Maya Nazareth started practicing jiu-jitsu at age 17. Eight years later, she believes training in combat sports transformed her “from a shy wallflower and turned me into the confident woman” who is the founder of a growing sportswear brand, Nazareth said on Wednesday’s episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
Nazareth pitched her company, Philadelphia-based Alchemize Fightwear, on the show. Alchemize makes a range of athletic apparel specifically for women training in combat sports like martial arts, wrestling and boxing.
She started the business as a college student in 2020 after surveying a lack of womenswear options for combat sports training, which Nazareth described as a “major problem” that “makes a lot of women quit” those sports.
“Female fighters like me face a major problem. We don’t have gear to train in,” she told the show’s investor judges.
Reddit co-founder and investor Alexis Ohanian, a guest judge on the episode, expressed some interest early.
