When Mikaila Ulmer was only four-years-old, she was stung by a bee twice and consequently became scared of bees. However, after learning more about them, she became fascinated and learned all about what they do for the ecosystem.
Mikaila's family encouraged her to make a product for a couple of children's business competitions. She decided to use her great grandmother's special recipe for flaxseed lemonade. Mikaila decided to add her own twist to it by adding honey from bees, instead of only sugar. Mikaila started her lemonade at youth entrepreneurial events and at her lemonade stand out in front of her home, donating a percentage of the profits to local and international organizations fighting hard to save the honeybees. Me & the Bees Lemonade was officially launched and gave a percentage of sales to help save the bees.
As of 2021, the business has been successful for over 10 years now. Mikaila's drink has won many awards and is now in retail stores including Whole Foods Market, The Fresh Market, Kroger, and World Market. It is also available at a growing number of restaurants, food trailers and natural food delivery companies. Mikaila also wrote her first book Bee Fearless, Dream Like a Kid which launched in August 2020. Published by Penguin Random House, it is about her adventures in being a social entrepreneur and heading up a purpose-based brand aimed at offering premium, all-natural lemonades in a way that helps save the bees.
Not only does Mikaila have her business but she travels to participate in events to share her stories of being a social entrepreneur, as well as lead workshops on how to save the bees and helps the Healthy Hive Foundation, a nonprofit to further help the mission of saving the pollinators.
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