BOOKS ON BLACK CHILDREN IN BUSINESS

7/16/2021

The more passionate you are about what you do,
The more fun you have while doing it.”
--Mikaila Ulmer

When 4 ½ year old Mikaila Ulmer got stung by 2 bees within 1 week, she did not have her sights on having anything more to do with bees because she said in an interview on Google she was scared of them. But when her parents encouraged her to find out more about bees by doing research on them, she turned those lemons literally into lemonade by creating a business with socially responsible component of saving bees. It is an incredible story of how the sting of adversity can be reshaped to serve a much bigger cause. This post will present books by or about child entrepreneurs.

Books on Black Child Entrepreneurs - Kidpreneurs

I was thoroughly impressed with the series of events that led to Mikaila’s start in business. She shares that the recipe for her lemonade came from her great grandmother’s favorite lemonade recipe. She changed it to include honey instead of sugar so it would be more nutritionally enriched. Honey has been found to contain enzymes, B vitamins and antioxidants that have a number of health benefits. Flaxseed is also included. It aids with digestion and contains omega-3 fatty acids which set it apart from the ingredients in your typical extra high fructose soda pop. Mikaila has found the winning combination of great taste and nutritional value.

When Mikaila appeared on Shark Tank in 2015, Daymond John gave her a cash infusion of $60,000 which took her business from supplying about 30 stores located in her town of Austin, TX to over 200 across the nation. Measuring her trajectory of growth from her modist lemonade stand beginnings demonstrates the power of hard work and big dreams.

National Lemonade Day is August 20th. Children who want to set up lemonade stands in Texas will no longer need a license to do so thanks in part to Mikaila. She joined other entrepreneurs who testified in support of Texas bill HR234 during the 86th Legislative Session. I applaud her balance of entrepreneurship with social responsibility.

Farrah Gray, son of activist Khalid Muhammad became a millionaire by the age of 14. His book, “Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out” was the first that I recall in my bookselling career about a black child entrepreneur. The release date was 2005. He is a philanthropist, Who’s Who in Las Vegas, received anHonorary Doctorate degree of Humane Letters from Allen University, investor, best selling author, named as one of the most influential Black men by the National Urban League among many accolades. He started his career at the age of 6 with a desire to help his mother who suffered from 2 back-to-back heart attacks.

In “Marley Dias Get’s it Done and So Can You,” Marly describes that when she was in her 5th grade class she noticed that none of the books assigned had Black girls as the main characters in them. That inspired her to collect 1,000 books that did have Black girls as the main character and. Her message is for children to use their passion create the change they want to see. Her passion so far has culminated in her becoming an author and collecting more than 12,000 books.

Additional Resources

Youtube video with young people Marley Dias, Naomi Wadler, Madison Kimrey with Zoey Deutch
Marley Dias Website: https://www.marleydias.com/about/

Final Remarks

As always, I appreciate that you have read through this blog post. I hope that you’ve become curious to seek out more books about black children in business and other mini moguls. We ask that you consider purchasing your books from our Black owned business, Afriware Books, Co. If there is a title you’d like to purchase that is not mentioned here, or could not be found on the website, feel free to email us at: [email protected]

Blog Notes

Daymond John Makes A Deal With This Young Shark Tank Entrepreneur

Bee Sweet Leomonade Mikaila Ulmer Talks at Google

Lemonade Day National Leaders Applaud Governor Abbott for Signing "Save Our Lemonade Stands Bill" HB 234 and Posting Twitter Video Announcement

Honey vs. Sugar: which Sweetener should I use?