A 2005 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas will appear on ABC’s “Shark Tank” at 7 p.m. tonight, April 24.
Brittany (Jones) Hodak and her business partner, Kim Kaupe, will pitch their company, ZinePak, on the show.
“For months, my business partner and I couldn’t tell anyone we even filmed an episode, because there was no guarantee it would air,” Hodak said. “Now, even though we know it’s airing, we have no idea how the hour of footage will be edited down into an 8- to 11-minute clip.”
The company is located in New York City in a coworking space called WeWork. Hodak said other entrepreneurs from WeWork, along with some New York City media and about 150 of the company’s clients will attend a watch party to view the show live.
“There is so much anticipation!” she said. “It’s really exciting, but intimidating at the same time! We’re really looking forward to finally seeing it.”
The Fort Smith native got the idea of ZinePak while a student at UCA. She was working as a college marketing representative for Warner Music group. National staff at that company often discussed declines of compact disc sales. It was then that Hodak said she envisioned a solution.
“If you want people to buy a physical music product, it should be superior to the same offering digitally,” Hodak said. “That’s where the idea for ZinePak came from, although I didn’t put it into action for several years later until I met my co-founder, Kim, at an advertising agency in NYC.”
ZinePak partners with celebrities and brands to create deluxe entertainment packages for superfans. The company has worked with artists such as Katy Perry, KISS and Luke Bryan and brands such as Unilever, MillerCoors and American Express. Since its founding in 2011, the company has grown into a multimillion dollar company with 10 full-time employees and several freelancers.
While at UCA, Hodak majored in communication, concentrating in public relations with minors in honors and marketing. She was a Presidential Scholar and UCA Academic Excellence Award Recipient all seven semesters. She graduated summa cum laude in 2005. She also led a group of students in setting a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest Christmas stocking.
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