Mikaila Ulmer is a 15-year-old social entrepreneur, bee ambassador, educator and student. The young CEO founded her Me & the Bees Lemonade business when she was just four years old, and over the past decade has sold over 1 million bottles across 1,500 stores in the U.S., including Whole Foods, Wegman’s, The Fresh Market and Macy’s Her appearance on CNBC-TV’s “Shark Tank” at age nine scored a $60,000 investment from Daymond John in 2015 and her business received $800,000 dollars as an investment made by a consortium of football players in 2017. She has established herself as a voice of guidance for others, appearing on “Good Morning America”, “Today Show,” “20/20”, “ABC World News Tonight,” CBS News, and regularly speaking at entrepreneurial summits and even introducing former U.S. president Barack Obama at the United State of Women Summit after which he called her “an amazing young lady”. She has also spoken on stage at Microsoft We Day, alongside CEO Satya Nadella, the Nexus Summit and the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network Summit. Mikaila was selected as one of Time magazine’s 2017 30 Most Influential Teens and for Ebony Magazine’s Ebony Power100 #Black Excellence. She has over 95,000 followers on social media.
On this Episode:
- Mikaila talks about how getting stung by bees when she was 4 years old turned into her desire to help save them.
- Mikaila tells how she went from a lemonade stand that she would run a few times a year to being encouraged to bottle her product to sell in small local stores at the age of 8.
- Mikaila recounts the story of her Shark Tank experience and how overpreparation helped her be less nervous for her appearance on the show.
- Mikaila explains that even with the recognition of the show while it has been easier to get into stores, it still is not easy! It takes hard work.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn from things that may scare you or cause you initial discomfort
- Be overly prepared to help calm your nerves
- Support Black owned businesses
Mikaila Ulmer:
- Instagram: @mikailasbees
- Find her book “Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid” on her website meandthebees.com
Resources Mentioned:
- Visit Travis’ website at travischappell.com
- Join the Build Your Network Facebook group travischappell.com/group
