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A spoonful of honey used as part of an ongoing quest to find a cure for acne has proven absolutely life-changing for a Co Down woman.
en years on from the joy she experienced on first tasting the sweet nectar, Emma Thompson’s life is unrecognisable.
The mum-of-one has not only given up the job she loathed as a sales representative but has become one of Northern Ireland’s few female ethical bee keepers.
Her passion for honey bees has now made her a TikTok star and spawned a whole new career as the owner of a successful skincare company, Bee Haven Bodycare.
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Emma set up her first bee hives seven years ago
And she recently brought a real buzz to her home town of Ballygowan when she opened her first skincare factory shop, Bee Haven in the town’s old post office.
The shop has been so busy that single mum Emma has also been able to bring her daughter Brooke (26) into the business full-time as finance director and compliance manager.
Her popular skincare range Bee Haven Bodycare was developed after Emma discovered the rejuvenating qualities of honey in clearing her own acne which she has had from the age of 10.
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Emma’s passion for honey bees has now made her a TikTok star
She says: “It really did all start with a spoonful of honey.
“I’ve had acne since I was a child and had tried everything to cure it.
“I had started a diet for good gut health and my skin was improving.
“Fermented foods are the best way to get good bacteria into your gut but they were not very nice to eat.
“I was researching it and found that honey was another method so I ordered some good quality honey online.
“I took one spoonful and thought, ‘This is amazing’.
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A selection of Emma’s honey-inspired products
“That made me think about where it comes from and I went onto Google.
“I don’t think I had ever seen a honey bee in my life, they look a bit like wasps and are very different from bumble bees.
“I just became fascinated by them. I am a firm believer in what is for you will not pass you by and I do believe that this was always my destiny.
“I had never felt before that I was on the right path. I left school at 17 and had my daughter and then worked in sales and marketing for different skincare companies.
“I hated going to work every day but now looking back I can see how that job was giving me the nuts and bolts I needed to run my own business.
“That one spoonful of honey and one Google search literally changed the whole path of the rest of my life and started me on this massive journey.
“I bought books on bees and kept researching them and then I decided to go on a beekeepers’ course. My dad had just retired at the time and decided to do the course with me.”
Emma set up her first bee hives as a hobby seven years ago.
Two years later her skin, which had cleared up with the gut bacteria diet, again broke out in acne leading her to once again turn to honey for help.
This time she used pure honey harvested from her own bees and developed a product that was so effective that she was soon being asked to make it for friends and family.
She explains: “Five years ago I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on medication which broke my skin out in spots again.
“I didn’t want to go back to the gut diet so I just used the honey I had harvested and mixed it with a few other things to try and make my own lotion.
“I didn’t really know what I was doing but it worked and my acne cleared up in a week.
“I didn’t realise I was creative until that point and then friends and family were asking if I would make them some skin balm.
“I also posted about it on Facebook and I didn’t have many followers at the time, but people with other problems like psoriasis and eczema were messaging me and it built up from there.
“It can be quite difficult to get certified and once I did that, I launched a website for my products just before Covid and then during lockdown it really took off.”
As sales continued to rise, Emma was finally able to leave her day job in sales in January 2021 to focus on creating her products and running her business full time.
She moved into the old post office building in Ballygowan earlier this year, initially to use it as a studio to create and make her products.
However, she had so many customers knocking on the door that she has just opened it as a factory shop.
Her business has now become a real family affair with dad David helping care for the bees, mum Liz helping with production and home deliveries and daughter Brooke helping run the company.
They even added a #beecar to the family when they transformed their smart car into a bumblebee. Emma now has 14 bee hives, each of which can produce as many as 70,000 bees during the summer months.
She is careful to adhere to a strict ethical beekeeping approach, taking honey for her products only after the bees have got what they need.
Bee Haven does not clip queens’ wings or remove honey during nectar flow. In their own words, “the bees come first”.
Working with bees can be hazardous and Emma has been stung many times but it is something she just takes in her stride.
She says: “Dad and I laugh as I can be very clumsy.
“I have forgotten to pull the zip up on my veil and the bees can see it and I was stung on the head about 20 or 30 times.
“I’ve also been stung on the hands and wrists.
“A bee dies when it stings you so for me that is the upsetting part, the stings don’t bother me but I don’t like to see them die.”
Emma has also clocked up a huge following of 73,000 on TikTok (@missbeehaven123) with her educational videos about bees and beekeeping.
She posts videos of her attending to her hives and working with the honey in her skincare studio.
She adds: “What started as a hobby has completely taken over my life.
“I just love going to the factory shop every day and it never ceases to surprise me the people calling who are so familiar with my products.”
■ You can check out the full range of Emma’s natural skincare products at www.beehavenbodycare.co.uk or follow her on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @missbeehaven123 to join in on the fun
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