My Bullied Grandma Led Me to Shark Tank
Words by Koko Hayashi
Updated: Apr 22, 2025
When I was little, I lived with my grandmother in Japan. My parents were always working, so she was everything to me — gentle, wise, and always there. Her presence felt like home.
One afternoon, I had some friends over to play. As we walked past my grandmother, one of them leaned in and asked quietly:
"Why does your grandma smell weird?"
I didn’t know how to respond. My grandmother was always so clean and graceful. But I saw the faint shift in her smile — she’d heard it. That quiet moment stuck with me for decades.
Years later, I learned what that smell was: Nonenal — a natural compound that forms on aging skin and can’t be removed by regular soap.
No one knew what it was until the science was published. My grandmother was never “dirty.” She was simply aging gracefully. But the world didn’t understand — and no one had given her the right care.
That painful childhood moment became the seed for Mirai Clinical: a personal care line rooted in Japanese tradition and powered by persimmon extract, which is clinically proven to eliminate Nonenal and help people age with confidence.
But it didn’t happen overnight.
The Struggle Before the Shark Tank
In 2014, I launched Mirai Clinical in the USA, but I didn’t know the first thing about marketing. At the time, I was still in Japan, trying to navigate a business from halfway across the world — a huge challenge.
Mirai started growing, but it wasn’t easy. Eventually, I left my 9-5 job in Tokyo and moved to California to grow the business, only to face a devastating blow: the one person who was shipping the products for me passed away suddenly.
I was alone.
No one to rely on.
And no idea what I was doing.
I had a basic foundation, but I didn’t even know the basic rules — like not asking age or gender in an interview. I made mistake after mistake, trusting the wrong people, getting scammed, theft and losing money. I literally cried every week for the first couple of years.
The Failure and Failure to Get to Shark Tank
When I heard that Shark Tank auditions were happening in person, I jumped at the chance.
I pitched.
I failed.
The next year, I went back.
I failed again.
I almost gave up. Then, out of nowhere, an opportunity came to pitch my face yoga business — something I had been doing on the side. I poured my heart into that pitch.
It aired in 2019. The response was overwhelming. People from all over the world reached out, and it helped grow Mirai Clinical because I mentioned it on stage.
But the road was still far from smooth.
The journey had been painful, but I refused to quit. I kept making mistakes, learning from them, and pushing forward.
The Shark Tank Moment
Five years later, I decided to give Shark Tank another shot.
This time, I was ready.
When I walked into that room again, it was different.
I wasn’t just a business owner anymore. I was a survivor.
I was speaking for my grandmother, for everyone who has felt ashamed of aging, for every person who has ever been misunderstood because of something they couldn’t control.
Watch the result on May 9th, 8pm (ET/PT) — the moment that changed everything.
