Dreamer Te’Lario Watkins II visits ‘Shark Tank’ as VIP guest of Daymond John

On the heels of applications launching today for the 2025 Disney Dreamers Academy, one of the academy’s recent graduates – aspiring entrepreneur Te’Lario Watkins II of Ohio – experienced a dream come true moment as a result of his participation in the Walt Disney World Resort mentoring program. Watkins, 16, recently spent an afternoon on the set of ABC’s hit show ‘Shark Tank’ as the personal guest of investor Daymond John, who was inspired to supercharge Watkins’ entrepreneur dreams after interacting with him during the 2024 Disney Dreamers Academy at Walt Disney World Resort this spring. John, who was one of several celebrity mentors at the Disney event this year, was impressed by Watkins’ story of running his own mushroom farm, Tiger Mushroom Farms, since he was seven years old and starting his own non-profit, Garden Club Project, to address food insecurity in his community. Walt Disney World arranged to fly Watkins and his father from their home in Blacklick, Ohio to Los Angeles, California where John gave Watkins an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the show’s set, connected him with other entrepreneurs and introduced him to the show’s other “Sharks.’’ The highlight for Watkins was having the opportunity to learn...