Here's What Went Down With BareEase After Shark Tank
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If you're a "Survivor" fan, you may well remember "Survivor: South Pacific" star Dr. Edna Ma appearing on the spin-off back in 2011. Well, it turns out that Ma (who is a board-certified anesthesiologist) was trying to get on "Shark Tank" when she appeared on "Survivor." That's because she wanted investments in her business, BareEase, a line of numbing cream and underwear created for use during waxing around the bikini line. "I was trying to meet Mark Burnett, who also produces 'Shark Tank.' I met him and got cast for 'Survivor,'" Ma admitted to Pop Goes The Week! of how she ended up on the reality show.
Ma developed BareEase after undergoing a Brazilian wax that she found super painful. "As an anesthesiologist, I was inspired to create BareEase because I knew there was a way to minimize and prevent pain," she told HuffPost. "I created my first BareEase kit literally in my kitchen, and eventually launched a business a few years later." Ma's dream of getting BareEase in front of the Sharks eventually came through during Season 5, when Ma appeared in front of Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, and Robert Herjavec. "Almost six months went by before I received a phone call from the production team," Ma revealed. "They told me I was being moved forward in the selection process, but it was no guarantee that my product would be selected for filming." But selected she was.
BareEase failed to land an investment from the Sharks
Dr. Edna Ma asked for $50,000 and was willing to give away 20% of BareEase on "Shark Tank" in return. The 2013 episode of the show saw Ma explain that she'd had the product on the market for three years and had sold $45,000 worth of product the year prior, while she made the Sharks laugh by handing out samples for them to try at home. When asked by Mark Cuban why she hadn't sold more in that time, she explained she needed help with distribution.
But after Ma explained that she was still working elsewhere in the medical field and had a young family she was also taking care of, the Sharks became skeptical. "It's not a company yet," Cuban said, telling Ma he didn't like that she hadn't focused on BareEase full-time. He declared himself out. Barbara Corcoran agreed, admitting she thought Ma needed someone to drive the business, but she wasn't willing to put that much work in. Kevin O'Leary also dropped out, revealing he hadn't seen enough growth over the business's lifespan to warrant him getting involved. Lori Greiner then spoke out, praising Ma for her hard work, but shared she too wouldn't invest. Unfortunately for Ma, though Robert Herjavec was also full of praise, he too declared himself out after telling the entrepreneur he thought the business was too much of a hobby for her over being a serious business.
Dr. Edna Ma did get what she wanted for BareEase, though
Dr. Edna Ma didn't see a whole lot of success when it came to getting an investment on "Shark Tank" and admitted to Passive Income MD that she was pretty disappointed to walk away without a Shark onboard. "I left like a total loser! I was sleepless for weeks, but when my episode finally aired, literally thousands of people reached out to me! And some of those people were interested investors," she explained.
Her lack of a deal on the show certainly didn't mean the anesthesiologist didn't get what she was looking for. Post-'Shark Tank,' BareEase actually got another investor onboard. "I found an investor who has a logistics team that manages everything from the warehouse to customer service accounts. Their team now runs the business, for which I am very grateful," she shared. "It's hard to trust people to manage a project that I handled for so many years. However, they're a wonderful team and have definitely earned my trust!" Ma also shared how important it was for BareEase to have more people involved. "This has been a lifesaver for me because I'm able to spend more time with my family but also earn money from royalties from the product I created and spent so much time on," she shared. "It's truly passive income at this point." Edna added she felt not getting a deal on "Shark Tank" was the best result for her company.
But BareEase appears to have left the shelves
Despite a promising team-up after "Shark Tank," it doesn't seem like BareEase lasted too long after appearing on the show. According to her LinkedIn page, Dr. Enda Ma began working as an anesthesiologist at the 90210 Surgery Center in 2015. Though her page still lists her as the founder of BareEase, the product no longer seems to be on sale as of December 2023. The brand's website has been removed, and BareEase's Amazon page does not list any products, while old listings via outlets such as Walmart show the product as being out of stock.
While BareEase's Facebook page is still available to view, it hasn't been updated since 2010. As for the brand's YouTube page, that hasn't been updated since 2012. The company doesn't appear to have any other social media pages currently active. Though it's not clear exactly when BareEase stopped selling, Geeks Around The Globe claimed it appeared to dissolve around 2018 or 2019.
Dr. Edna Ma appears to have moved on from BareEase
As for what Dr. Edna Ma is up to these days, in addition to her career as an anesthesiologist, she appears to have turned her attention to another business idea. Edna told Shoutout LA during a 2021 interview that she had turned her attention toward creating multi-language books for children. "As [a] mother of two children, my love to create and solve problems still hasn't waned. As an American-born Chinese, my husband and I wanted to raise our children to be bilingual and global citizens. With our children in Mandarin immersion school, I found a limited selection of engaging picture books with both English and Chinese. So I used this paucity in the marketplace as motivation to create bilingual children's books I wished existed," she explained of her venture.
Ma has also turned her attention to appearing on more TV shows. In the wake of her appearances on "Survivor: South Pacific" and "Shark Tank," she's also popped up on the likes of "The Doctors" and "25 Words or Less."