Lewes woman pitches her business, Pinch Me Therapy Dough, to Shark Tank investors

LEWES, Del.- Nancy Rothner, the owner of a Lewes business called Pinch Me, is still in shock that she had the opportunity to swim with the sharks, and no, not actual Sharks, but some of the top investors on the show Shark Tank.

“It still hasn’t sunk in, it doesn’t seem real, the whole thing is surreal to me,” Rothner said.

For the last 20 years, Rothner worked as a clinical hypnotherapist.

During that time, she saw that a lot of her clients were dealing with stress.

“I was seeing that stress statistics in general were on the rise, all age groups everywhere is just keeps going higher and higher,” Rothner said.

So, she asked herself what can she do to help those dealing with this?

And what she came up with was therapy dough.

“It engages so many of your senses and it just acts as a quick catalyst to unwind and typically people are seeing in about a minute after using the product they feel less stressed,” Rothner said.

The dough is infused with aromatherapy, and I am told if you’re feeling stressed out all you have to do is take the dough out and kneed it with your fingers.

Rothner said this Pinch Me Therapy dough has been selling in stores nationwide for years, but she said when the pandemic hit it impacted business.

“Pinch Me and the business we were caught in the middle just like everybody else, all the stores I sell to they were shut down, truly at a standstill didn’t know which way to turn,” Rothner said.

So, that’s when she signed up for the show Shark Tank.

And while Rothner can’t tell us what chapter comes next she does said she hopes that the show brings growth.

“To just continue to get the word out there, and continue to grow and improve and develop and onward and upward we go,” Rothner said.

Rothner’s episode of Shark Tank will air tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.

She encouraged other business owners to apply for the show, if they think the time is right for them.