Portuguese 
Spanish 
Mikaila Ulmer created Me & the Bees Lemonade after studying bees, received $60,000 on Shark Tank, and expanded the brand in the United States.
After being stung by bees as a child, Mikaila Ulmer turned fear into business and created one of the most well-known stories of youth entrepreneurship in the United States. The idea was born from an experience that could have turned into trauma but ended up paving the way for a lemonade brand with commercial appeal and environmental cause.
The young entrepreneur, born in Austin, Texas, used a family recipe inspired by a 1940s cookbook, replaced sugar with honey, and built the foundation of the company that would later become known as Me & the Bees Lemonade. The growth scaled up after appearing on Shark Tank and through deals with major retail chains.
Mikaila Ulmer turned two bee stings into a business idea
When she was 4 years old, Mikaila Ulmer was stung by bees twice in one week. Instead of developing a permanent aversion to the insects, she decided to research why bees were important and understood the central role these pollinators play in environmental balance and food production.
-
Brazilian Entrepreneur Turns Door-to-Door Jewelry Sales into a Family Business Empire with Over 70 Stores
-
$75 Million Bridge in Brazil Opens to Connect Cities, Create Jobs, and Cut Travel Time from 30 to 2 Minutes; Spanning 1.24 km, It’s Among the Country’s Largest and Ends Decades of Ferry Queues.
-
Brazilian Farmer Builds 8-Ton Tractor from Army Truck Engine, Plants Over 100 Hectares of Soybeans
-
9-Year-Old in Brazil Sells Homemade Sweets to Support Grandfather with Parkinson’s, Family Dreams of Buying Candy-Making Machine
At the same time, the family received an old lemonade recipe from her great-grandmother, known as Great-Granny Helen. The formula, recorded in a 1940s recipe book, served as the basis for the drink that Mikaila began to sweeten with honey, connecting the product to the message of valuing bees.
The proposal was not just to sell lemonade. From the beginning, the brand was born with a clear positioning, combining beverage, environmental education, and awareness about the importance of bees, a differentiator that helped the story gain national attention.
Shark Tank gave national visibility to Me and the Bees Lemonade
The most well-known leap in the journey came with participation in Shark Tank, an ABC program. Mikaila appeared alongside her father in the sixth season of the show and caught attention by presenting a brand with a well-defined product, cause, and narrative for someone so young.
Mikaila Ulmer, the 15-year-old founder and CEO of Me & the Bees Lemonade in 2019. Microsoft, courtesy of Me & the Bees
In the negotiation, she convinced Daymond John, founder of FUBU, to invest $60,000 in the business. The investment helped to professionalize the operation and gave the company a national showcase at a decisive moment of growth.
More than the financial value, the exposure on the program put the brand in front of retailers, distributors, and new consumers. This movement accelerated commercial expansion and established Mikaila Ulmer as one of the most well-known names in modern child entrepreneurship in the United States.
Whole Foods expanded the distribution of lemonade in dozens of stores
After the visibility on the program, Whole Foods expanded the presence of the drink in its regional operation. Reports published in 2016 recorded that the lemonade began to be distributed in 55 stores of the network in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, a significant advancement for a company created by a student still in elementary school.
The expansion showed that the brand had moved from the stage of local curiosity to a new phase, with the strength to negotiate with larger-scale retail. At that time, the company still operated under the name BeeSweet Lemonade, before consolidating its identity as Me & the Bees Lemonade.
In 2017, Microsoft already recorded that the lemonade was sold in almost 20 American states, indicating that the company continued to advance after the agreement with Whole Foods.
Brand grew with environmental discourse and public presence of Mikaila Ulmer
Mikaila’s journey was not restricted to retail. With the brand’s growth, she began to participate in events, lectures, and public actions related to entrepreneurship, sustainability, and bee preservation.
Among the moments of greatest institutional visibility, Mikaila introduced Barack Obama at the United State of Women Summit in 2016. Microsoft’s own coverage highlights this episode as part of the young entrepreneur’s national projection.
The company has also strengthened over the years the link between product and purpose. In its official presentation, the brand states that it was born with a mission related to the protection of bees and informs that the founder expanded this action through lectures, workshops, and educational initiatives.
Me and the Bees Lemonade went from a children’s fair to a national brand
What started at a children’s fair evolved into a nationwide operation. In the company’s official presentation, Me & the Bees currently states that its honey-sweetened lemonade is available in all 50 states of the United States, showing that the business continued to grow far beyond the initial phase of television exposure.
This scale helps explain why Mikaila Ulmer’s case continues to be cited as a reference in debates about youth entrepreneurship, brand building, and cause-driven businesses. The merit of the journey lies in combining a strong narrative, a commercially appealing product, and environmental positioning from the start.
In the end, the story gained strength because it brought together rare elements in the same case: childhood, purpose, television, retail, and real expansion. The girl who started researching bees after two stings turned a family recipe into a national brand and built a recognized business long before adulthood.
