Persistence and Perseverance Lands Past INPEX® Exhibitor on the Oprah Winfrey Show
As an inventor, you look for publicity for your invention. You hope for a magazine to cover you, perhaps a manufacturer to take an interest in your idea, maybe even a local television station to do a story on you. But in your wildest dreams... Oprah? For past INPEX exhibitor Ed Kurpieski, his wildest dream recently became a reality.
Kurpieski is the inventor of the "Bear Back Scratcher". The Bear, which looks a little like a brush you mount on your wall, can be used to scratch your back without any stretching or straining.
Last October, Kurpieski's life changed when he heard about a contest, for an upcoming episode on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The only problem — he learned of the contest the day the entries were due. But he wasn't about to give up.
"Living in the Chicago area was my first break," Kurpieski said. "I quickly packed up one of my Bear Back Scratchers and headed downtown to submit my invention to Harpo Studios."
However, when Kurpieski arrived, he was told all inventions had to come by mail. Of course, no mail delivery would make it that day, so he had to be creative. He went to a FedEx office down the street and had the Bear processed for an overnight delivery. After putting all the labels and stickers on the package, Kurpieski cancelled the delivery and took the package back to Harpo studios.
"I could not go back to the woman at the front desk because she would recognize me and would not accept my package for delivery. I had to come up with another idea," he said.
On this day, luck was on Kurpieski's side. As he was walking around the building, a woman poked her head out of a door. He took a chance and told the woman he had a package for the invention episode. She offered to take it inside and Kurpieski made the deadline.
The next day, Kurpieski got a call from Oprah's staff telling him he was one of 30 finalists for the show. He and his wife went to Harpo studios the following Sunday.
"We didn't know what to expect," Kurpieski said. "When we arrived, we found inventors from all over the country who had been flown in for this process."
Kurpieski presented the Bear to the judges and then waited. At the end of the day, the judges came back and named the seven winners. Less than a week later, Kurpieski and his wife were in a limousine on their way to the Oprah show. They were escorted to the green room (and yes, the green room is really green) and waited to be called.
Finally, he was on Oprah, meeting her in front of a live audience and millions of viewers. It was only two minutes but Kurpieski calls the experience one of the best of his life. He even got Oprah to scratch her back using the Bear.
Kurpieski sums up his own story better than anybody else could:
"This all took place because I'm an inventor who never quit believing in his product and his dream."
