Social entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer is the 15 year-old Founder & CEO of Me & the Bees Lemonade as well as a Bee Ambassador, Author, Public Speaker, and Student. Born and raised in Austin, TX, she started her first lemonade stand at just four years old. After being stung by two bees and doing a little research on them, she discovered the important role that bees play in our ecosystem, as well as their decline. Inspired by her Great Granny’s flaxseed lemonade recipe, she launched her lemonade stand to sell refreshing lemonade sweetened with Texas honey to align with her mission to save the bees. She continued to grow her business into a ready-to-drink bottled lemonade business and appeared on Shark Tank when she was 11 years old, which resulted in getting funding from Daymond John to scale and grow. Now, the award-winning lemonade is distributed nationally and is buzzing off the shelves of H-E-B, Whole Foods Market, World Market, The Fresh Market, small local retailers, and well as at cafeterias and restaurants.

She is the author of Bee Fearless: Dream like a Kid, a middle-grade business play-book and story of growing Me & the Bees Lemonade. As well as a public speaker discussing topics such as social entrepreneurship, Gen-Z, and the bees. Mikaila has traveled the globe to take the stage at summits and corporate engagements from Budapest to Singapore and at events such as the United State of Women Summit where she introduced President Barack Obama or The Social Innovation Summit in Los Angeles.

The young social entrepreneur has received many awards and accolades ranging from TIME Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal of Honor, and she was named a National Parks Biodiversity Ambassador.

Watch this one on YouTube. CLICK HERE.

FORBES recently called WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT, “the best leadership book of 2020.”

Be part of “Mindful Monday” — Text LEARNERS to 44222

Subscribe on iTunes  or Stitcher Radio

The Learning Leader Show

  • Mikaila learned of a recipe from her Grandmother’s (from the 1940’s): Honey, mint, flaxseed to make lemonade
  • Preparation for Shark Tank – She realized it was a huge opportunity and spent months honing her pitch
    • She met with a math teacher to fully understand her numbers
    • Practice the pitch over and over in front of family and friends
    • She researched the advantages to each shark to figure out which one she wanted to partner with
    • Daymond John invested
  • Her parents keep her humble
    • At home, it’s family first, then business
    • Her dad helped her make a budget. He works at Dell
  • Mikaila has met President Obama three times
  • Time Magazine named her one of the most inspirational teens
  • Doing excellent work opens doors to meet incredible people
      • Ask questions
      • Teach or learn something from everyone you meetHow she networks:
      • Find commonalities
  • Curiosity – Mikaila wants to learn as much as possible and teach it to others
  • Goal setting – You need passion and hard work
    • Have a story
    • Small steps – “I definitely have a lot of goals, but as my dad always said, it’s important to work step by step and take each little goal one at a time.”
  • Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) said, “Mikaila is one of the most impressive CEOs I’ve met. She’s applying her passion and ingenuity to go change the world.”
  • Excellence: “Don’t be discouraged by life’s little stings, get back up, spread your wings.”
  • Advice to young people:
    • Have a mission and/or a cause
      • There is an increase in conscious consumers
      • It provides something bigger to motivate you to keep going
    • Take advantage of resources you have — Technology
      • Use Canva for design — The artwork for this episode was designed by Miranda Hawk using Canva.
      • Free invoice templates online
  • Me and The Bees
    • All fun and functional
    • Honey & Flaxseed
    • 25% less sugar
    • 1,800 stores, 40 states
  • Here is WHY joining a Learning Leader Circle is a good idea…

Resources:

More Learning:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 216: Jim Collins — How To Go From Good To Great

Episode #300: AJ & Keith Hawk – How To Instill Work Ethic & Curiosity In Your Children

Episode #303:  General Stanley McChrystal – The New Definition Of Leadership