Podcast: Download
Steven Julian and Tiffany Krumins
TIFFANY KRUMINS
Tiffany Krumins, the first Shark Tank winner, is an Atlanta native and the inventor of Ava the Elephant, a child friendly dispenser that takes the fear out of taking medicine. Called a modern day Mary Poppins, Tiffany has gone from nanny to entrepreneur, and has seen her passion to help children grow into a business that is now known and loved all over the world.
Tiffany’s success story began when she was a nanny to a little boy with Down’s syndrome who was terrified of “medicine time”. To help alleviate his fear, she constructed an animal made of fabric, sponges, a store bought medicine dropper, and a recordable sound chip from a greeting card – and Ava the Elephant was born. Knowing that she would need to find a way to produce her invention, Tiffany began searching the internet and found a casting call on Craigslist that said: “Do you have the next million dollar idea but don’t have the funding to make it happen?” She immediately applied for the casting and was invited to be on the first ever episode of Shark Tank.
Her story has been a roller coaster ride as she went from being on a national TV show and receiving $50,000 to start her company, to learning just months later that she had thyroid cancer. While working from a hospital bed, she struggled through the growing pains of building a business and fighting cancer.
Tiffany’s appearance on Shark Tank and the success following continues to provide countless opportunities for her and her brand. Her story has received unparalleled exposure. Some of her more notable appearances and acknowledgements:
- Follow-up appearances on Shark Tank on four separate occasions
- Sharing her story and her product on the Dr. Oz Show to a national audience of millions of viewers
- Nominated for the Top 50 Mompreneurs by Babble.com
- Keynote speaker for Disney Social Media Mom’s
- Her story has been featured on Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, TVGuide.com, YoungEntrepreneur.com, MomInventors.com and many other online and print publications
STEVEN JULIAN
Steven Julian has been the co-host of “Gwinnett Business Radio” since 2013 and a resident of metro Atlanta for most of his life. Steven is excited to be part of “giving a voice” to local businesses in and around Gwinnett by being part of “the voice of business” at Business Radio X. After a ten year career in pastoral youth ministry, Steven has been part of the financial services world since 2009, working independently since 2013. The freedom of independence in his “day job” allowed Steven to pursue the opportunity to interview and build relationships with business owners through Business RadioX.
Steven is proud to live in Suwanee with his wonderful wife Stacey and his three boys, Joshua, Zach and Elijah. Steven and his family like to attend as many baseball games in as many stadiums as they can, and he has enjoyed coaching youth sports for at least one team for each son.
Steven is a Registered Representative of INVEST Financial Corporation.
WOW! Frida’s Mexican Restaurant knocked it out of the park with today’s lunch. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
