Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Hannah and Daniel Neeleman co-founded Ballerina Farm, aided by their entrepreneurial backgrounds.
- Their farm business grew from local sales to a national audience after overcoming setbacks.
- The Neelemans plan to expand product offerings, emphasizing passion and authenticity in their ventures.
SALT LAKE CITY — Hannah Neeleman and her husband Daniel Neeleman, the couple behind Ballerina Farm, come from entrepreneurial families. Her parents owned a flower shop, and his dad owned an airline.
As Daniel Neeleman put it, the couple believed that's what happens — "When you grow up, you become an adult, and you start your business."
Soon after marrying, they started thinking about what businesses to start. The couple was living in New York City as Hannah Neeleman was finishing her degree at The Juilliard School. During the brainstorming process, the Neelemans decided whatever business they started, they would be co-CEOs and co-business partners.
At the time, they didn't know what exactly their business would be. But the genesis of it was a partnership — and that's the story they shared at the second annual Utah Business Forward event on Nov. 20. The Neelemans were the keynote of a conference in Salt Lake City at The Grand America Hotel bringing together Utah's business community for panels and talks on pressing issues facing the industry like artificial intelligence and creating authentic brands.
Hannah Neeleman, a business owner, wife, mother of eight and a Juilliard-trained ballerina, is known for the social media account Ballerina Farm, which shows her and her husband's life on a farm just outside of Kamas.
It was the story of Ballerina Farm the couple told to hundreds in attendance at the event on Wednesday.
Living in Brazil
Before marrying Hannah Neeleman, Daniel Neeleman said he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil — "the heart of sugar cane, soybean, corn, coffee." He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life.
Hannah Neeleman said after the couple graduated from college, they moved to Brazil. There Daniel Neeleman worked at a startup company, and Hannah Neeleman danced at a ballet company.
Instead of going to the beaches on the weekends, they went to farm hotels.
"I grew up with parents that were very aware of where their food came from," said Hannah Neeleman. "We always had a huge garden." She remembered her mother concocting herbal tinctures when she was growing up. Both she and Daniel Neeleman fell in love with the farms, watching the farmers with their giant gardens, raising their kids on the land.
She said she told her husband, "Daniel, I want to buy a farm when we get back to America." They put their heads together and decided that they would get in the business of farming — starting with some free range pigs.
The couple purchased 100 acres of land in the middle of nowhere Utah.
There was no home on the land, said Daniel Neeleman, adding they lived in a basement apartment around 30 minutes away. The couple were having children, taking care of the pigs and Daniel Neeleman was working a day job while also going to more school.
Hannah Neeleman had just started posting about their life on social media to a following that at the time only consisted of her family and friends.
With the goal of selling their products to local restaurants and farmer's markets in the state, Hannah Neeleman said she started posting consistently. But right as they were getting the hang of things, their farm was in the path of a fire.
The fire took out everything they staked out for their house.
"It was completely gone, and it was devastating for our family," said Hannah Neeleman. They had to evacuate for two weeks. While this was happening, the online following on the Ballerina Farm grew significantly — and they had a national audience. This also meant a lot of people wanted to buy the boxes of meat they were selling. But the Neelemans had no way to ship out the meat nationally.
Another farm called Five Marys Ranch reached out, explaining it offered a five-day course in California on shipping meat. With four young kids at home and Daniel Neeleman still working and in school, it seemed like a lot, but the couple decided Hannah Neeleman should go anyway.
Daniel Neeleman said when Hannah Neeleman was at the course, he would get pings that his credit card was being used for stickers, a GoDaddy website and boxes. She was getting ready to hit the ground running when she got back to ship out the meat.
"She got off the plane, I looked at her, and I said, 'Wow, that was quite a trip.' And she goes, 'We need more pigs,'" said Daniel Neeleman. They ended up getting more pigs and adding on some cattle as well. But that was far from the end of the growth of their business.
Right before the pandemic hit, Hannah Neeleman said she got really into sourdough and asked her husband about the idea of freeze-drying it and selling it. They decided to go for it and put it on the website. They sold thousands in just a couple days.
"Our house turned into the sourdough house," said Hannah Neeleman. She called the local Relief Society, their church's organization for women, and asked to borrow some dehydrators for the week to meet the demand.
The journey and the road ahead
The growth of their business didn't stop with sourdough starters; they kept expanding their products to things like Ballerina Farm flour and protein powder.
This year, they opened up a dairy with 120 milk cows.
Daniel Neeleman said soon they will be selling a variety of products like their own cheese, milk, ice cream and yogurt — both locally and all across the country. Hannah Neeleman said their goal is for Ballerina Farm to continue to be small but great.
Reflecting on both her and her husband's parents, Hannah Neeleman said founding a flower shop is a bit different than founding an airline. But they had something in common: a passion for what they were doing.
"My father and mother worked together, and both of them were so passionate about getting the most beautiful flowers to brides that couldn't afford a huge, extravagant wedding, or people that needed funeral flowers but couldn't afford it," said Hannah Neeleman. She explained Daniel Neeleman's father David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, believed in bringing affordable airfare to all — and was business-minded about it.
The key, Hannah Neeleman said, is passion.
"I feel like that's what makes Ballerina Farm what it is," she said. "We really are passionate about what we do. We love the animals, we love knowing where your food comes from and sharing that with our audience."
