If ever there was an inspiration for getting an education, Texas Woman’s University (TWU) Alumna Merrilee Kick is it.
It was while Merrilee was earning her MBA from TWU’s business college in Denton in 2009 that she wrote her thesis that ended up becoming the business plan for her Carrollton-based Buzzballz/Southern Champion. The company “became the only woman-owned distillery/winery/brewery combo in the U.S. when it debuted later that year with the brand’s signature sphere-shaped, shatterproof, pre-mixed cocktails.”
Fast forward a decade and a half to this March. The world’s largest privately held spirits company, Sazerac, based in Louisiana, said it would purchase BuzzBallz for an undisclosed amount and wisely kept Merrilee as CEO.
Just as parents and kids were heading to school to meet their teachers for the coming year last night, a small private dinner was held with Merrilee’s just-announced, $30M gift to the TWU business college being the topic of the night.
According to Merrilee, a former Plano West High School teacher, “My MBA from TWU enabled me to write a solid business plan for what became BuzzBallz, a billion-dollar company. As a former educator and child of educators, teaching the next generation is important for our future. As my parents said, ‘A good teacher makes a difference.’ I have had some good teachers — and parents — who really cared about me and my success, and I am committed to make that happen for others, to make the world a better place.”
As she further explained last year to the Carrollton Leader’s Arianna Morrison, “It was part of my Master’s Degree Thesis project at Texas Woman’s University. I was trying to start a business that would survive in good times and bad with the recession that was going on in 2008 and 2009. Booze always does well. So, I used it as a final project for my MBA, and then put it in action.”
Even during the “bad times” of COVID, Merrilee’s entrepreneurial spirit rose to meet the challenges, as she told Canvas Rebel: “During COVID, we knew if we shut down we couldn’t pay people and keep the business afloat. I didn’t know if we were considered ‘essential’ and would be allowed to stay open. So we decided to learn how to make hand sanitizer, because if we were doing something essential for health, we could also make product. So we made and gave away 18,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to the front line workers. We also started an elementary school for the kids of my employees so they could virtually attend school while their parents worked.”
The university’s record-breaking $30M gift from Merrilee will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, an endowed chair and an entrepreneur-in-residence program, in addition to fast-tracking plans to construct a new building for the college.
TWU Chancellor Carine Feyten said, “This gift affords us an opportunity to shine a huge light on the innovation and business acumen women bring to the table in our globally competitive economy. I am doubly pleased that this extraordinary gift comes from Merrilee, a shining example of our pioneering spirit and an alumna who has risen to the level of entrepreneurial titan.”
Thanks to Merrilee’s generosity and the Dallas-based Doswell Foundation’s previous $15M to establish an aviation program, TWU’s Dream Big comprehensive campaign goal of $125M was met nearly two years ahead of schedule. But TWU’s dreams are even bigger, focusing “on securing support for high-priority initiatives including health science, athletics and the Dallas campus expansion.”
Today, the TWU governing board approved renaming the school’s college of business the Merrilee Alexander Kick College Of Business And Entrepreneurship in Merrilee’s honor.
In response to Merrilee’s gift, TWU Business College Dean Rama Yelkur said, “I am profoundly moved by Merrilee Kick’s exceptional generosity in making this gift and am thrilled that she shares our vision for elevating the college of business by educating primarily women in business and entrepreneurship. The Merrilee Alexander Kick College of Business and Entrepreneurship will undoubtedly add greater value and visibility, significantly amplifying our mission and impact on the future of business education.”
* Photo credit: Leo Gonzalez