HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary: Sowing the seeds of healing

During a week devoted to celebrating women in entrepreneurship, we turn the spotlight on Angela Mallett, the founder of HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary. A stalwart member of the Milwaukee small business ecosystem, Mallett is passionate about wellness and her Milwaukee community.

With HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary, Mallett has created retail space that is a resource for herbs, medicinal herbal teas, clean body products and metaphysical healing tools, as well as a cozy place to enjoy specialty teas and alcohol-free craft cocktails.

Mallett’s journey as a successful entrepreneur has been marked by a passion for wellness and a deep-rooted commitment to the community.

Mallett launched HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary as part of her personal mission to sow seeds of healing in the community that nurtured her. Inspired by the Sherman Phoenix project, and with the encouragement of her friend and mentor, JoAnne Sabir, she became one of the first vendors to establish a business in the new entrepreneurship hub in 2018.

“The path that I took going to the Sherman Phoenix was instrumental because it allowed me to educate a community. When I went to other apothecaries, I didn’t see people on the other side of the counter that looked like me… I didn’t see a whole bunch of people that looked like me on either side of the counter. So, I found it an opportunity to educate my Black community about the benefit of what I was offering. At some point I wanted to make sure that I was in a space where all demographics felt comfortable patronizing,” she explained.

In 2022, Mallett moved her shop to Bronzeville, fulfilling a longtime goal of having the shop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

“Coming to King Drive was like coming home for me because that was part of the initial vision. I wanted to be able to reach neighborhoods like Brewers Hill, the Lower East Side, and professionals that travel through the city from Downtown on King Drive… I wanted to be in a space that everybody would feel comfortable coming to because for me, health and wellness is a conversation that defies social and economic status, race, gender, sexuality, or any of those things. I wanted to be in a space that was sustainable for business and was also accessible to all people who had an appreciation for what I had to offer,” Mallett explained.

Reflecting on her experience as an entrepreneur in Milwaukee, Mallett said, “I like to think that I’ve taken a bit of a hero’s journey; you get this ‘call to adventure,” to go abroad. You think- ‘wait, did I make the right decision?’ Then you settle in and do your work. You receive some enlightenment, and you do some healing work and then there’s the part in the journey where you return home to share what you’ve learned. That was my goal when I left here.”

“I think the very first lesson I learned … was ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ There are a lot of people who leave the city and they’re searching for greener grass and the grass is greener wherever you water it,” she said.

“I also learned that Milwaukee has a sense of community, no matter what. As a Black woman from Milwaukee, I know what I hear from the Black community that surrounds me about their feelings about Milwaukee. The inner city is very different than (the suburbs). Some people love Milwaukee, and some people were like, ‘I have got to get out of here.’ For me, I learned that no matter the challenges that we’re facing, there is still such a sense of community that gives us a small-town feel,” she continued.

As HoneyBee Sage Wellness continues to flourish, Mallett remains grounded in her mission to sow seeds of healing and transformation. Her journey stands as a testament to the power of wellness, community, and the unwavering spirit of its founder, Angela Mallett.