Meet Jay Koepke | Beekeeper and photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay Koepke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting our business, Big Bee Energy, was a monster beyond my control. Two years ago my husband put a honeybee hive in our garden and I didn’t get it. ‘What’s going on? Why are we spending time and money here? I’m getting stung.’ And then I started paying attention to honeybees. To say they are incredible is the understatement of the year. Having beekeeping thrust upon me was like discovering a missing puzzle piece of my life. Cut to a month later and we had three hives… today we have 18 hives around the Front Range and are still growing! So our decision to start selling honeybee byproducts (honey this year, planning to add wax and propolis products in 2024) was really a way to justify and finance my obsession with the coolest insects I’ve ever lived with.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a creative who gets pretty deflated when I’m not in motion. If I’m not making something my day is a waste. (Whether or not that’s true is a hot debate at therapy.) And so first came my headshot/portrait photography business, Jay Cupcake Photography. (Based in Littleton- I do great headshots/portraits! Look me up www.jaycupcake.com) My favorite creative projects through photography are my collaborations with local drag queens. A picture is worth a thousand words so check them out on instagram @jay_cupcake.

Cut to Big Bee Energy, our honey business. Who else loves queens? Bees. Each colony has one. So I’ve recruited top drag queens from around Colorado to be our mascots, of sorts. It’s this combo platter – bringing the queens and the Queens together in my creative life – that’s proved to be incredibly fulfilling. Check out the Queens @bigbeeenergy_honey or www.bigbeeenergy.com. It’s an incredibly fun ongoing collaboration.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In the spirit of local pollinators (who must be protected) I’ll answer this question like a bee.

“Buzz? Buzz buzz.”

Just kidding. A bee would tell their best friends to visit the Garden of the Gods for the flora. Especially right now, as the unusually wet weather here has brought about some incredible blooms this year.

They’d also tell them to visit the Denver Botanic Garden, which has an incredible variety of flowering plants as well as beehives to check out.

And then wrap it all up with a trip to the local farmer’s market to pick up some honey and smear it all over everything you eat because it’s delicious. And local stuff tastes unbelievably better than big brands.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my amazing husband, Jake! He’s a busy bee himself. In addition to getting this honey business off the ground with me, he works mad hours as an immigration attorney here in Colorado. In fact, he was just named one of the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce’s 40 under 40 Business Leaders. Hello, rural northeast Wisconsin hometown newspaper shoutout!

We met just after the previous administration’s first attempt at a Muslim ban. He was driving to the airport every day and working pro-bono to help people navigate that nightmare. That was a very charming way to meet someone. He’s smart, he’s selfless, he’s caring… he’s Jake Kanyusik, Esq!

Website: www.bigbeeenergy.com

Instagram: @bigbeeenergy_honey

Facebook: bigbeeenergy

Image Credits
Jay Cupcake