Mikaila Ulmer: A Successful Gen Z Entrepreneur

Mikaila Ulmer is a 22-year-old Generation Z entrepreneur that started a lemonade business at the young age of 4 years old. Ulmer began her business from an incredibly early age and started by having a lemonade stand. She went on to make it big in the business world by pitching her business on SharkTank. This was very interesting because it is not often that children go on this kind of high-stakes show. However, her success was evident when she secured a $60,000 deal for 20% equity. Additionally, as a teenager, she wrote a book talking about her experiences as a young entrepreneur with the goal of ultimately inspiring other young people to pursue their dreams and develop their ideas into a profitable and successful business. While lemonade is a very common beverage, for Ulmer, it is more than just lemonade she is driven by the conservation of bees. Her product is distinguishable because she uses honey in her lemonade from her grandmother’s recipe and continues to advocate for the conservation of bees. With these skills she demonstrates drive and motivation as well as passion for a good cause. She took notice of bees at such a young age and turned it into an extremely successful business idea. Ulmer is innovating by using more natural ingredients such as real lemon juice instead of just a lemonade concentrate. Also, she has developed more environmentally friendly cans in order to help preserve the Earth and to align with the company’s values on both preservation and conservation. She inspires people to think about more than just tasty flavors, but how foods and beverages can actually have a positive impact on conversation and the environment as a whole. Today her business continues to thrive being sold in grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Kroger.