Recently, Beyonce released her new visual album, Lemonade. The album has taken the music industry by storm. What you may not know, is that prior to Beyonce, there were two successful black entrepreneurs that also released products about lemonade.
Julian DeShazier ( a.k.a J.Kwest) is an Emmy winning 33-year old father, pastor and rapper from the suburbs of Chicago. He received an undergraduate degree from Morehouse and a Master of Divinity from University of Chicago. In November 2015, he released an album entitled Lemonade. The quality of the music and his message is outstanding. Given his dedication to teaching and preaching, he uses rap as a conduit to convey a message of hope and optimism. As ironic as it may seem, the branding and the name of his album was a precursor to Beyonce’s, which was released months later.
10 year old, Mikaila Ulmer received a $60,000 investment from Shark Tank investor Daymond John, to fund BeeSweet Lemonade. Even though she’s been running the business since 2009, it’s taken off since the investment. This beverage is unique as it uses honey from local bees as sweetener instead of sugar, and it was developed from her grandmother’s recipe. BeeSweet Lemonade has been rebranded as Me & the Bees Lemonade. The brand is currently being sold in Whole Foods, and it is rapidly becoming a favorite in stores around the nation. Mikaila is a trail blazer and an amazing girl with an extremely bright future.
Link to J.Kwest’s album: https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1057369721?ls=1&app=itunes
Link to Me and the Bees’s Lemonade: http://meandthebees.com/