My Motivation

In the summer of 2017, I was a young student whose mind was incessantly longing for a medium through which I could unleash my creativity. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, I could not deny that internal stress, coupled with external pressures, would impose an unbearable amount of tension on my 11-year-old self. Consequently, regardless of how taboo the topic was at the time, I often felt an urge to release pent-up stress as opposed to bottling it up. It was at this time that I first stumbled upon a “slime tutorial” on my YouTube recommended page. Captivated by the aesthetically pleasing thumbnail showcasing the gooey substance, I was inclined to kick back, relax, and press the “play” button. As soon as I viewed it, I foraged for a holy bottle of glue. At that point, I had unleashed a sort of passion for innovating something magical. As a student in the American education system, I have too often been exposed to the blemishes in our institutions over the years. Places of academia solemnly swear to champion the advancement of mental health initiatives, yet they refuse to fundamentally change their operations to benefit those they cater to. Even at the age of 11, I had fallen victim to the stress placed upon myself as well as thousands of other students in the public school system. Slime had quickly become a calming agent that enabled me to release tension and forget about anything that troubled me for even just a moment.

In the course of Puppi Slimes’ existence, I have identified a myriad of issues our society must address, including but not limited to mental health issues in schools. Evidently, schools struggle to find enough funds to allocate to mental health facilities and resources. Also, students are not only stressed out by an abundance of work but are prone to disengage themselves from school activities due to mental health issues. I have long observed that current solutions are scarce due to a lack of emphasis on mental health issues. The inadequate solutions to modern-day issues served as the fuel for this initiative. 

Prior to being launched in 2017, Puppi Slimes speculated that the best way to gain exposure would be to make an Instagram account on which promotional photos and videos would be posted. My goal was twofold: to ensure that I, as the young owner and founder, enjoyed what I was doing and to ascertain that the love and care that went into the slime-making process would be tangible. Puppi Slimes was designed to be a game changer that would serve as a clarion call to revolutionize the way we view mental health. It would allow the archetypal individual to explore their interests and forget about their stressors for just a moment. Capital gains were to be channeled to programs that many groups could benefit from. One concise yet telling statement encapsulates Puppi Slimes’ value: For individuals across the globe, my products provide the opportunity to relax, increase focus, and become mentally aware because mental wellness is just as important as physical wellness and must be treated as such. 

Since its inception in 2017, Puppi Slimes, which is an Etsy shop founded on the basis of a social entrepreneurship goal, has sold over 5,000 units on all platforms (digitally and in-person). Most transactions are made through my Etsy shop on which I ship to 43 countries and all 50 states. All online orders are shipped in bubble mailers and packaged with love and care. Slimes are pre-made and pre-portioned before being listed on my Etsy shop. My primary marketing channels include Instagram posts and Etsy advertisements that leverage SEO techniques to optimize exposure.

From 2018 to 2023, Puppi Slimes has attended dozens of slime conventions and expositions across the east coast in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland. At such conventions, products have been sold, live slime-making demonstrations as well as workshops have been broadcast, and proceeds have been donated to various non-profit organizations. In preparation for each convention, I deliberately designed a unique setup with centerpieces and an appealing atmosphere in order to create a welcoming environment for prospective buyers and visitors. Retractable banners, table decorations, goody bags, stickers, name tags with lanyards, and business cards were among the many eye-catching items crafted just for these conventions.

Puppi Slimes has also launched an initiative entitled “Slimes Helping Minds” with aims of channeling profits towards my high school’s mental health clubs and facilities. I have shared my ideas and passion with my school principal. I am currently in the process of executing this initiative at my high school through a collaboration with the Mental Health PACT committee, which is devoted to raising mental health awareness and organizing school events that reinforce a mentally fit lifestyle.  

It was the end of an era when Toys ”R” Us closed its doors on June 29, 2018. Children were deprived of toys and were left to spend hours in front of a screen. Then, slime came to the rescue as it quickly began to flood Instagram explore pages and news headlines. Slime is known to have a therapeutic effect on not only children but also adults who may be trying to wind down after a stressful day full of unavoidable responsibilities. In a world plagued by a profound mental health crisis, my slimes have proven to be effective in terms of relieving stress and contributing to a boost in the collective health of our minds.

