One Year Since Shark Tank: What I'd Tell You Now

I'm writing this from the same couch where we watched the episode air last fall. Tilly is asleep down the hall. A year ago I was 36 weeks pregnant on this couch, holding my breath, with no idea what version of us was about to show up on national TV.

Honestly, I've been meaning to write this for months. I promised "more to come on that adventure soon" in my 2025 recap and then life happened. So here we are. :)

Behind the Doors 🦈

Roughly 20,000 companies apply to Shark Tank each season. To be one of the handful that makes it all the way to the finish line still doesn't feel real. My dad and I stood behind those doors (I was five months pregnant) and I had never felt so excited and so anxious at the same time. My heart was pounding through my dress.

Right before we walked out, someone on set leaned in and said, "At the end of your life, you'll remember three days. The day you got married, the day you had your baby, and the day you pitched on Shark Tank." As if that was going to help me at all. Yikes.

She was right, though.

The Pitch

The whole thing was a whirlwind. Here's what surprised me most: the Sharks were kind. Gracious, even. I think two things saved us. We knew our numbers cold, so there wasn't much room for the crazy Shark behavior you see on TV. And we walked in completely surrendered.

That part matters. We didn't go in to defend Z-CoiL. We'd tried everything we could think of ourselves and we knew we needed an outside opinion. We were open to guidance and mentorship, and I think the Sharks could feel it. Lori did. We closed a deal with her that day.

Getting to represent New Mexico and my family's brand on that carpet, with my dad next to me, was one of the proudest moments of my life.

The Hardest Part Wasn't the Pitch

It was the three months after. We couldn't tell anyone. Not close family. Not other shareholders. Not the people inside the company who have bled for it right alongside us. Keeping that secret while running the business every day was brutal.

And we had no idea how it would be cut. You film for an hour and they air eight minutes. So instead of a big watch party, it was just my dad, Rasmus, and me at home. Quiet, nervous, very pregnant. Then very, very relieved.

Speak Your Dreams

If you've been around here a while, you know this is my thing. I started telling people I was applying to Shark Tank long before I had any business saying it out loud. Then I told more people. Somewhere in there it stopped being a wish and became a plan.

The application itself forced me to be extremely vulnerable. Our story. Our vision for the company. The family trials of the last ten years that made everything harder than it needed to be. I put all of it on paper for strangers. That vulnerability is what got us in the room.

It took me right back to being 13 years old, 70 pounds, telling anyone who'd listen that I was going to play college volleyball. Nobody believed me. I said it anyway. Five years later I went on a scholarship.

What I've Learned About Myself

Vision is where I do my best work. Painting the promised land and getting people excited to walk toward it. That's where I love to live.

But the bigger lesson is quieter than that. It calls on all of us to step back, put the phone down, get away from the noise, and actually think about what we want. What's meaningful. What's going to make a difference in the lives of the people we love. Then say it out loud.

What's Next for Z-CoiL

I'll be honest: Z-CoiL was struggling when I came in. We've taken everything we learned on that stage and in the messy months after and used it to reshape where the company is going. I'm at the helm now, and I'm going to give this every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears I've got, or I'm going down swinging. I've always been scrappy. This is the part I was built for.

Thank You

To Lori and the entire Shark Tank cast and and producers, for taking a chance on a family shoe company from Albuquerque and partnering with us.

To the tiny but mighty Z-CoiL team, who are in the trenches with me every single day. You kept the wheels on while I was keeping a secret, growing a baby, and learning to run this company. None of this happens without you.

To my Vistage group, my outside counsel behind the scenes for the last two years. You've asked me the hard questions, told me the truth when I didn't want to hear it, and never once let me off the hook. Thank you.

To Rasmus, who has been an absolute anchor through a pregnancy, a national TV debut, and a company turnaround, all in the same year. I don't know how you do it.

And to my dad, who has been my mentor in a thousand ways and then had the grace to hand me the wheel and let me steer. That's not an easy thing to do, and I know it.

One year in. Here's to the next one.