When did you know beekeeping was truly your path?
At first, I only wanted to keep bees because I thought they were so cute!
Not long after I started, I met my beekeeping mentor. He was incredibly generous and taught me everything hands-on, guiding me into the world of beekeeping. At the same time, I quickly built a blueprint for my “Bee Girl” brand in my head, and everything went so smoothly in that first year. I felt like the universe was telling me this was the path I should take!
Of course, later I realized that being a farmer is actually really tough, but I’m so happy to have become the Bee Girl 🐝.
As a female beekeeper, what kind of unique perspective has this identity given you?
Female beekeepers are definitely a minority in this industry.
During my first year, many of the older farmers I worked with during honey harvest season didn’t really take me seriously. Every time they saw me, they only wanted to introduce me to boyfriends. But one time, after I helped my mentor complete fieldwork across hundreds of hives, everyone was shocked!
They said, “Wow, you’re amazing! You’re doing even better than the guys. Next year you could manage 100 hives on your own.”
Through beekeeping, I learned I could handle almost everything by myself. I’m not trying to compare myself with men, but I want women to know: you can become whoever you want to be, and you can do anything you set your heart on.
Can you share with us what a typical day as a beekeeper looks like?
A beekeeper’s schedule is actually really flexible. For example, I also surf, so my daily rhythm often follows the waves 🤣.
If there are no waves, I spend more time in the bee yard, checking on the hives: making sure the queen is laying eggs properly, preventing parasites, raising new queens, and checking if the bees have enough food.
Basically, you have to care for the bees like little babies.
There’s also plenty of hands-on work like building frames, repairing hives and equipment. Since we sell our own honey directly, I also spend a lot of time on packaging, shipping, and website management.
Is there any surprising fact about worker bees or the queen bee that would amaze people?
Here’s a fun fact: in the world of bees, all the ones that actually work are female!
In a colony of about 10,000 bees, there are:
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Queen (just one per hive)
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Worker bees (which I call “the working bees,” making up over 90% of the hive)
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Drones (just a few dozen to a few hundred)
The queen lays eggs—up to 1,000–2,000 a day. Worker bees handle everything else: caring for larvae, producing wax to build comb, foraging (nectar, pollen, propolis, water), making honey, defending the hive, cleaning… While drones do nothing but eat all day and hope to mate with a young queen.
So yes, bees are highly social matriarchal insects!
How do bees’ divisions reflect women’s traits, and what amazes you about their daily rhythm?
Every time I watch the bees work, I’m amazed! How can they build such perfect hexagons, produce golden honey, and even secrete beeswax and royal jelly?
They’re like a miniature society, where each member focuses on what they do best, and together they form a strong, thriving community.
The division of labor is based on age. For example:
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Newly emerged bees stay home to care for larvae.
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A bit older, they start building with wax or guarding the hive.
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Later, they practice flying, learn to navigate, and eventually forage outside the hive.
Each bee has a role at every stage of life, and they all work diligently. That’s what fascinates me!
To me, it reflects something in women’s lives as well: no matter what you’re good at or passionate about, if you do it wholeheartedly, you contribute value to your community.
Bee society is built by countless female worker bees—and that’s why my brand is called Bee Girl. I hope it reminds women that we’ve always been charming, capable, and dedicated, no matter how small the work we’re doing might seem.
During honey harvest, what’s been your biggest challenge? How does climate affect yield?
In my second year, I doubled the number of hives I kept compared to the first year. But the honey harvest turned out to be less than half of what I got the first year. It was a huge loss .
As a farmer, you can work so hard, take perfect care of the bees, and still end up with little to no harvest. That was when I truly understood what it means to “live at the mercy of nature.”
Beekeepers depend on nectar flow from flowers, and whether flowers bloom depends on climate—something we can’t control.
So now, I focus on doing my best with what I can control, but I don’t obsess over outcomes. Many things are beyond us, but what we can control is the effort and care we put into the work. That shift in mindset has been the biggest change since I became a farmer.
When posing in swimsuits, what details count, and how does HÁI stand out?
I think the most important thing about a swimsuit is whether it truly suits you. It’s not about choosing one that looks good on someone else, but one that matches your body shape and personal style.
What I love about HÁI swimsuits is their elegant and refined design. That sense of sophistication is something every girl already has within her 🖤.
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