North America

Let our founder, Mikaila, explain the origin of Me & the Bees Lemonade: When I was just four, I got stung by a bee and then got stung again less than a week later! Naturally, I didn't enjoy the bee stings at all and I became scared of bees. But then after doing some research about them, I became fascinated and learned all about what they do for me and our ecosystem. Around that same time, my family encouraged me to make a product for a couple of children's business competitions - the Acton Children’s Business Fair and Austin Lemonade Day. So I put on my thinking cap. I thought about some ideas. While I was thinking, my Great Granny Helen, who lived in Cameron, South Carolina, sent my family a 1940s cookbook, which included her special recipe for flaxseed lemonade. So then I thought, what if I make something that helps honeybees and uses my Great Granny Helen's lemonade recipe? I decided to give her beloved lemonade a new twist by adding honey from bees, instead of only sugar. That's how Be Sweet Lemonade was born! However, we had to change the name due to a copyright issue, so we decided to call it Me & the Bees Lemonade because we give a percentage of sales to help save the bees. We are now celebrating more than 10 years in “buzzness!” Mikaila started 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. That is why she touts: “Buy a Bottle… Save a Bee.” Now at age 15, her little idea from more than 10 years ago continues to grow and grow...by more than 500 percent since the company’s humble Austin, Texas-based beginnings. Today, the award-winning, ready-to-drink Me & the Bees Lemonades in five refreshing flavors is buzzing off the shelves of Whole Foods Market, The Fresh Market, World Market, H-E-B stores across Texas and Kroger stores in Houston. It is also available at a growing number of restaurants, food trailers and natural food delivery companies. When not traveling for speaking events to share her stories of being a social entrepreneur, leading workshops on how to save the bees, or participating in social entrepreneurship panels, you can find Mikaila coming up with ideas to help the Healthy Hive Foundation, a nonprofit to further help the mission of saving the pollinators. Mikaila’s first book, Bee Fearless, Dream Like a Kid, launches in August 2020. Published by Penguin Random House, it is about her adventures in being a social entrepreneur and heading up a purpose-based brand aimed at offering premium, all-natural lemonades in a way that helps save the bees.

On January 18, 1921, Annapolis' first public library opened in the municipal building in downtown Annapolis. Today, the Anne Arundel County Public Library has 16 branches to provide services to the residents of Anne Arundel County and strive to become an important link for everyone to learn and enrich.

Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Founded in 2007, Goodreads is where readers find and share books they love. Used by avid and casual readers alike, Goodreads members can discover new books by seeing what their friends are reading or by using the Goodreads Book Recommendation Engine; share ratings and recommendations; track what they have read, and list what they want to read. Goodreads is also a place where authors connect with readers. Goodreads is a subsidiary of Amazon. Did we mention we are hiring? We are a team of 110+ people that are passionate about reading and technology, and looking for extraordinary people to join our team.

Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. We believe that bookstores are essential to a healthy culture. They’re where authors can connect with readers, where we discover new writers, where children get hooked on the thrill of reading that can last a lifetime. They’re also anchors for our downtowns and communities. As more and more people buy their books online, we wanted to create an easy, convenient way for you to get your books and support bookstores at the same time. If you want to find a specific local bookstore to support, find them on our map, and they’ll receive the full profit off your order. Otherwise, your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookstores (even those that don’t use Bookshop). We also support anyone who advocates for books through our affiliate program, which pays a 10% commission on every sale, and gives a matching 10% to independent bookstores. If you are an author, a website or magazine, have a bookclub, an organization that wants to recommend books, or even just a book-lover with an Instagram feed, you can sign up to be an affiliate, start your own shop, and be rewarded for your advocacy of books. Bookshop wants to give back to everyone who promotes books, authors, and independent bookstores! By design, we give away over 75% of our profit margin to stores, publications, authors and others who make up the thriving, inspirational culture around books! We hope that Bookshop can help strengthen the fragile ecosystem and margins around bookselling and keep local bookstores an integral part of our culture and communities. Bookshop is a benefit corporation - a corporation dedicated to the public good.