This article is part of our People to Watch special section, which publishes Sunday. Each year we highlight some of the most intriguing, passionate and community-minded people in the Rock River Valley.
ROCKFORD — Tracie and Glenn Burress are putting Rockford’s best foot forward with their invention, sockTABs. The couple’s colorful pins that connect socks so they never lose their “sole” mates have gone international after they appeared on the hit ABC show “Shark Tank” on Nov. 20. Daymond John, one of the show’s investors and CEO of the FUBU apparel line, offered to invest $50,000 in sockTABs in exchange for 30 percent ownership in their company.A viewing party for the couple’s prime-time TV appearance drew hundreds to Big Al’s Bar at Giovanni’s. It was a rowdy, joyous event filled with lots of cheers and libations.
“The amount of community support from Rockford has been unimaginable,” Tracie Burress said. “If I was back home in Chicago I would not receive this kind of support.”
Rockford Register Star link.