Where to Fine Awful Sloth Co.
Website: www.AwfulSloth.com
Instagram & TikTok: @awfulslothofficial
About Awful Sloth
T&A: Neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ owned small business selling therapeutically weighted sloth plushies. Each sloth comes with a crystal heart and a name tag. The name tag describes the sloth's diagnosis, some struggles they face, and healthy coping mechanisms that help them feel better. The purpose of giving our products these characteristics is to give acceptance and validation to people who can relate, and remind our followers that they are not alone.
The Organization
HS: How long has your organization been running?
T&A: About 9 months
HS: What is your Mission Statement?
T&A: Our goal is to fight the stigma surrounding mental health and neurodiversity. We celebrate everyone’s differences, accept disabilities, and aim to normalize self-care.
HS: What was the idea that sparked the creation of your organization?
T&A: Working a regular 9-5 as neurodivergent people with mental illnesses can be difficult, exhausting, and non-motivating. We both have a background in music therapy and have a passion for helping others in a creative and non-traditional way. This business bloomed to be the perfect way to accomplish our goals!
HS: What did the startup of your organization look like?
T&A: The business started out as “Self Care Bears” and then transitioned to “Self Care Sloths”. After the first, very literal, awful sloth was made, “Awful Sloth” was a humorous and unique name that just stuck. After our first “come make a sloth with me” TikTok went viral, we have been selling out ever since.
HS: What are some of your organization's accomplishments?
T&A: Over 400 sales, 93K followers on TikTok, and several sold-out restocks.
HS: What are some of your goals in the upcoming year?
T&A: Grow and expand the business as much as possible! We have no specific path, we try to listen to our followers and consider everyone’s suggestions.
HS: How did you manage to gain the following that you have now?
T&A: Viral TikToks!
The Founders:
Tess & Abby
HS: Tell us a bit about yourself.
T&A: We are partners of 4 years and both 23 years old. We met during college when obtaining a music therapy degree. We now live together with our dog, Olivia.
HS: What was your personal reason for founding this organization?
T&A: The passion to help people struggling with mental health and/or neurodivergence.
HS: In the early stages, who would you say were the most influential and helped bring your organization to where it is today?
T&A: Our family and friends who have supported and guided us!
HS: If you have one, what is your personal experience with mental health?
T&A: Tess has battled lifelong social anxiety, depression and has been in several treatments for her Eating Disorders. She also has an adult diagnosis of autism, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. Abby has battled anxiety, depression, OCD, and sensory processing disorder since childhood. She has also developed emetophobia which she still struggles with regularly.
Mental Health in Awful Sloth Co.
HS: What does mental health mean to you & your organization?
T&A: Mental health is something everyone should treat equally to physical health. We aim to break the stigma behind it.
HS: Why is your organization an advocate for mental health?
T&A: After both struggling with mental health, we wanted to provide a product and a social media presence that we didn’t have when we were younger.
HS: How are you trying to end the stigma of mental health?
T&A: By sharing our and other's stories in an attempt to normalize mental illnesses and other neurological disabilities. We address struggles and encouraging our audience to reach out for help and practice self-care.
HS: Why should mental health be talked about within the community?
T&A: It’s important not to suppress emotions and to validate them and address them as they arise. The more society talks about mental health, the more aware and accepting people will be.
HS: What are some things you and your team are working on currently?
T&A: CBT techniques, sensory regulation (weighted products, fidget toys, stimming, deep pressure, etc), deep breathing, yoga, and other individualized self-care.
HS: What are other resources you have used to learn more about or support mental health?
T&A: We just created our website! New or restocked sloths come out every week!