It's not often you hear of a preteen CEO taking on an endangered species.
But that's how it is with Mikaila Ulmers.
When Mikaila got stung by bees twice in one week aged four, it sparked a fear of the buzzy creatures in the little one.
But as she grew up, that fear turned into a serious fascination.
This ultimately gave birth to something even sweeter - BeeSweet Lemonade!
“I didn’t enjoy the bee stings at all. They scared me,” Mikaila told NBCBLK. “But then something strange happened. I became fascinated with bees."
"I learned all about what they do for me and our ecosystem. So then I thought, what if I make something that helps honeybees and uses my Great-Granny Helen’s recipe?”
With Mikaila’s bright idea and Great-Granny Helen’s much-loved recipe, a winning product was born.
Like any good start-up entrepreneur Mikaila, who's from South Carolina, started out brewing her lemonade for events and and food chains locally before appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank, on US TV, which landed her a $60, 000 investment.
It wasn't long after that that US distributor Whole Foods signed with the 11-year old entrepreneur, providing BeeSweet to 55 stores in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
If it sells well, BeeSweet will be distributed to the rest of the US, and maybe even beyond.
Amazingly, the profits are not solely for Mikaila’s gain. She has decided to donate a percentage to organisations working to protect the endangered honey bee population.
Mikaila is extremely proud of the product she and her family have created.
“I really love my new label,” she says. “It actually has my face on it, so it makes me feel really special!”
