Me and the Bees

By Makaela Willis, Marketing & Owner Services Assistant

Me and the Bees was started by Mikaila Ulmer at the age of four after being stung by 2 bees in the same week. After those two bee stings, Mikaila wanted to learn about the bees and what they do for the ecosystem. She learned that the bees were in danger and wanted to do something about it! With the help of her great grandma’s 1940’s lemonade recipe, Mikaila decided she could start a business and save the bees too. She started her business by attending many youths’ entrepreneurial events and at a stand in front of her home. She donated a percentage of the profits to organizations fighting to save the bees. By the age of 9, Mikaila had a bottled product and was pitching her lemonade to ‘Shark Tank’; and she won! This made her one of the youngest entrepreneurs to win ‘Shark Tank’ and with the help of Daymond John her business has been flourishing ever since.

If you want to hear her story from Mikaila herself check out this video.

Wanting to do more than give a portion of her earnings to other organizations, she volunteered to teach anyone who would listen about the importance of bees. Even with that she still wanted to do more, so she founded the organization Healthy Hive Foundation. Their mission is to save all bees through education, research, and protection, and to inspire social entrepreneurship. Not only was this powerhouse running a business and volunteering her time to educate others about the importance of bees, she was also in school full time!

What is Mikaila doing now? Well, she has expanded her business into stores in all 50 US states and has written a book about her journey as a social entrepreneur from the age 4 to now. This entrepreneur of color is unstoppable and now at the age of 16 – look out world Mikaila is coming through with big plans and ambitions as she starts to apply to colleges.

If you want to continue to follow Mikaila’s journey and learn more about her business or how to save the bees, check out her website and social media.

Here at GreenTree we carry the Classic and Ginger varieties of Me and the Bees Lemonade.

I tried the Classic Lemonade, and I was surprised by how lovely and refreshing the taste was without being overpowering in either the sweetness or lemon flavors. I plan on getting more for myself when summer comes around. A great drink with an inspirational cause is totally up my alley!