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Melinda Williamson
Melinda Williamson
01:22

Melinda Williamson

Morning Light Kombucha

Hoyt, KS USA

"When one door opens, more doors will continue to open."

Career Roadmap

Melinda's work combines: Food, Entrepreneurship, and Working Independently

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Day In The Life

Founder & Owner

I own my own small kombucha business.

My Day to Day

From 6 to 8 a.m. I have coffee and catch up on emails, bookkeeping, and ordering. I post on social media and plan my day. Then I get ready for the day. I do meetings and phone calls from 9 to 11 a.m. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. I head to the kitchen to work on brewing, filling orders, canning, equipment maintenance, and cleaning. The next few hours are spent delivering orders. Then, a quick workout. I'm back in the kitchen from 7 to 9 p.m. to finish up anything that needs to get done.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

Put yourself out of your comfort zone to connect with people. Introduce yourself to others in similar areas or programs, let them know what you're doing, and you'll find that more and more connections will start happening. Connecting with one person or one opportunity will lead to so much more. When one door opens, more doors will continue to open.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Associate's Degree

    Natural Resources

    Haskell Indian Nations University

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Environmental Biology

    Kansas State University

  • Graduate Degree

    Rangeland Ecology and Management

    Oklahoma State University

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

  • 1.

    I earned my bachelor’s degree in environmental biology followed by a master’s degree in rangeland ecology and management.

  • 2.

    I spent the first part of my career working in grassland ecology.

  • 3.

    I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness that doctors think is pre-lupus—I went from being a pretty healthy woman to having trouble walking unassisted.

  • 4.

    Rather than rely on a bunch of medications, I decided to look to food as medicine—I changed my diet and became more focused on what I was putting into my body and where it was coming from.

  • 5.

    This pivotal moment prompted me to reflect on my life and ask myself if there was anything I’ve always wanted to do that I haven’t done yet—I realized that I had always wanted to own a business.

  • 6.

    I made a five-year plan to save money, travel, brainstorm, and create a foundation for my business.

  • 7.

    I took free business classes and started brewing kombucha with the goal of starting a food truck business that sells kombucha and smoothies.

  • 8.

    I started Morning Light Kombucha in 2016 and have been building it up ever since!

Defining Moments

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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  • I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness that doctors think is pre-lupus. The diagnosis prompted me to change my diet and look to food as medicine.

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