In 2009, Merrilee Kick was a high school teacher grading papers poolside when she came up with the idea for BuzzBallz®. She was also working on her MBA and the invention of BuzzBallz® became her thesis project. In the years since its invention, BuzzBallz, LLC/Southern Champion has greatly expanded its product base and has begun to grow into a worldwide brand. The company is a women-owned Texas distillery and is one of the only family and woman-owned distilleries in the USA with distribution in all 50 states and abroad.