Who is Hayley Segar?
Hayley Segar is a New London, Connecticut, native who founded onewith, a seamless, elastic-free swimwear brand designed to fit like underwear. She started making beauty videos on YouTube in middle school and built a social following of more than 100,000, began working in the bridal industry at 16, and later worked in luxury women's fashion. She earned a bachelor's degree in English language and literature from the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus in 2017. The idea came from a frustrating search for a comfortable swimsuit before a Miami trip.
She spent more than a year developing samples, competed in UConn's Wolff New Venture Competition, and launched in 2021 using money from her YouTube work. The Milford-based brand sells direct to consumers and had about $2.3 million in sales by the time of her Shark Tank pitch in Season 16. She asked for $200,000 for 5% and accepted $200,000 for 20% from Barbara Corcoran and guest shark Jamie Kern Lima, who both urged her to stay direct-to-consumer rather than chase retail. The episode drove about 20,000 simultaneous visitors to her site.
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