{"id":8,"date":"2021-02-19T01:37:36","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T01:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:40:34","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"OUR STORY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I bought my first home, I had two things on my wish list&#8230; <strong>bees and chickens.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While I still love my backyard dinosaurs, it was the bees that truly captured my imagination.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After COVID, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I closed the door on my cleaning business and went back to study apiculture. I wanted more than just a job. I wanted to build a career around something I genuinely cared about.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That decision planted the seed for Urban Empire.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By combining my passion for bees, creativity and self-reliance, I created a business that&#8217;s about so much more than honey. Every hosted hive is an opportunity to reconnect people with nature, support pollinators, and create something beautiful.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Urban Empire has grown into a professional business, but I&#8217;ve never lost the heart of a backyard beekeeper. Every hive I care for receives the same attention, respect and care as the hives in my own backyard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I believe a beehive shouldn&#8217;t be hidden away. It should be proudly displayed as <strong>Living Garden Art<\/strong>. A feature that sparks conversations, inspires curiosity, and reminds us how important bees are to our everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, Urban Empire is <strong>passionately bringing bees back to the suburbs<\/strong>, one hive at a time. Whether it&#8217;s in a family garden or outside a local business, every hive helps create healthier gardens, stronger pollinator populations, and a deeper connection between people and nature.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For me, this has never just been about bees. It&#8217;s about helping people reconnect with the natural world, appreciate where their food comes from, and discover the incredible role these tiny creatures play in our lives.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If welcoming bees back into our suburbs inspires even one more person to stop, watch a bee at work, plant a few more flowers, or see nature a little differently, then I&#8217;d say Urban Empire is doing exactly what it was created to do.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We&#8217;re only just getting started.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img  title=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"928\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg\"  alt=\"20241005_171741-768x1024 OUR STORY\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-600x800.jpg 600w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<h4>HOW IT WORKS<\/h4>\n<ol start=\"1\" data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>Choose your membership<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Select the membership that best suits your household and honey needs.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\" data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>We check your site<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We\u2019ll make sure your property has a safe and suitable place for a hosted hive.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\" data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>Your hive arrives<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Your hive is installed in your garden and becomes part of your outdoor space.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\" data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>We manage everything<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Urban Empire takes care of the hive throughout the seasons, so you can simply enjoy having bees in your backyard.<\/p>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img  title=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"733\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-972x1024.jpg\"  alt=\"cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-972x1024 OUR STORY\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-972x1024.jpg 972w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-285x300.jpg 285w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-768x809.jpg 768w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-1458x1536.jpg 1458w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1-600x632.jpg 600w, https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-20240127_135455-scaled-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I bought my first home, I had two things on my wish list&#8230; bees and chickens. While I still love my backyard dinosaurs, it was the bees that truly captured my imagination. After COVID, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I closed the door on my cleaning business and went [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I bought my first home, I had two things on my wish list&#8230; bees and chickens. While I still love my backyard dinosaurs, it was the bees that truly captured my imagination. After COVID, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I closed the door on my cleaning business and went [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"URBAN EMPIRE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T05:40:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/\",\"name\":\"OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-19T01:37:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-01T05:40:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20241005_171741-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20241005_171741-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/index.php\\\/about\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"OUR STORY\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/\",\"name\":\"URBAN EMPIRE\",\"description\":\"Passionately bringing bees back to the suburbs\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"URBAN EMPIRE\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/cropped-urbanempire.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/cropped-urbanempire.png\",\"width\":150,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"URBAN EMPIRE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanempire.co.nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE","og_description":"When I bought my first home, I had two things on my wish list&#8230; bees and chickens. While I still love my backyard dinosaurs, it was the bees that truly captured my imagination. After COVID, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I closed the door on my cleaning business and went [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/","og_site_name":"URBAN EMPIRE","article_modified_time":"2026-08-01T05:40:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/","url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/","name":"OUR STORY - URBAN EMPIRE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-768x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-19T01:37:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-01T05:40:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20241005_171741-scaled.jpg","width":1920,"height":2560},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/about\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"OUR STORY"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/","name":"URBAN EMPIRE","description":"Passionately bringing bees back to the suburbs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#organization","name":"URBAN EMPIRE","url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cropped-urbanempire.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cropped-urbanempire.png","width":150,"height":96,"caption":"URBAN EMPIRE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2870,"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/2870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanempire.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}