Tennessee's 'Save the Honey Bees' license plate? It was made by a woman allergic to bees
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That first honeybee sting rocked her.
"It hurt," she said. "It hurt bad."
And it looked bad — part of the rookie beekeeper's face swelled into an angry mound, one that was hot to the touch. "I looked like an MMA fighter who had a big dip in," she said, laughing.
Jessica Dodds-Davis — a Lebanon, Tennessee, hairdresser who'd just bought her first beehives — went to the doctor the next day because she had flu symptoms and felt terrible. Dodds-Davis thought it had nothing to do with the bee sting.
The doctor knew better.
"What's wrong with your face?" the doctor asked.
"I got stung by a bee."
"Ohhhhh," the doctor said, "you're having a delayed reaction."
That's when Dodds-Davis found out she's allergic to bee stings and would need to carry EpiPens with her, especially when working with bees.
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But that didn't stop her from diving headfirst into her new beekeeping hobby 10 years ago. Or from reading and learning about honeybees. Or from harvesting honey and starting her own boutique product line. Or from becoming active with beekeeper associations or from giving talks about the importance of honeybees to any school, civic or church groups who'd listen.
Turns out Dodds-Davis is tough, and she's driven. So when she decided in 2017 that Tennessee needed a "Save the Honey Bee" specialty license plate, she got it done, essentially by herself.
Only in existence for three years, that "Save the Honey Bee" plate cracked the top 10 of Tennessee's 195 specialty plates this past fiscal year. More than 11,000 cars now have the plate.
That generates nearly $200,000 a year for the nonprofit she had to start to get the "Save the Honey Bee" plate.
"It's amazing," Dodds-Davis said. "I worked really hard for that."
Then again, she has been overcoming adversity and surprising others for a long time.
'Like looking through a kaleidoscope'
Dodd-Davis, 40, fell in love with the Wilson County Fair when she was a kid growing up in Lebanon. She started winning ribbons for her paintings and other art pieces when she was in elementary school.
She dropped out of high school and got her GED certificate after getting pregnant and becoming a teen mom. And she kept going to the Wilson County Fair, this time with a baby stroller.
When she was 27, Dodds-Davis decided on a lark to make a carrot cake, for the first time ever, and entered the competition at the fair. Not only did she win best carrot cake, but Dodds-Davis was named grand champion for all cakes.
"When I got to the fair to get my trophy, the old ladies are like, 'Oh, you’re Jessica?' They were pissed!" she said, laughing. "I just wanna say, bless their hearts."
About three years later, Dodds-Davis, at the fair again, became mesmerized by the hives displayed by the Wilson County Beekeepers Association.
"There was something fascinating and calming about them," she said. "They were so busy and erratic, everywhere. It almost was like looking through a kaleidoscope, forever moving and changing, but relaxing at the same time."
The association president chatted with her for a minute, and within weeks, Dodds-Davis showed up for her first beekeeping class — with a bunch of guys who were twice her age.
Still, she said, "I was overwhelmed but so excited."
Her dad bought her first hives and some beginner equipment. That first sting came weeks later, the first, she estimates, of about 100 bee stings in the past 10 years.
"It still hurts. Does it hurt less each time when you get punched in the face? No. Never feels good."
But with the bees buzzing and the honey flowing, she found an engrossing way to engage with nature through a hobby that was all her own.
Dodds-Davis, between hair appointments and responsibilities as a mom and wife, started making presentations about honeybees. And she loved that, too.
What she hated, when she started noticing them five years ago: Tennessee's specialty license plates with turkeys on them.
"Now that’s the stupidest tag I’ve ever seen," she said, laughing.
"I found out later it benefited the TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency). And I thought, why doesn’t Tennessee have one for honeybees? Honeybees are the best pollinators for crops. If honeybees were extinct, humans would be, too."
'A very polite pit bull'
After some research, Dodds-Davis found out she'd have to:
start a charity and form a board of directors for it;
get the IRS to approve nonprofit status;
fill out an application and pay a $200 fee;
get a state legislator to sponsor a bill to create a plate and get that bill passed;
get 1,000 people to give her $35 each for presales of her plate; and
come up with the design for the plate.
Dodds-Davis turned to social media to generate buzz for the new venture, and some critics shot down the idea, especially on the Reddit website.
"I was boohooing," she said. "Even beekeeper people were rude about it, kind of suspicious of my motives."
Dodds-Davis pre-sold her plates to family, to the friendlier beekeepers and to hundreds of strangers from behind a table at her beloved Wilson County Fair.
The whole process was intimidating, said fellow beekeeper and friend John Ratcliff, who became president of Dodds-Davis' nonprofit, Honeybee Tennessee.
"I didn’t think anyone would have the tenacity to suffer though all the paperwork from the state," Ratcliff said. "But when you point her in a direction and she’s got her eyes on something, she doesn’t let up. She’s a very polite pit bull."
Dodds-Davis and her husband, Jesse Davis, a Firestone mechanic, got the first four "Save the Honey Bees" plates in 2020, and they've been thrilled to see sales of the plate take off since.
In this last fiscal year, more than 5,000 people bought the plate, bringing the total number of "Save the Honey Bee" plates to more than 11,000 vehicles.
That was enough to make the honeybees plate No. 7 on Tennessee's list of 195 specialty plates this year, ahead of St. Jude children's hospital (No. 8) and the Tennessee Titans (No. 9).
"Well," quipped Honeybee Tennessee board chair Ratcliff, "everybody beats the Titans."
The money generated helps Honeybee Tennessee make presentations statewide and buy beekeeping equipment and hives for dozens of schools and colleges. And Dodds-Davis has started receiving a salary of around $30,000 as charity director (and sole employee).
"We're doing good," she said. "Really good.
"It’s kind of like when you dream about winning the lottery and never do. But I did, and here we are seven years later. It’s kind of mind-blowing. And it’s also very humbling."
Do you know a fighter who's made something good happen? Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384.
Tennessee top 10 specialty license plates for fiscal year 2022-2023
"Don't Tread On Me," 36,894 total plates, benefiting Friends of Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park in Elizabethton, Tenn., receiving $619,130 from plate sales.
"Friends of the Smokies," 32,506 total plates, benefiting Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Kodak, Tenn., receiving $1.1 million.
"In God We Trust" with the picture of the bald eagle, 19,849 total plates, benefiting the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., receiving $337,408.
"Agriculture" with the picture of a farmhouse, 19,685 total plates, benefiting the Tennessee Agricultural Development Fund, receiving $669,249.
"Volunteers for Wildlife" with a picture of either a turkey or a bear, 15,433 total plates, benefiting Tennessee Wildlife Rescource Agency, receiving $263,155.
6. "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library," 12,874 total plates, benefiting the Dollywood Foundation in Sevierville, Tenn., receiving $214,680.
7. "Save the Honey Bee," 11,047 total plates, benefiting Honeybee Tennessee in Lebanon, Tenn., receiving $183,730.
8. "St. Jude. Finding cures. Saving children," 11,005 total plates, benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., receiving $376,589.
9. "Titans," 10,404 total plates, benefiting the Titans Foundation in Nashville, receiving $177,630.
10. Tennessee Arts Commission with a picture of a cat or a rainbow or a fish, 9,913 total plates, receiving $333,619.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Meet the woman behind Tennessee's honey bees license plate
