Lemons-to-Lemonade: In Celebration of Women “Past Their Prime”

Gardenuity to Celebrate Extraordinary Women Over 50 in Light of Don Lemon Comment, turning “Lemon into Lemonade”

Gardening for Wellness Company Founded by Two Women in Their 50s Seeking Stories of Women who are Making a Difference and Rewarding Them with “Lemon to Lemonade” Gardens

DALLAS, TEXAS, February 22, 2023—CNN “This Morning” co-host Don Lemon hit a sour note recently when he claimed on air that presidential candidate Nikki Haley, age 51, is “past her prime.” But Donna Letier, the 60-year-old co-founder and CEO of Gardenuity, a gardening for wellness company, decided to turn lemons into lemonade for women over 50 who are achieving great things every day.

“Women over 50 and beyond are hardly past their prime,” Letier said. “As a woman who co-founded a successful company in my 50s and has grown it for several years now, I decided to take the opportunity to draw positive attention to extraordinary female leaders who are over 50. Using Lemon’s remark to make lemonade, Gardenuity is creating a platform to tell the stories of women who are succeeding in important ways, and rewarding these women with Gardenuity “Lemon to Lemonade” gardens.”

Letier is asking the public to share stories of women 50 and over who are growing great companies, driving social movements and building strong communities. Stories (250 words of less) should be emailed to Lemons-to-lemonade@gardenuity.com.

Each week, beginning the week of March 6 and continuing for 12 months, the Gardenuity team will share one story of a woman making a difference on the company’s website, blog and social media to give wide exposure to at least 52 high-achieving women over a year’s time. In addition to the positive exposure, Gardenuity has created a “Lemon to Lemonade” garden, featuring plants such Lemon Balm, Lemon Basil, Lemongrass, Lemon Thyme, Lemon Verbena, and Lemon Mint, and will send one to each successful woman featured.

To kick off the effort, the first Lemon to Lemonade garden will go to Arianna Huffington, who Letier says is “changing the way companies practice well-being with their employees and effectively changing lives through her company Thrive Global. In addition, Gardenuity will send Lemon to Lemonade  gardens to CNN co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.

“I stand in awe and learn every day from women who may be labeled as ‘past their prime,’” Letier said. “Women like Arianna Huffington, Bobbi Brown, Donna Morris, Joanna Coles, Jennifer Deutsch, Julie Sweet, Margaret-Mary Wilson, Theresia Gouw, and Brandy Demeris, just to name a few, are such personal inspirations to me,” she said. “Thank you, Don Lemon, for igniting a conversation about women who are making extraordinary contributions to the economy, to the betterment of our communities, and to the health and well-being of people and the planet. These women are achieving a greater purpose beyond the job at hand. They are pursuing their goals with a heightened sense of gratitude and deserve to be celebrated.”

The Lemon to Lemonade Garden, in addition to the fully-rooted lemon-themed plants, comes with custom blended soil, plant nutrients, a collection of fully rooted lemon-scented herbs that are matched to the gardener’s location, and a season of Grow Pro, (concierge support including personalized weather alerts, recipes, and microsteps to let the garden nurture personal well-being).  

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About Gardenuity

Gardenuity, founded in 2017 by Donna Letier and Julie Eggers, is a technology enabled business bringing gardens and gardening experiences into the health and wellness category. The company delivers customized container gardens and gardening experiences to consumers and corporations across the country. Based in Dallas, Gardenuity is a recognized leader in gardening for wellness, helping individuals and organizations improve well-being, performance, mental health, and nutritional wellness.

With its patent pending Match technology platform, custom garden kits, and garden experiences, the company has celebrated over 3 million harvests, meaning customers who have gardens with Gardenuity have harvested more than 3 million times combined. Gardenuity has also led more than 3,000 events and experiences, and worked with more than 500 companies including leading names such as Cigna, Marsh McLennan Agency, Salesforce, Uber, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), KPMG, and Microsoft.

About Donna Letier

Donna is the co-founder and CEO of Gardenuity, a company bringing gardening experiences to the wellness economy across the country through personalized container gardens. She spent 20 years in leadership in areas of operations, brand marketing, and product development. Donna takes a data driven approach to opportunities always bringing the consumer point of view into focus. She lives in Dallas with her husband Scott Letier and two daughters, one of whom is a Special Olympic Gold Medalist.