A year ago, I was sitting in a corporate job, quietly wondering if I had the nerve to leave it and chase something in real estate instead. Around that same time, I walked into Pilates and looked up to find Anya Sanchez setting-up a few feet away. Anya and I hadn’t talked in years, but by the time we left class, we’d made plans for coffee. What I didn’t know was that Anya had recently made her own leap – stepping away from a high-powered career to take on a new role that immersed her with the most important people in her life, where Golden Valley Bee Company and beekeeping were beginning to take shape. Many moments contributed to my own leap, but my time reconnecting with Anya gave me more unexpected courage and clarity than any other.
Anya and I have a habit of finding each other. The first time, we were not yet teenagers, hanging around and helping our parents who were on the founding team of The Beach Waterpark. Years later, our kids landed in the same grade school, where we’d cross paths at school events, always meaning to catch up and never quite finding the time. Her husband, Jon, and I had even connected professionally in the consulting space. The universe, it seems, kept circling us back to each other. And this time, with a little more space in both our lives, the connection finally had room to blossom!
Before I tell you about the bees, you should know a little about the woman behind them.
Brilliant, Before Bees
Anya has a medical degree and an MBA, and an accomplished career in healthcare and business consulting. She’s also a third-generation farmer alongside her parents, Walt & Amy and brother, Don, on the family’s commercial grain farm in Lebanon. She’s married to someone equally extraordinary: Jon, a Naval Academy graduate and Navy SEAL who went on to build his own civilian career in finance and performance consulting. Their journey took them to Washington, D.C. and Chicago before bringing them back home to the “Golden Valley.” Together they’ve raised three children.
A few years ago, life started asking more of Anya. Her parents were entering a new season, and the family farming enterprise needed her steady hand. At the same time, her children were stepping into adulthood, a transition she wanted to engage in fully and shepherd when needed. Anya read the moment correctly, and she chose to show up for it. Leaving her corporate career behind came with real deliberation, and on the other side was a different kind of challenge, one she felt blessed to step into. And waiting there alongside her family, unexpectedly, were the bees. They weren’t the reason she left her career; they were the sweet, sticky surprise that brought her comfort and connection she hadn’t anticipated.
Here’s the thing about Anya that no résumé captures. You know those rare people who have a gift for quiet strength – who can offer guidance just by telling you their own story, who help you see things differently simply by being honest about themselves? That’s Anya. She’s not quiet, but she doesn’t need to fill a silence either. She won’t tell you what to think or do, but she’ll tell you why she decided to do something for herself, and somehow that’s enough. She holds soft edges and real strength at the same time; sweet like honey, but industrious and strong, like a queen bee.
The Swarm That Wouldn’t Leave
After catching her first swarm of bees in 2017, Anya wasn’t sure beekeeping was something she wanted to pursue. So, she let the bees be for a season – a “we’ll see” arrangement if there ever was one.
The bees had other plans. They stuck around, as if to say, we see the change you’re making, and we’re here for you. They were right, in more ways than Anya could have known. When she made the decision to come home to the farm and her family full-time, the bees were still there. And, what started as curiosity became something she leaned into. As Anya puts it, “my family gave me the courage to leave my corporate role, and the bees gave me an unexpected source of joy.”
It started small, more of a hobby. She spent winters building her own hives by hand, getting ready for new swarms in the spring, and soon found herself surrounded by an abundance of honey and beeswax (experimenting not just with honey, but candles, lip balms, and honey-based skincare). Her bees were doing so well that the harvest outgrew what her family could eat or her friends could enjoy as gifts. Eventually, with her pantry shelves full and a hunch she couldn’t shake, she tried a farmers’ market. People showed up. She sold out. She came home and told Jon, “I only made $300, but it was the most fun that I’ve ever had working.”
That marks the birth of the Golden Valley Bee Company.
Backyard Hobby to Bee Barn
What started with a handful of hives has grown into a 24-hive operation, and it’s clear Anya didn’t leave her business instincts behind with the corporate world – alongside the grain farm, they’d simply found a new use. She and her family restored a 100-year-old barn on their farmland, turning it into The Bee Barn, now at the heart of Golden Valley Bee Company. The Bee Barn hosts classes for anyone curious about starting their own hive, Honey Harvest parties, and private events with a setting that’s part rustic charm and part working farm.
There’s something else that’s grown alongside the hives: the generations of her family have found their way into this with her. Her parents help with the bees. Jon and the kids show up for harvests and pitch in at Honey Harvest parties. What started as one woman’s curiosity has become something the family shares. The bees and their honey turning out to be sticky in a way she never imagined.
I recently went to one of Anya’s Honey Harvest parties, and “delightful” undersells it. Capped at about 20 people, it’s part social and part hands-on education – honey cocktails and mocktails, a charcuterie spread, peaches and cream with honey for dessert – woven together with a real look at how a hive works. Anya walked us through the structure of the colony, the roles of the queen, the workers, and the drones, and what it actually means to “catch a swarm.”
Then we got to work. We each took a turn cutting the wax caps off the frames to expose the honey underneath (a full frame is heavier than you’d ever guess) before loading them into the extractor, which uses centrifugal force to gently spin the honey free. What surprised me was the fragrance. It washed over the room so rich you swore you could taste it before one drop hit a jar. Best of all, you get to bottle your own honey on the spot and taste it fresh from the hive. It gave new meaning to “clean” eating. Honey is known for sweetening our favorite foods and drinks, but it does so much more. Its medicinal and anti-bacterial qualities have a rich history worth a closer look. Honey that tastes wonderful and does you good at the same time — that’s Golden.
The Gentlest Kind of Beekeeper
What struck me most was how Anya talks about the bees themselves. She’s a natural beekeeper; no smoke, no chemicals. She shared research showing bees can recognize human faces and communicate through vibration, and that intelligence is part of why she approaches them slowly, singing and talking in soft and soothing tones. In return, her bees are calm and docile. It’s mutual respect, plain and simple, and watching her work, you can tell it’s not a performance. It’s just who she is.
Anya told me, simply, “it feels like I am living my purpose in this moment.” Hearing her say it, I believed her completely, and I don’t think it’s just about the bees. It’s about all of it: the farm her parents built, the family and friends gathered in the barn, the front-row seat to watch her own kids step into who they’re becoming. The bees just happened to be sweet enough to play a role in bringing it all together.
So, thank you, Anya. For the courage you showed me before I had any of my own, for being such an important part of my journey, and for introducing me to the world of beekeeping! I’m not chasing 24 hives and a Bee Barn of my own …but you’ve inspired me enough that I’m building and setting up my own hive this spring. You’ll be seeing me at Bee School to help me prepare!
Visit Golden Valley Bee Company
If Anya’s story moves you, or you’re simply curious about bees and beekeeping, go meet her. Sign up for a Honey Harvest, go see her at the Lebabon Farmers Market, or just stop by the Golden Valley Bee Company and pick up a jar of honey for yourself. Anya is wise and generous, and you’ll enjoy connecting with and learning from her.
Check out more insights from your Neighborhood Guide, Lisa Daley.
Photos courtesy of Golden Valley Bee Company and Lisa Daley
