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When entrepreneur Chrissie Lam left the Shark Tank without a deal for her ethical jewelry company, she refused to let it dampen her spirits.
"Are we disappointed that we're now considered a 'Shark Tank' deal that failed and that we didn't get to partner with a Shark? Sure. Will it slow us down? NEVER!!!" she wrote on her company blog.
Explaining further, the blog read:
"I've been told 'no' before and I've certainly been underestimated, but I always (happily) prove them wrong."
This resilient attitude has become the driving force behind Love Is Project, a company that creates job opportunities for female artisans around the world through handmade bracelets bearing the word "LOVE."
In Shark Tank Season 12, Love Is Project founders, Chrissie and her mother, Gladys, attempted to raise $250,000 for a 5% stake in their business. Even though they returned empty-handed, their goal of fusing fashion with social relevance kept expanding outside the show.
The company's journey from a simple idea in Kenya to a global brand proves that sometimes rejection is just a detour on the path to success.
What happened during Love is Project’s Shark Tank pitch?
In Season 12 Episode 10 of Shark Tank, Chrissie and Gladys Lam showed samples of their colorful beaded bracelets to Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, and guest Shark Alex Rodriguez. The mother-daughter partnership shared their impressive sales figures, which totaled $4 million, and explained their mission to encourage female artists globally.
Despite the strong social mission, the Sharks focused on financial concerns. Chrissie openly discussed her company's $582,000 debt, much of which came from Facebook advertising costs. Though she had doubled her revenue compared to the previous year, this financial burden made all five Sharks reluctant to invest.
One by one, Cuban, O'Leary, Corcoran, and Rodriguez voiced their reservations about the company's cash flow and declined to make offers. The Lams walked away without the investment they hoped would fuel their expansion.
The Love Is Project began with a simple insight during Chrissie's visit to Kenya:
"My 'Aha!' moment came when visiting the Maasai Mums in Ngong, Kenya. Inspired by the bold colors used by their tribe, I designed a simple bracelet featuring the word LOVE in traditional Maasai beadwork," Chrissie said in an interview with Reconsidered.
She added:
"I had the equally simple goal of helping to create jobs for their community."
The concept gained traction on social media as Chrissie documented what love meant to people around the world. She shared photos of artisans alongside their quotes, creating personal connections between makers and customers.
"The grassroots support of influencers spreading the word validated the 'LOVE Bracelet' concept and product-market fit," she noted.
This social media momentum convinced Chrissie to develop the standalone brand now known as The Love Is Project, which eventually led her to Shark Tank.
What happened to Love is Project after its Shark Tank rejection?
Instead of viewing the Sharks' rejection as failure, Chrissie saw it as motivation.
"Building an international brand requires a tremendous investment, one that I'm grateful I've been able to make," she wrote after the episode aired.
By December 2023, Love Is Project had proven the Sharks wrong. According to Chrissie's LinkedIn profile, the company has created over 2,000 jobs across 10 countries and generated more than $10 million in revenue since 2017. Chrissie herself landed on Forbes' The Next 1000 list for social entrepreneurs in 2021.
In addition to bracelets, the firm now sells face masks, necklaces, purses, and charms. Chrissie's digital marketing strategy was validated when its social media presence increased to over 30,000 Instagram followers and 54,000 Facebook followers.
Never content to rest on past achievements, Chrissie launched a Kickstarter campaign in October 2022 for a photo book documenting her work with female artisans worldwide:
"This book is a collection of stories from my last five years of travel and work with female artisans around the world. It encapsulates so much of what makes The Love Is Project meaningful," she told Reconsidered.
By December 2023, the campaign had raised over $31,000.
"At the end of the day, our mission will always remain the same: harnessing the meaning of LOVE to create economic opportunities for thousands and empower millions around the world," Chrissie emphasized.
She elaborated:
"Every day we are proving that brands developed sustainably and for social good can still be mainstream and profitable."
From a single bracelet design to a global movement, Love Is Project demonstrates that sometimes the best response to rejection is simply to keep going—and prove the doubters wrong.
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