A Fort Smith native and University of Central Arkansas graduate will pitch her company on Friday's episode of Shark Tank.
The ABC reality show allows entrepreneurs to plug their business ideas to multibillionaire investors, giving them the opportunity to secure lucrative business deals.
Fort Smith native Brittany Hodak along with her business partner, Kim Kaupe, will appear on the show to persuade investors to help fund their company, ZinePak, UCA said in a news release.
The company name is a fusion of the words “magazine” and “package,” according to the ZinePak website.
The New York City-based company creates entertainment packages for "superfans," according to the ZinePak website, bundling CDs in deluxe packaging with merchandise.
ZinePak has partnered with Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, KISS and Luke Bryan, as well as brands such as Dove and American Express.
ZinePak, founded in 2011, employs 10 full-time workers and several freelancers.
Hodak said she came up with the idea of ZinePak while she was a student at UCA, where she majored in communications and worked as a college marketing representative for Warner Music group.
With the decline of CD sales, she devised a solution: offer a physical music product superior to what's offered digitally, Hodak said in the release.
Hodak said the idea came to fruition several years later when she met her co-founder, Kaupe, at a New York City advertising agency.
The episode will air Friday at 7 p.m. on ABC.