We celebrate black-owned businesses and their stories of success.
Me & the Bees Lemonade
From two bee stings (in less than 1 week, we might add!) to starting a lemonade stand, a young entrepreneur is celebrating 10+ years of building a purpose-based brand aimed at offering premium, all-natural lemonades in a way that helps save the bees. Founder, Mikaila, at just age 4 made her lemonade at youth entrepreneurial events and at her lemonade stand out in front of her home, donating a percentage of the profits to local and international organizations fighting hard to save the honeybees. Her dream started with an idea to do something that helps honeybees and uses her Great Granny Helen’s flaxseed lemonade recipe. Today, the award-winning, ready-to-drink Me & the Bees Lemonades are buzzing off the shelves!
…
Naturade VeganSmart
The story of Naturade – a black owned natural health company – starts with Kareem Cook and Claude Tellis when they were college friends at Duke University. Years later, after recognizing the high child obesity rate in L.A., they founded a healthy vending machine company. From there, Kareem and Claude co-led a movement that resulted in a ban on junk food in the Los Angeles public schools. Their work garnered them an invitation from President Clinton and Governor Huckabee to meet and discuss how they did it and try to replicate their success nationwide. In an effort to make a global impact on diet-related illness and obesity, the gentlemen went on to acquire a premium level natural products company. Their journey led them to eventually partner with fitness and diet expert John Lewis, who touted the benefits of a plant-based diet. Today, their journey from a healthy vending machine company to owning Naturade and creating Vegan Smart has brought the health industry a great tasting, quality product with a mission to save lives regardless of income, location and race.
…
A Dozen Cousins
Enjoy authentic cultural recipes made with wholesome ingredients! A Dozen Cousins was inspired by a family making memories around a delicious melting pot of Creole, Caribbean & Latin American dinners. What brought these memories to life through a company was the recognition of a problem & the integration of good quality, healthy & authentic ingredients. The problem, you ask? The reality that people living in under-served communities (such as low-income families and members of certain ethnic minorities) face many obstacles to living a healthy lifestyle. These hindrances put these communities at far greater risk for obesity, diabetes & other diet-related illnesses. Thus, their mission began to inspire families of all backgrounds to eat better food and live longer more vibrant lives. Their vision is for all Americans to live a healthy lifestyle, regardless of who they are, where they live or how much they make.
…
Yolélé
“Let the Good Times Roll” by celebrating the ingredients & food traditions of Africa! Yolélé was founded in 2017 to share the ancient West African grain, fonio, & other African cuisines with the world. But above that, it was born with a purpose to create economic opportunity for smallholder farming communities; to support biodiverse, regenerative, and resilient food systems! With a focus on creating economic opportunity, resilient food systems, bringing African food around the world & building supply chain, Yolélé shares culture through food, vibrant flavors & sustainable ingredients.
…
The Honeypot Company
Here’s an all natural feminine hygiene brand founded by a black female entrepreneur who’s making Black History in women’s health as the 1st full plant-derived feminine care system on the market harnessing the power of herbs! The story of how The Honey Pot came about is best told by the Founder & Ceo, Bea Dixon, herself:
“I suffered from bacterial vaginosis for months. An ancestor gave me the ingredients to heal myself in a dream. I created the formula for an effective, clean feminine wash. It worked! We launched The Honey Pot Company in 2014. The rest is history…”
Their mission is personal with a focus on educating, supporting & promoting menstrual health & wellness. Stay clean, fresh, & balanced (menstruating or not) with a plant-based hygiene foaming wash containing colloidal silver & everyday herbal-infused pantiliners available at Clearwater. Keep your honeypot happy with a product that is free from chemicals, toxins, artificial fragrance, or anything synthetic.
…
Vibrant Health
Truth, trust & transparency is something we all value. Vibrant Health embodies those values by building a company that delivers nutrition you can trust by using the best all-natural hand-sourced ingredients, fully disclosing every ingredient by dose on the label, and updating formulas as nutritional science evolves. It’s a company that started with humble roots in 1992. All it took was Mark Timon, Vibrant Health founder & nutrition scientist, a few thousand dollars & 500 jars of his groundbreaking super-food formula, Green Vibrance. 20 years later, Mark met Ted & Paige Parker. Ted was taking the product with great success for a health issue while his wife sold Green Vibrance & other Vibrant Health products in her natural products store. In fact, the Parkers had become one of Vibrant Health’s top retailers. Eventually, Ted made it on as Vibrant Health’s national sales manager & helped triple the company’s sales. In 2007, Ted & Paige saw the opportunity to buy the company. It was a perfect fit for their shared passion in helping people achieve health & live their best lives. Over the next 13 years, the company would grow from $7 million in sales to $30 million in sales. Their passion drove their success, and now Vibrant Health ranks 81 on the Black Enterprise List of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses. They even recently made the Forbes list of black-owned businesses to support.
