Asian American boba brand finds opportunity after Simu Liu sparks cultural appropriation debate Boston 25 News [Video]

Olivia Chen and Pauline Ang, friends and business partners on boba milk tea brand Twrl, have tried three times to get on “Shark Tank,” the ABC reality show where up-and-coming entrepreneurs try to woo big-name backers.

Now, in a plot twist they couldn’t have imagined, the San Francisco Bay Area-based women have a chance to pitch a pretty well-known investor — actor Simu Liu. The irony is that it came about after they posted a video on TikTok in support of Liu calling out the white owners of a boba drink brand for cultural appropriation on “Dragons’ Den,” the Canadian version of “Shark Tank.” Somehow it found its way to Liu and the “Shang-Chi” star invited Twrl to send his team a “pitch deck.”

“I actually wasn’t sure it wasn’t real, to be honest,” said Chen, who posted the day after seeing “Dragons’ Den” clips. “I decided I wanted to …