Former Shark Tank contestant looks back at her face mask pitch's rejection in 2009

Vulture

When graphic designer Irina Blok pitched her designer face masks idea in Season 1 of the ABC reality show, the investors shot down her down. Kevin O'Leary, though, offered the most prescient quote: “But is that because swine flu was all over the news for two weeks? Now we don’t see it anymore. It’s an epidemic that came and went. You need a new epidemic to get that kind of hit profile again.” Blok, who  designed the Android logo, says she has no regrets now that wearing face masks have become normal in many states during the coronavirus pandemic. “If we could predict the future, we could all be rich," she tells Vulture. "Manufacturing at scale needed a considerable investment of time and money; for example, printing designs on surgical masks is not trivial, as machines were not set up for it.”