Mikaila Ulmer: Me & the Bees Lemonade

Mikaila Ulmer, born in 2004 in Houston, Texas, was stung twice in the same week by bees and developed a terrible fear of them and anything else that buzzed. Also, around this time she was given a 1940s cookbook by her Granny Helen. Mikaila’s parents didn’t want her to live her life in fear, so they encouraged her to research and become familiar with bees. So, she did. She learned so much about them that she developed a passion for them. She learned that bees were dying due to colony collapse disorder. Mikaila’s parents had always encouraged her to be financially responsible and innovative in business and to be hardworking. She decided to combine these traits and her desire to help the bees and a flax lemonade recipe from the 1940s cookbook she was given by her grandmother into one big idea of honey-sweetened flax lemonade. And so, she started a lemonade stand.

As she kept up with her lemonade stand, more and more people encouraged her and fell in love with her product. She began to be offered opportunities of selling her lemonade in various shops if she could bottle it. She did so and began selling her product in a pizza parlor, and soon after got deals at Whole Foods, World Market, Target, The Fresh Market, and H-E-B. The Austin Black Chamber of Commerce contacted her and suggested she appear on Shark Tank with her product, which she did. She secured a deal by a man named Daymond John who invested $60,000 in her product. Later that year she was invited to meet Former President Barack Obama in the White House. She got the opportunity to introduce him at the United State of Women Summit.

In more recent years, Mikaila has expanded her flavors to include mint, black cherry, very berry, passionfruit, classic, and prickly pear. She holds to her foundation by donating a certain percentage of her profits to charitable organizations focused on preserving bees. In 2020 she wrote a book telling her story to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to follow their dreams. Today, Mikaila’s product can be found in over 500 stores across America. Mikaila Ulmer is an example of how hard work and commitment can lead to great places.