The creator of XXL Scrunchie has lengthened her reach by getting on a nationally renowned TV show.
More than three years after starting her business, Tina Nguyen has fulfilled what she said was one of her dreams, to be on the Dragons’ Den to pitch her elastics for women and girls with long, thick hair to successful entrepreneurs such as Arlene Dickenson, Robert Herjavec and Michelle Romanow, among others.
Nguyen explained she got on the show due to a bit of serendipity.
A producer of the show who had followed her on the TikTok platform reached out to her a couple months ago suggesting she apply for the new season.
“I was shocked at first, and I froze,” she said when describing her reaction to the message.
“(I said) I feel like I have to do it. I have always wanted to, I was just too nervous. The thought of even going on there made me really nervous…public speaking isn’t my thing and I’ve never pitched before.”
After submitting her application, Nguyen said she had a 12-minute phone call with another producer about a month later, where she was invited to Toronto to make a pitch the week after.
Despite being bundled with nerves beforehand, being on set and walking through to meet the Dragons helped Nguyen breathe a little easier and get her pitch across clearly.
“I actually felt more excited at that time. Just seeing them all, it felt surreal, because you see them on TV, and then when you see them in real life. It’s such a different thing,” she said.
“I felt like I had fun during that experience.”
With only five days to prepare, Nguyen enlisted the help and emotional support of her family, her boyfriend Jeff, and his friend Dustin, who both assisted her at Dustin’s woodworking shop in Picton in building a ‘donut wall’ to hold her products.
She gave a special shoutout to her ‘first customer,’ her cousin Anh Lan, who gave her the confidence to start the business and, as she put it, ‘manifested’ her appearance on Dragons’ Den.
Nguyen became one of the few Quinte area entrepreneurs to visit the Den with her appearance.
Due to confidentiality, Nguyen was unable to provide details on how her pitch went or if a deal with any of the Dragons was made.
Since InQuinte’s previous feature story on Nguyen’s business back in November, it has grown from providing products in five independent retailers for wholesale purchases to 15 and eventually 30.
“Since then, maybe 10 more have emailed us inquiring about carrying our scrunchies in their store,” noted Nguyen.
Other successes include a 600-scrunchie order going to a beauty spa in Bahrain, the launching of two new collections of scrunchies and the business’ expansion into making satin pillowcases by hand.
More local delivery orders have also been made to customers who live within 40 kilometres of the business’ address, which Nguyen said costs a lot less and gets the products to them faster.
Stay tuned for Nguyen’s episode, which she said could air at any point between September and January on CBC and the CBC Gem streaming service.
For more information on XXL Scrunchie, visit its Instagram page or website.
