It’s a Slime Thing

At age 16, Giselle Fakhre has built a business around slime. Her company SlimeSlime 101 has catapulted her into social media success.

article by MEREDITH MCKINNIE and photography by BRAD ARENDER

Social media relevance is defined by one’s number of followers, and if Giselle Fakhre’s Slimslime101 Instagram account is any indication of her relevance in the slime world, the 16-year-old entrepreneur from Monroe has firmly established her reputation.

One of Giselle’s followers, Lily Goudeau, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Ouachita Christian School, attributes her obsession with slime to its therapeutic benefits, saying, “It calms me down.” The substance has been proven to reduce anxiety. Lily will play with the slime while she is doing homework, especially if she has a significant amount of homework or is “freaking out about it.”

If you weren’t born after the dawn of the new millennium, it might be hard to comprehend the youth’s obsession with slime. It’s the sticky stuff you’ve seen kids squishing in their hands, sometimes to their parents’ dismay or confusion. The fad has grown into more than just a child/teen phenomenon and is now a significant online moneymaker, dominating social media platforms and manifesting slime aficionados. Goo lovers cite the enticing possibilities to create with slime, the prettiness of the art medium, and its ability to relieve stress. They collect little tubs in various colors; create their slime combining glue, Borax, and shaving cream; and spend countless hours watching online slime tutorials and demonstrations.

Even as a small child, Giselle’s interest in the arts was evident—she loved drawing and coloring with rainbow markers. The Fakhre family frequented Michael’s, where Giselle was fascinated with the airplane kits, which she would build and paint for her enjoyment. It wasn’t just about playing with a toy, but the process of making and decorating the toy that intrigued her. Giselle’s mother, Dr. Saidi Sowma-Fakhre, enjoyed painting when her kids were little, though she had no formal training. Giselle remembers painting alongside her mother; perhaps that is where she found the comfort to embrace her talent. Saidi would also sew clothes for the kids, so Giselle understood the value of creation. Saidi said Giselle is a smart girl and always performs well in school. She is independent and possesses a quiet confidence. She doesn’t often promote or sometimes even share her Instagram success with those close to her. It’s her creative outlet. And perhaps that’s how a girl of such a young age can successfully balance 920,000 Instagram followers, product promotion, and a growing business.
Giselle Fakhre attended Jesus the Good Shepherd and is now a junior at St. Frederick’s High School. She played basketball and softball, but never aggressively pursued sports. She loves, “The British Baking Show.” Upon graduation, Giselle hopes to pursue business school out of state, combining her studies with her experience in entrepreneurship. Her backup plan is medical school.

The slime craze caught Giselle’s attention only two years ago when she began seeing several online videos, calling them “basic and cool.” But the videos lacked creativity. Giselle saw the potential to create further with the medium and began making her own videos. She started adding different elements to the slime, maximizing its potential, creating beautiful images, and experimenting with textures. Her goal was to be different and to make what she felt was lacking in the other videos. Giselle was hesitant to tell her mother, who was reluctant to allow her daughter in the unknown abyss of social media. Her mother insisted she could not show her face in the videos. And even now, most of the videos show only Giselle’s hands as she creates her art. She mimicked some of what she saw in other videos, but incorporated her own ideas. One popular video involved mixing dried and wet slime in a tub. By pushing on the malleable substance, Giselle created an interesting figure and then painted random colors and stripes on the top. The picture made an intriguing thumbnail for social media, and she gained a ton of views and a significant online following of her account. One of her unconventional videos showed Giselle gluing small colorful hollow plastic balls, commonly found in a ball pit, and then using the balls to make the slime in a big batch. She uses pens, balloons, rainbow colors, favoring unique and bright color combinations. Her attention to detail and willingness to “stretch” the slime beyond its assumed potential has resonated with her nearly one million followers.

As Giselle’s followers grew, so did her DMs (direct messages) from fans. A video would sometimes prompt 300 messages from people with praise, various questions, and requests for slime. She couldn’t possibly answer or even acknowledge them all. Saidi remembers how excited Giselle was when she reached 100 followers—a mini-milestone for a girl her age. And when she reached 1,000, Saidi said her daughter was “over the moon.”

Promotional opportunities and financial incentives started flooding her inbox. Toy companies now send Giselle their products to promote on her page. She’ll make videos using various companies’ latest slimes sold in Target, Walmart, and Michael’s. Her videos show people the possibilities of the product, and Giselle markets for the companies to her many followers. Big name companies send Giselle contracts, and Saidi meticulously looks them over, making sure her daughter is not compromised in any way or locked into an agreement for too long. Saidi is proud of her daughter, who developed a following and created a business all on her own, without the knowledge or reputation of her parents. Giselle has ongoing contracts with ORB Toys and Compound Kings from Wecool Toys. She is on the PR list for Karina Garcia, Elmer’s, and other notable companies. They send Giselle their newest form of glue for her to test and promote. What Giselle thinks about a product matters, and companies trust her judgment.

This month, Giselle and Saidi will be attending Slime Bash, their first slime convention in Chicago. Giselle is a VIP guest, and she will be selling her slime add-in kits, packaged and decorated. Giselle is excited to meet other people in the business who share her passion for creativity. She doesn’t see it so much as a business, as it is still an enjoyable way to spend her time. She also has a YouTube channel, but she doesn’t post on that platform as much. The process is easier with Instagram, she said. She’s handling the online fame with the same reserved confidence she projects in her personal life. Saidi is “super proud” of her daughter, particularly her independence in the endeavor. At 14, Giselle was selling lipsticks and sending them to people in the mail, and now she’s being sought out by noteworthy brands for collaboration. She’s made a name for herself on her own, using a platform her generation understands.

Her Instagram account, SlimeSlime101, was named so because Slime101 was taken, and Giselle was a fan of the hit TV show Zoey 101. She has since created another account, Baby.slime101, where she highlights her little sister Natasha, basically the same formatted videos, but with Natasha’s two-year-old hands. The account has over 100,000 followers, an impressive feat for a two-year-old. Giselle’s parents Saidi and Dr. Fakhre Fakhre are both enamored and humored by their daughter’s fame and success. Though the social media world is new to them, they’re encouraged by their daughter’s ability to navigate the industry and maintain her sense of self.