On Oct. 30 at the Boy & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, three out of four Communication & Media Arts teams competed in the Shark Tank. All competitors had to pitch their business ideas to win a $1,000 starting check provided by Forbes.
The competitors were Tyler Parker (Ty Productions), Davon Schelgel (Cookies For College), and team Alexandria Johnson and Imari Derrick (Big Bracket the label). Each speech was timed for two minutes.
The first competitor was Johnson and Derrick. They were selling hair bonnets and hair ties.
The next competitor Parker, who does photography Lastly, Schelgel was helping other African American entrepreneurs.
After their speeches, the judges went to a private room to discuss on who would be the winner While picking the winner for the award, an anonymous donations donated $335 to each participant in the competition.
After the decision was made, the winner was Schelgel for Cookies for College.
“The purpose of Cookies for College is to show other young African American entrepreneurs that you do not have to fall victim to the school to prison pipeline, nor do you have to slack off in life and never achieve your dreams,” he said. “That you can have a successful business that isn’t selling drugs like stereotypes will say you have to. Just a positive way of being a mentor and having hands on experiences for not only you or your more business oriented mind sets. It was very exhilarating.
“My competition was compacted of some very strong minded people with great businesses. I am humble and thankful that all ended in my favor.”
Johnson added, ”It was a great experience. I gained a lot of free advice to help me advance my business and I gain a few friends along the way in the end. I still felt like a winner.”
