By: Rebecca Miller
Archbold 14 year old, Rebekah Rosales, has been busily participating in the sale of Slime, a concoction that is not only fun but stress releasing, for the past year. She not only makes and sells Slime, but attends conventions where she meets others in the Slime Community. “I got started about a year ago after I had been begging my parents for a while, to let me,” Rosales said in an interview.
Rebekah shared that she had medical issues and ended up in the Cleveland clinic. They discovered that she had enflamed Hives in her liver, kidneys and other organs, as well as under her scalp. They were caused by enflamed lymph nodes and are now under control through medication.
She also has an allergy to water that limits her to less than ten minutes except in salt water or chlorine. Her life was full of anxiety and she found that playing with Slime helped to relieve it. She began mixing her own and communicating with others who make it to sell.
She named her business The Mexican Slime Shop, as her heritage is Mexican. “It is kind of funny though,” she said, “when people at conventions start speaking Spanish with me! I was born and raised here and I can’t speak Spanish. It surprises them because of my business name.” There was a lot to learn about how to purchase supplies, etc. but she said she has an entrepreneurial spirit, and had already sold rainbow balloons, duct tape wallets and her moms burritoes at school. Some of her slimes are called cloud creams, that don’t drizzle but feel soft and when it stretches it falls and looks like a cloud.
She also makes glitter bombs like a green one called “My Boy”, based on the song by Billie Eilish, and butter slime which has clay inside the slime. Rebekah says she likes making floams and butter slimes the most and is known for those. She won first place in Floams four times.
Much of her business is done online and she is happy to have reached a little over 10,000 followers on Instagram. The first event she ever attended was held in Schaumburg Hotel in Chicago. “It was crazy and felt like the best day ever!” Rebekah said enthusiastically. “The slime celebrities who were there started following me online, and calling me on the phone. It was so awesome.”
Soon, she and a couple others started to plan an event in Chicago, but she and her parents ended up doing it alone, taking the expenses of hosting the celebrities they had invited. The event was called Slime in the City, and Rebekah was even written about in The Chicago Tribune.
There were 900 ticket holders for that convention and the VIPs who participated (for those who know names in the Slime Community) were “Slime City B_ who has 900,000 followers, Martian Matter Slime with 400K, popular Slimes with 600K, Macaroon Slime 400K, Pigsnot Slime 60K, Infinity Slimes with 300K, Slime Yoda 1.2 million, Slime Glitter, a guy who was flown from the UK for the event with 800K followers, Nicole Joplin who has almost a million on you tube.
“Another guy, King Kong Slimes 60K is one of my best friends in the Slime Community. V Money Slimes almost 600K, Happy Kawii Supplies 60K, I buy some of my supplies from her. Plus a bunch who aren’t as big, with 10-30 K including Celadon Slimes who has 50K.” Rebekah is happy to have made friends with a number of these and is excited that in September she will be flown to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which will be the first time she has been one of the paid VIPs.
Rebecca’s schooling is done at home, another way they have found to help relieve stress, through the K-12 program, a free online public school, which can be seen advertised on TV as an option. She began K-12 in the fifth grade and is now going into the 8th grade. Recently her family was chosen by K-12 to make one of their commercials. They were flown to Utah, all expenses paid, for the interviews.
“They treated us royally!” Rebekah said. “A gorgeous car picked us up at the airport and took us to our B and B. They waited on us hand and foot, all our food, transportation and even a chauffeur. There were interviews all day, and they even did our hair and make-up. The interviewers were all really sweet and it was so much fun.” Rebekah has been told that her ad is now showing on television, but she has not yet seen it.
About teenagers in business, Rebekah says, “Don’t let what people say affect you or you won’t be successful. Just keep going. Online haters – don’t listen to them. Don’t give up. Delete them or block them. Don’t give up on your dreams. Talk with business owners, watch videos, and learn all you can. I wish I had done more of that.” Doing the slime business also helps with the anxiety, relaxing her and giving her a sense of satisfaction, so she recommends that anyone who wants to do something should go for it.
Locally, Rebekah and her Mexican Slime Shop can be seen in Wauseon on July 27 and 28, on August 17 in Metamora and then at the Fulton County Fair for all seven days.
Rebecca can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com