WEB CHUTNEY

Mikaila Ulmer is a social entrepreneur who is just 11-year-old, she is also a great public speaker, philanthropist and savvy 6th-grader” from Austin, Texas.

She is all these things because she pitched BeeSweet to a panel of potential investors on ABC’s “Shark Tank” last year. What is BeeSweet? It is lemonade made with her great-grandmother’s secret recipe that uses flaxseed and local honey instead of artificial sweeteners and is on a mission to help save a diminishing bee population.

Mikaila impressed the panel and landed a $60,000 deal last year. She was prompted to start the business, after she was stung by bees as a 4-year-old and was “terrified.” But instead of staying afraid of the bees, she decided to learn more about them, creating her drink as a way to sustain local beekeepers and make money.

Mikaila says that her business doesn’t stress her

“I work on the business after school, after I do my homework, and on weekends and during spring breaks. There are not too many times when I feel stressed.” Same. If by “business” you mean “nothing” and by “homework” you mean “work,” same

Later on BeeSweet scored a contract with whole foods that agreed to sell her product in regional stores! The drink contains locally harvested honey, and 20 percent of the proceeds of sales go to organizations that help save honeybees.

This post originally appeared here