Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Malia Tate. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Malia, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My grandfather Walter Runyan Steele was the first beekeeper in our family. He and my grandmother Lillie raised 12 children in Boise off Hill rd. They taught them many things, but a few of the things that stuck were a love of hard work and a love of beekeeping. My father and some of his brother’s took my grandfather’s hobby and love of bees and expanded it to start their own commercial beekeeping businesses.

I’ve been a beekeepers daughter my whole life, so it’s hard to see my life without bees, but there were times when I didn’t appreciate the land or the bees. I was too young to understand what a blessing they were in my life.

After I met my husband, my father asked him to come work in the bees and he fell in love with them.

When he decided he wanted to be a beekeeper and have his own hives, I wasn’t sure. The life of a full time beekeeper isn’t easy, and is filled with lots of late nights, and a lot of hard work. I had already lived that life once and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again.

BUT Coming back to the bees, to the honey, to the land, gave me a strong sense of peace and connection to my family. Walking in the footsteps of my parents and grandparents . Carrying on their legacy of hardwork and honeybees makes me so genuinely happy! I feel so blessed to be sharing our love of bees and honey with the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My background is in education as I received my Bachelor of Arts from Utah State University. I taught high school for 7 years before I stayed home with my children.  Our business has been really fun for me to not only work from home and with my family, but also merge my love of teaching and my family business of bees. Doing the bee tours and helping people learn about bees has been so fun for me.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Although my husband didn’t grow up in a beekeeping family like I did, he was the one who got me back to my roots and back in to the bees. I like to say he was lost when I found him, but I guess I was a little lost too. He started working for my dad a couple years after we got married and fell in love with the bees. Once he started having his own hives and making his own honey he wanted me to start selling it. I was hesitant at first, but with time I realized how special it is to carry on our family legacy this way.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Our reputation is partly based on the quality products we sell, and the long standing reputation of those who have come before us. My father and grandfather both sold honey here in the valley and we’ve only just built upon their name. Steele honey has a reputation here and we are happy to continue building it and sharing it with more people. As the valley grows, so does our business and we love introducing it to them. We also take a lot of pride in giving our customers the same great product they have loved for generations.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.steelelegacyhoney.com
• Instagram: @steele_legacy_honey
• Facebook: Steele Legacy Honey and Crafts