An 11-Year-Old Lemonade Entrepreneur Just Landed A Huge Deal With Whole Foods

This pint-sized businesswoman is making waves in the beverage business, and it all started with a simple bee sting. At first, Mikaila Ulmer, now 11, was afraid of bees because she was stung twice when she was younger, but she then became fascinated with them and saving their ecosystem.

She and her mom were already working on a business idea to create homemade lemonade, but her fights with bees led her to start using honey instead of sugar in her sweet drink. And thus, the idea for BeeSweet Lemonade was born.

First, Ulmer, along with her mom brought their BeeSweet Lemonade, made with "Great-Granny Helen's" lemonade recipe and local honey, to Shark Tank. After snagging a $60,000 deal with Daymond John, the 11-year-old entrepreneur brought her popular lemonade to Whole Foods, where she landed a major deal. BeeSweet Lemonade will be sold in 55 Whole Foods stores across Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

"I work on the business after school, after I do my homework, and on weekends and during spring breaks," she said in an interview with NBCBLK. "There are not too many times when I feel stressed."

Proceeds from all lemonade sales will go toward local and national organizations to help save the bees,  and Ulmer even plans to take her business to South Africa, where she plans on talking to young girls about becoming a successful entrepreneur.