Tag: Skye Blackburn

30under30 regular Skye Blackburn is a bug evangelist. Through her insect shop, Butterfly Skye's, Blackburn breeds butterfly colonies for weddings and festive events, and sells products like insect life cycle kits for curious toddlers and, more recently, edible bugs encased in lollipops.

Getting people to eat bugs can make for some infectious PR. At least it has for Skye Blackburn, who has made a business out of her lifelong insect obsession. "In Australia were are part of the minority of the world's population that don't eat bugs," says the founder of Butterfly Skye's Bug Shop. In 2010, Blackburn used a buggy cooking demonstration at the Sydney International Food Festival to extol the virtues of insect gourmet. Her bug shop then introduced critter-filled lollipops at an animal expo, and she now estimates she sells a thousand of the treats every week.

Girls are not known for having a harmonious connection with bugs. However, for Skye Blackburn, insects have been an obsession since childhood. She even built a butterfly release and insect education business, Butterfly Skye, around this passion.