Two entrepreneurs fromTexas join ‘Shark Tank.’
ABC’s biting business show “Shark Tank” will add two Texans to its panel of millionaires and billionaires when the show premieres its 12th season on Oct. 16.
Kendra Scott, creator of her namesake jewelry line, joins Blake Mycoskie, founder of shoe company Toms, as “guest sharks” on the TV show. They will serve on the panel that includes fellow Texan Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
The show’s other sharks are Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary. Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and Kind Snacks billionaire Daniel Lubetzky are also expected to appear on Season 12 of “Shark Tank.”
The show spotlights entrepreneurs who seek
financial backing and entrepreneurial advice from the panel of experts — some of whom end up dishing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of minutes, if they
like the entrepreneur’s pitch.
Scott is a Texas resident and Klein High School graduate whose earring and necklace company Kendra Scott was reportedly valued at $1 billion when a private equity firm acquired a minority stake in it in late 2016. A 2018 study found she was just one of 16 women who owned a company worth $1 billion or more — and she was the only woman in Texas on the list. She’s number 40 on Forbes’ 2019 list of self-made women, one spot below the singer Madonna.
Kendra Scott shops are known for their trendy and colorful earrings and for their Color Bar, where customers can customize their own accessories with mix-and-match options. Scott recently invested in the Austin-based company Tiff’s Treats alongside basketball player Dirk Nowitzki.
Mycoskie, an Arlington native, is the former chief executive of Toms. (And contrary to popular belief, there is no “Tom” in Toms.) The shoe company launched with the promise that it would send a pair of its slip- on shoes to a person in need with each Toms sale, a concept Inc. magazine called “karmic capital.” In 2014, Mycoskie sold half the company to a private equity firm and focused his efforts on the Social Entrepreneurship Fund, which invests in companies with social justice missions.
Mycoskie is a Wyoming resident now, but when he was growing up in North Texas, he appeared as an actor in a few episodes of the TV show Dallas, according to CNBC. He also attended Southern Methodist University on a partial tennis scholarship but dropped out after he started a successful business for “kids at SMU that don’t want to do their laundry,” he told CNBC. Mycoskie started and sold four businesses before he turned 30.
This season of “Shark Tank” was filmed in Las Vegas for the first time. After the premiere airs on ABC at 7 p.m. Oct. 16, episodes can be viewed on Hulu.