Since starting her lemonade company Me & the Bees at age four, Mikaila Ulmer has shared her story with the United Nations, the Obamas, and the Sharks of Shark Tank. It started with a bee sting and a family recipe book. Now a 20-year-old college student, Mikaila Ulmer has sold nearly 10 million lemonade bottles and continues to write, speak, and advocate for small businesses, hopeful entrepreneurs, and the bees.
When did your entrepreneurial spirit begin?
My parents encouraged entrepreneurialism. If I wanted a new toy, they’d allow me to do more chores for more points or find a way to earn money myself. We were always at the public library. I was learning Spanish and always helping in our butterfly habitat or vegetable garden. I had chickens, and I had to clean their coop. My parents wanted to teach me both financial responsibility and responsibility as a whole. And that’s what got me interested. If I wanted something, I’d ask myself, “What can I make or sell? What can I trade? What can I use my hands to try?”
How did the idea for Me & the Bees come about?
When I was four, I was stung by two bees in one week and became absolutely terrified of anything that buzzed, looked, or sounded like a bee. But my parents said, “Okay, you already read and go to the library. How about you do some research on them?” That research started with animated videos and picture books, and eventually, I put on a suit and went into local Texas hives when I was a little bit more comfortable with them.
I learned that, especially at the time, bees were dying at an alarming rate due to colony collapse disorder and that they’re pillars of our food supply and the foods that I ate daily. So, I decided to find a way for my next business to save them. It just so happened that a week after the bee stings, I got a 1940s cookbook from my great Granny Helen. I combined her flax lemonade recipe with the fact that bees made honey, and I made honey-sweetened flax lemonade and started my stand.
Can you describe a specific “aha” moment where you knew you’d created something special?
“Aha” moments started happening at a young age. It’d happen when someone who visited the stand was willing to donate to my cause and not necessarily buy the lemonade. Another was when a local Austin pizza shop said, “If you can find a way to bottle your product, we’ll carry it in our store on our shelves.” There were so many small interactions with people who encouraged me to keep scaling the business and the mission.
The Austin Black Chamber of Commerce called and recommended we pitch on Shark Tank. Getting a deal on Shark Tank was huge because the Sharks are very critical and picky. When I got a deal, I realized it was a chance to go national and beyond Texas. We weren’t just going to be producing once or twice a year anymore. I remember letting go of my dad’s hand halfway through the episode and being able to finish answering the questions on my own.
How does Texas culture affect your business?
Me & the Bees is so much bigger than Austin, but it started there. I’m in Atlanta for school, and my family is from different states and cities across the South. Austin has this incredibly supportive entrepreneurial network, global conferences, and many other businesses I’ve learned a lot from — like how to barter for ingredients. It’s so cool to see how, what might be a small partnership or purchase for your business could make a huge difference for another one. The Texas weather certainly didn’t hurt lemonade sales or the seasonality of the product.
How do you decide which ingredients to add to your lemonade?
It started with the abundance of mint we had growing in our garden. But now we have Black Cherry, Very Berry, Passionfruit, Classic, and Prickly Pear. Every flavor is fun and functional. They’re a mix of family recipes, food science, and what our customers want.
We’ve been offered ways to scale, like adding certain preservatives that might increase our already-really-good shelf life, but we turn them down because they don’t align with why I started the company: to give kids a healthier lemonade. And to save the bees. We use fruits pollinated by bees and U.S.-made flavors. Marketing research showed that berry and tropical flavors were growing in popularity and resonating in diverse communities, which we loved.
What’s something people are surprised to learn about you?
Despite the trips to the White House and meetings with Fortune 500 companies, I’m still a normal college kid with homework and chores. At my age, people are surprised that I’m the CEO and that I can talk about my margins and growth like any CEO. They say, “Oh, you have a lemonade stand, that’s so cute.” Then I tell them it’s nationally distributed in 50 states, and their faces change. Just because it’s a passion doesn’t make it any less profitable or purposeful.
What’s a common misconception about being the CEO of a food/beverage brand?
That we sit around consuming our product all day, every day. [Laughs]
Where can we find you on your days off?
You can’t find me! I’m in West Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, or Georgia, caving, hiking, or climbing somewhere. I love being outdoors and enjoying nature.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
At Emory, there’s a big emphasis on meditation, and we often have visiting Tibetan monks. The Dalai Lama was even a visiting professor. We get advice through fables during these meditation sessions, and one went like this: If you’re watching a solo ballet performance, the audience would never know that the dancer made a misstep unless they stopped dancing. That was a lesson of resilience. There’s no wrong move as long as you keep going.
Another I learned from watching the bees in their hives. They communicate by dancing — that’s how they show other bees where their food sources are. So stay light and stay vibrant. And every bee has its role. They all work together in different ways to work toward the common goal.
Besides faith, family, and friends, name three things you can’t live without.
Technology, books, and new experiences.
LIGHTNING ROUND!
Favorite recent podcast and book? Podcast: The Diary of a CEO, Book: Capital by Thomas Piketty
Favorite “hidden gems” in Austin? Lick Honest Ice Creams, a store with local artisan wares called Sfingiday, and a wonderful deaf-owned cafe, Crepe Crazy, where I can practice ASL with their staff.
Go-to birthday present to give? A Universal Yums international snack box or an Etsy gift card.
Thanks, Mikaila! Find out where to buy Me & the Bees lemonade here.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
**********
Give your inbox the Southern makeover it deserves. Subscribe to our daily emails.
