It is not every day that you get a chance to be on a hit ABC TV show, let alone one that has a massive cult following, but Houston entrepreneur Lydia Evans, “swam with the sharks” and survived. The professional aesthetician pitched her new product, S.W.A.G. Bar recently which essentially is a three in one deep cleansing face bar for men who have shaving issues.

“It’s so amazing to see all of the orders flowing into our website even before we aired on ABC ,” said Evans.  “And we have investors approaching us with six figure deals.”

She was actually pushed to audition for the show earlier this year by her Director of Office Operations, Che’ Whorton, who practiced her pitch with her and drove her to the audition. The odds were overwhelming against her that she would even make the cut. Only the folks with the biggest personalities and best products finally making the cut to air on TV. When Evans finally got the word that her segment would air nationally, she was ecstatic and in for a whirlwind of activity.
“The network gives you an idea of what can happen with the exposure of 10 million viewers, so we got to work, securing our website-www.swagessentials.com, making more products, looking into additional financing and more employees,” said Evans. “I was bursting with excitement, but I couldn’t tell anyone because of the confidentiality agreements.”

Even though Lydia didn’t get a deal with Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec or Kevin O’Leary, when the show aired in early December, the phone rang off the hook, and the website crashed temporarily because of the thousands of orders. She’s ramping up the product line, lining up more distributors in barber shops and getting ready to send products to new customers across the country, in Australia and Canada. Lydia is grateful for the support of her friends and family, her growing business team, and the national exposure that put a little SWAG in her step.

By Darian Ward

Connect  @dwardlove

Photos provided by: Darian Ward