Mikaila Ulmer (born September 28, 2004) is an American entrepreneur who started a lemonade business in Austin,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Her lemonade is sold in over 1500 stores.

Life

Mikaila Ulmer was born in Houston, Texas. Her parents, D'Andra and Theo Ulmer, both have business degrees. She is from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, where she attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School. By 2009, Ulmer was in front of her house selling her lemonade inspired by her great grandmother’s 1940s recipe, using honey from local

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

s which includes flaxseed. The lemonade sold well and she was asked by a local pizza shop to supply her product to it, which is how bottling her lemonade started. Since her humble beginnings, Mikaila has donated 10% of the profits to charities that are concerned with saving the bees. As the business grew her parents became involved. Mikaila is enrolled as a student at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

. Ulmer appeared with her father on the television show Shark Tank in 2015 where she successfully received a $60,000 investment to support her growing business.

Daymond John Daymond Garfield John (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality tel ...

put up the money. Ulmer was invited that year to meet President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

at the White House. Ulmer introduced Barack Obama at the

United State of Women Summit The United State of Women Summit was a summit held in Washington, D.C. focused on gender equality in the United States. The summit was hosted by the White House, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Aspen Institute ...

in 2016. Obama called her "an amazing young lady". In 2017, her business received $800,000 dollars as an investment made by a consortium of football players. In 2017, her lemonade, "Me & The Bees Lemonade" was being sold in 500 American shops in 500,000 bottles a year. Running a business requires finding the right balance to do well in school too. In February 2020, Me & the Bees was in over 1,500 stores nationwide, including

Whole Foods Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

, Cost Plus World Market,

Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc () (commonly referred to as "Vitamin Cottage" or "Natural Grocers") is a Colorado based health food chain. The business was founded in 1955 as a door-to-door sales operation by Margaret and Philip Isely. ...

H-E-B H-E-B Grocery Company, LP, is an American privately held supermarket chain based in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 340 stores throughout the U.S. state of Texas, as well as in northeast Mexico. The company also operates Central Market, an ...

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...

, and

The Fresh Market The Fresh Market is an American chain of supermarkets based in Greensboro, North Carolina. History The Fresh Market was founded by Ray and Beverly Berry on March 5, 1982, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Berrys' idea was to develop a better gr ...

. Me & the Bees has also expanded its product line to include lip balms made from bee’s wax.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulmer, Mikaela 2004 births Living people American child businesspeople Businesspeople from Austin, Texas 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople African-American women in business Businesspeople from Texas American food company founders American chief executives of food industry companies American drink industry businesspeople African-American company founders American women company founders American company founders American women chief executives 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American businesspeople