –  where he completed a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts. After returning home to Washington, D.C., he became an elementary school English Language Arts teacher for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) for 11 years. During that time, he earned a master’s degree in Elementary Education from American University, graduating in 2003. He left DCPS in 2011 to begin a custom-design bakery and catering business called, Caked Up N’ da Buff!, based in Gaithersburg.

In 2015, his love for art and teaching overpowered him, and he returned to the teaching profession as a teen mentor and visual arts aftercare instructor. Bobby continued teaching by creating after-school and summer camp culinary arts programs.

In 2018, he brought these skills to Chance Academy, where he has found an educational home and sanctuary. At Chance Academy, he feels part of an exemplary body of staff and a fully encompassing community, which enables him to become a lead mentor in visual and culinary arts.