My five-star shop rating corroborates my solemn belief in the mental health impact of my company. Over 300 online shop reviews all suggest one thing: the products sold by Puppi Slimes are of excellent quality and serve as a calming agent for those who play with them. After all, slime evokes a sensory response in humans. The satisfying sounds, shapes, colors, and textures of slime are known to relieve anxiety. As quoted in Psychology Today, slime leads to mindfulness especially in children aged between 8-12 as they spend less time in front of screens when engaged in a slime activity. Several shop reviews report that my slimes have allowed individuals to fare well in times of stress or anxiety. One customer with clinical anxiety remarked that slime allowed them to be occupied with something other than picking at their own fingers, while another noted that they would play with scented slime to focus while working.

Established as a social entrepreneurship venture, the mission of Puppi Slimes is to create high quality yet affordable slimes with the vision to make an impact within its local, national, and global community. With those founding principles in mind, I attended the Edison Beautification Project in the summer of 2021. There, I sold slimes at weekly events and donated proceeds to the cause, which promoted the betterment of my town of Edison and its infrastructure as well as my community. I aspire to continue my efforts to help small businesses in my local community who have been hit by the pandemic and other outstanding issues. My national impact has been made possible by directing proceeds toward several causes, such as the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to give a voice to those who cannot speak, the American Heart Association to bring awareness to heart disease, and St. Jude Hospital to offer free medical care to cancer patients and eventually find a cure for childhood cancer. Furthermore, I support Bring Change to Mind (BC2M) in order to raise awareness of mental health problems and provide support to those who are in need. On a global scale, I have donated proceeds to the World Central Kitchen on a monthly basis from April 2022 to the present in order to help feed impoverished families affected by natural disasters and political crises.

In February 2023, Türkiye was hit by two major earthquakes within a span of 12 hours causing much pain and suffering in the Southeastern region of the country. People were left without access to basic necessities including but not limited to water, food, accommodation, and transportation. Puppi Slimes decided to step in by launching a family-wide initiative on GoFundMe. So far, we have raised $26,215, which is worth 512,427.23 Turkish Liras (TRY) as of May 11, 2023. Each month, Puppi Slimes’ proceeds are donated to this fundraising page, and our family is periodically identifying families in need and supplying them with the resources they need to get back on their feet. To date, we were able to provide rental assistance to 4 families, and we managed to provide meals routinely for over 100 people from 10+ families along with monthly scholarships to 6 elementary school and 2 college students. We still have enough funds to continue these efforts for at least another year. 

Today, Puppi Slimes is proud to be a social entrepreneurial entity that gives back to the community in the fight against mental health problems, natural disasters, and war. Through my shop’s Instagram account, I am able to reach more than 15,000 amazing supporters, all of whom have allowed me to magnify my impact.  

I often used to wonder, Am I really making a difference in people’s lives? The answer to my inner question came to me in the summer of 2021. Seeking ways to have a better understanding of leadership and service, I attended courses organized by the National 4-H Council hosted by Rutgers University in the state of New Jersey and earned a certificate in both service learning and leadership training. Those certificates proved to be more than just volunteer hours or pieces of paper attesting to some proof of accomplishment. The hours I spent in those classes were priceless because they helped me see the bigger picture of what I had already been achieving through my slime shop without even realizing it. I had already been utilizing the six pillars of leadership–trustworthiness, respect, caring, responsibility, citizenship, and fairness–all along. The deeper I dug, the more I learned about my leadership competencies and potential impact in my community. I learned that these six pillars and civic virtues are indeed intertwined; one cannot function without the other. Just like E Pluribus Unum, these six pillars are what make up the civic virtues, which, in turn, form the foundation of civic virtues.

In today’s world, mental health awareness efforts, albeit present, are inadequate. Therefore, by using the courage vested in me to act on behalf of those who cannot, I have learned that I can actually make an impact on someone who is feeling burned out or stressed with the help of my slimes. In addition, channeling the proceeds from each slime sale to a meaningful cause, whether it be to support animals, people suffering from heart disease, cancer patients, those with mental health problems, Ukrainians displaced from their homes, or earthquake survivors in Türkiye, is what gives me a sense of fulfillment when I lay my head on my pillow at night. As one of the youngest voices of my hometown, I feel humbled to imagine what is yet to come. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I know that my impact on the world will only proliferate in time.