Update: In the year since we learned about Mikaila Ulmer and her inspiring lemonade company, she turned 11 and, oh by the way, just landed a major contract with Whole Foods. According to Business Insider, it's an $11 million deal, and 55 Whole Foods stores will carry her BeeSweet product. We can only imagine what Mikaila will do once she hits high school!
This story was originally published on March 25, 2015.
There's a major buzz developing around 10-year-old Mikaila Ulmer and her honey-sweetened lemonade business, BeeSweet Lemonade. I have to admit that when I watched the video, it almost brought me to tears — I mean, this little powerhouse is super inspiring! Not only has she launched a delicious beverage product to support her passion, she also gives back to her work force — bees — in a big way.
Here's some background: Mikaila got freaked out by bees after she got strung a few times, but her family countered her fear by helping her to learn about the busy insects. Mikaila became completely fascinated by bees (easy to do because bees are awesome) and decided to take action when she learned about their rapid and mysterious decline in recent years. With her grandmother's flaxseed honey lemonade recipe, and the support of her family, she launched BeeSweet Lemonade and devoted 20% of all proceeds in support of local and international efforts to save honeybees. Lucky for all of us, Mikaila's grandmother's recipe was so popular that it went from the local lemonade stand all the way to Whole Foods! If you have any doubt that this company has wings, FUBU CEO and founder Daymond John just agreed to invest $60,000 in her business when she went on Shark Tank (the episode aired on March 20).
Brava to Mikaila for her passion and for taking this big next step in growing her business!
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