Angela Mallett Brings Holistic Healing and Herbal Medicine to Historic MLK Drive

Angela Mallett is the owner of the HoneyBee Sage Wellness & Apothecary at 1819 N. Martin Luther King Drive.  

Mallett runs much more than a store and cafe. She considers herself a “professional space holder” because she creates a safe space for her patrons, who often do healing work through the HoneyBee product offerings. 

Mallet is a certified massage therapist, reiki healer, full circle doula, and a yoni steam practitioner. She told the Shepherd Express in 2023 that, “HoneyBee has become a resource for herbs, medicinal herbal teas, clean body products, metaphysical healing tools, and homegrown healers.” 

She opened her first location in the Sherman Phoenix redevelopment in 2018 before moving to its current location in 2022.   

Mallett was one of the guests on “Milwaukee Made.” The following Q&A is from his chat with show host David Caruso. 

Q: What was the experience like opening in Sherman Phoenix and what did it mean for you? 

Mallet: “We were in an old bank vault, and when I first toured the building, I kept asking about it. And when they pitched the idea of inviting me into that space, I was a little bit torn because coming home from Nashville, I had my eyes on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, believe it or not. When they told me that I could have the old bank vault, I was like, I'm in. I'm sold. Being there, to me meant a safe space to introduce what we were offering to our community. Most people don't know how to pronounce apothecary, let alone they don't know what it is. 

“But I wanted to reintroduce something that's just an ancient healing art, which is healing with herbs, herbal tea particularly. And being in that space allowed us to do that with little overhead or lower overhead than we would have starting out in a space like (on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive). And it allowed us to gently introduce this reemerging art to our community in a way that they could appreciate. We built community there. We grew and we flew. And that was the model there. It was an incubator space at the time. And so after our two years we moved on.” 

Q: So you flew right here to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to this amazing place. What does it mean to you to be right here on this historic drive having your business? 

Mallet: “I'll say that this is a dream come true. And so pun intended on Martin Luther King Drive, it's a dream fulfilled. But I wanted to be here initially because I feel like it's the railroad tracks, right? It's right at the edge. We have historic Brewer’s Hill across the street. We're kind of in a bit of a hub area. And I've loved being here because it means that we reach a number of different demographics and all in a space where we converge around the topic of health and wellness. Because no matter where you come from, your social economic background or anything like that, your race, your gender, your sexuality, health and wellness is all something that we can agree that is central to our lives and everybody wants to be well. It's just a great space to be.” 

Q: Why is it so important to you that honeybee sage is a welcoming place for all of us? 

Mallet: “I think we always say that we are a little bit like Switzerland in the sense that we're going for peace and love and in a neutral sense. It doesn’t mean that we don't take a position on anything, but we don't want anything that can be limiting or marginalizing or divisive to keep us from really coming together around health and wellness. And so to me, a community needs a space where people can come and connect. Connection is a huge part of healing, a sense of belonging. And so we hope that everybody who walks in our doors can find their space within our hive. And we call our team honeybees affectionately. And so anybody who walks in and they vibe with us, they become honeybees as well.” 

Q: When you see people coming here for the first time, many people probably don't know what to expect. How fun is it for you to see them walk in and take in this amazing 

Mallett: “Yeah, it's always an exploration for a lot of people. They come in kind of like a kid on a discovery or exploration journey, so they take it all in. We have a commercial and literally it's of the young lady going from one space to another and she's spinning around and it actually feels like that almost every time someone new comes in because they are taking it all in and trying to figure out where to start. It's a beautiful thing to either have our honeybees, our customers invite and welcome people in and chat and introduce them and acquaint them to our space or have our honeybees do that, or just to watch the journey and then invite them to ask questions.” 

Q: Why is the presentation of these health and wellness beverages so important to the experience? 

Mallett: “I think it's so important because I think people want to know that you put intention into something. It's the love factor. My dad was like, if he thought you were pissed off at him and making his food, he didn't want it. We want everybody to feel and experience the love, which is the special ingredient that we add to everything that we present here. And we want everybody to have that sense of wellbeing, not just because of the beverages, but because of the care and intention that was placed behind actually presenting it. You should feel special that we took thought and took some time and effort and a little love to make this experience even for a moment special for you.”