A Newport Beach woman will see her dreams come to fruition on the small screen this week as she debuts her invention on the Home Shopping Network.
Marcy McKenna will be selling her creation, The Style & Go Hair Care Valet, live on HSN tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.
“I’m super excited,” McKenna said about her upcoming HSN debut.
Her particular time slot will be about 15 minutes within each show, “HSN Today: Organize with Ease” on Wednesday, “Concierge Bath Collection Celebration” on Friday, and “Organize in Style” on Saturday.
To see McKenna, tune in to the Home Shopping Network at about 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 10:40 a.m. on Friday, and 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Pacific Time.
For those who can’t view it live on HSN, McKenna said, the Style & Go is also available for purchase on the HSN website, www.hsn.com, or through links on her website, www.simplysolvedinnovations.com.
The Style & Go Hair Care Valet is basically “a solution to the problem we all have with messy, tangled up cords,” on hair styling appliances, McKenna said.
It is a “wall mounted electrical hair care cabinet that allows you to use your hair appliances from the same place that you store them,” according to her website.
“It saves so much time,” she added, and keeps everything nice and organized.
McKenna has been preparing at the HSN studios in Florida to get ready for this week’s shows.
She has been training in a mock studio with monitors, learning where and when to look, reviewing the presentations, props and scripts, meeting with the host, going over stage blocking, so the camera can see everything just right, and much more, she said.
“We want to make sure everything is looking good and ready to go,” McKenna said. “All the little details (are important).”
She will be in the studio by 4 a.m. tomorrow morning for hair and makeup and a production meeting before going live.
“Juggling all of that, navigating those waters, has been challenging,” she said, “but I’m getting the hang of it.”
She has learned a lot through the experience, she said, like understanding how to speak to the customer through the camera.
“I’m speaking to Suzy in Ohio,” she said as an example, it’s about “connecting with the customer.”
“It’s been very helpful and fun,” she said. And the HSN crew has been very warm and friendly, it’s a great environment, she added.
The next step for her and her business, Simply Solved, really depends on how this week goes, McKenna said.
Looking toward the future, this week’s show is just about the Style & Go, it’s about building a brand at HSN.
“I’m creating a whole line of products… Creating simple solutions to life’s everyday problems,” McKenna said.
McKenna landed the deal with the Home Shopping Network after winning the first episode of TLC’s “Homemade Millionaire” show with her hair styling station.
“A lot has happened,” since winning the show, which aired in November of 2010, she said. “It’s been a whirlwind.”
Winning Homemade Millionaire has helped her secure that direct line to HSN customers, she said, and having HSN behind her, as a brand, is extremely helpful.
The first product McKenna sold on air for HSN was The Cambia Clutch, introduced in November 2010. The purse has interchangeable flaps to create three different high-fashion clutch handbags.
According to the Simply Solved website, “within one week of its debut on HSN, The Cambia Clutch became a “Customer Pick” and to date has received nearly a 5 star rating across the board.”
Since winning she has also had outside inventers have come to her with their ideas and so far she has taken on three new products that she felt fit in with her Simply Solved brand.
One of those products is the My French Press, invented by Patrick Rolfes. It’s a personal French Press style brewer that works with single serve coffee and tea portion packs
“It’s going to revolutionize the single coffee cup craze going on right now,” McKenna said.
On top of the My French Press, four more of her own products have been given the green light by HSN, she said, and she has 15 more in development.
She has also recently won another high-profile invention contest, which will debut a new “as seen on TV” product within the next year.
Another exciting upcoming step for McKenna is possibly hosting a TV show for inventors. The production is currently in the conceptual stage, she said.
“I’m really excited,” about the future, McKenna said.
