11-Year-Old Entrepreneur Signs Deal to Sell Her Lemonade in Whole Foods Stores

By Kenrya Rankin Mar 28, 2016

When she was 10 years old, entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer killed on “Shark Tank,” securing $60,000 from FUBU CEO Daymond John to push her beverage company to the next level. Now, a year later, the Austin, Texas-based 6th-grader’s BeeSweet Lemonade will appear in 55 Whole Foods stores in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, Louisiana.

Ulmer got her start at the age of four, after being stung by two bees in one week. As she says on the company’s website:

I didn’t enjoy the bee stings at all. They scared me. 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? 

That’s how BeeSweet Lemonade was born. It comes from my Great Granny Helen’s flaxseed recipe and my new love for bees. So that’s why we sweeten it with local honey. And today my little idea continues to grow. 

Ulmer travels the nation, leading workshops on entrepreneurship and saving honeybees. As she told NBC News, her business is about more than money. She donates a portion of profits to organizations that work to save honeybees, which pollinate $15 billion of crops annually.

“Last year, beekeepers lost 40 percent of all their hives,” Ulmer said. “Bees are dying.” She also quoted Albert Einstein, who said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.”

Ulmer will be a celebrity chef at today’s 2016 White House Easter Egg Roll.