For 17-year-old Alexander Lamb, skating had always been a passion of his. He grew up on a skateboard for 12 years straight, and today he claims that skateboarding was such an important part of his childhood that it changed the way he thinks and he has no idea where he would be without it.

Alexander grew up in an entrepreneurial family, so entrepreneurship is another thing that defines him. He was able to combine these two passions of his to create Avenue, his very own skating company, when he was just 17! Balancing college and running his own company was a huge hassle for Alexander but his determination made it a possibility. He spent hours in the art room during his free time, drawing up designs for his boards. He is a firm believer that “if where there’s a will, there’s a way and it is crucial to understand that if you truly want something, you have to work for it.” Alex put in the effort to make this dream of a skate company a reality and started small, gradually gaining sales and exposure. He used Facebook and Instagram for marketing purposes, and even though social media certainly was not what it is today, he still gained traction quickly. He has gone on to develop his company further and released a plethora of different board series.

Alexander came from an entrepreneurial family, so luckily those who were close to him were able to show him the ropes of building his own business. He was driven by his creative passion for designing boards and the draw of camaraderie that comes with skateboarding. He smartly capitalized on the skating community, engaged in marketing, and put in the time and effort to make it all a reality. His story is inspiring because he was able to take three of his passions – entrepreneurship, skating, and design – and combine them all into this fantastic business that customers flocked to. I think it’s important to remember that you ideally would like to end up in a job that you’re passionate about, and he was able to secure that future by creating that job himself, which is very admirable.

For young Mikaila, what started as a lemonade stand in her front yard when she was 4 has since blossomed into an incredible business that helps save the bees.

After being stung by a bee twice in one week at just 4 years old, Mikaila developed a fear of bees. However, after doing some research on them, she learned a lot about the benefits of bees and how necessary they are for our ecosystem.  Around that same time, her parents were encouraging her to come up with a business idea for the Acton Children’s Business Fair. As she was brainstorming ideas, she found a flaxseed lemonade recipe in her great-grandmother’s cookbook and decided to make some of that, but add honey instead of just sugar in an attempt to draw awareness to the declining honeybee populations. Thus, Be Sweet Lemonade was born! After some copyright issues, the name of the business ended up being Me & the Bees Lemonade. Today, Mikaila is the CEO and has multiple family members working with her on her mission to help save the bees!

Something unique about Mikaila is her parents urging her into entrepreneurial events and competitions from such a young age. Having entrepreneurial parents was a huge help in helping her get this business off the ground and growing into what it is today. Another incredible aspect of her journey is that she wrote a book about it all: Bee Fearless, Dream Like a Kid. Being an entrepreneur and an author at this young age is quite an accomplishment, and her hard work and dedication have paid off as even today, she still travels around the nation to share her stories of being involved in social entrepreneurship. A large portion of her success can be attributed to the purpose that she’s had from the beginning – saving the bees. It’s inspiring that she found a niche inside a cause she was passionate about and used it to successfully sell something as simple as bottles of lemonade inside such a crowded market while raising awareness for an important cause.

“Bee” sure to check out her website here: www.meandthebees.com