A GW Law alum reached a deal with two Shark Tank investors for her healthy chocolate company on the reality show last month.
Thereasa Black, who studied at the law school from 2014 to 2017, said she founded Bon AppéSweet — where she sells chocolate made with fruit-based sweetener and zero processed sugars — to show love to her daughter who had a strong sweet tooth after Black had to leave her shortly before her second birthday for a 13-month deployment in Djibouti as a member of the U.S. Navy. Appearing in this season’s ninth episode, which premiered Jan. 14, Black pitched to five angel investors — called “sharks” on the show — who provide capital to start-ups, striking a deal with Rashaun Williams and Robert Herjavec, who offered her $175,000 in exchange for a 20 percent stake in her company.
Black said she went to GW Law to study criminal law, with the goal of pursuing a career as a lawyer focused on social justice issues. But shortly after graduating from law school and passing the bar exam, the Navy deployed her for 13 months oversees, just before her daughter’s birthday.
“I left a week before her second birthday, when I left for Djibouti and I cried every day that I was on and I knew I could never deploy away from her again,” Black said.
She said the prospect of her returning to the United States as a new attorney, where she’d be working extreme hours, also made her upset, because she’d be spending more time away from her daughter. Because of this, she walked away from the legal profession and began making chocolate at a small factory in Leonardtown, Maryland, to connect with her daughter.
In the episode, Black said she had already begun selling the chocolate in Walmarts and Whole Foods, but she was still operating at a loss and needed financial help.
Black said even though she chose not to pursue a career in law, she’s still trying to integrate her passion for social justice at Bon AppéSweet. The company’s website features a page dedicated to different social issues, and she said their products’ packaging features facts about different social issues, like how overworked public defenders can be.
“I’m still doing what I wanted to do, but with another in a different way than I had planned,” Black said.
Black said she had applied four different times before finally landing an opportunity to pitch on Shark Tank, after applying for the final time in early 2025. She said the last time she applied, she drove from southern Maryland to Philadelphia for an open call for the show, where a producer told her she had been rejected before because the sharks aren’t allowed to take on two companies with similar products to avoid conflicts of interest.
She said the fourth time she applied landed her a spot on the show, and she received an email shortly before being flown out to Los Angeles to tape. After filming, she said people working on the show cautioned her segment might not even air.
While her segment ultimately did air, Black said she didn’t get the notification until Christmas Eve, just four weeks before the episode aired.
“I had told my husband I don’t want any Christmas presents this year, I have everything that I need,” Black said. “Then I got that notification, and he was like, ‘Now you have everything that you need.’”
Black said that in the wake of the episode’s Jan. 14 airing, Bon AppéSweet has been “swamped” with thousands of orders.
She said the investors’ positive reactions after trying the chocolate, which is sweetened from dates, encouraged customers to try the fruit-sweetened dessert. Black added that the long-term support from Williams and Herjavec not only gives her a financial boost but also connects her with people outside the food world and can further expand her company.
“They have that experience and they can make the phone calls that you need to be made,” Black said.
Black said she is thankful for her time at the law school, especially the support she received from professors after she gave birth to her daughter during her second year of law school. She said professors were flexible with her and accommodating of her needs as a new mother, adding that one advocated for a nursing station in the law school’s library to be relocated to a more convenient location after Black almost missed a final as a nursing mother.
“I really, really did appreciate that, because being a mom and being in law school is not an easy thing, but they made it easier by being more flexible,” Black said.
