'Laredo's Slime Queen' to hold Slime Fest at Outlet Shoppes – Laredo Morning Times

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“Laredo’s Slime Queen” and CEO of Slimerella Azul Garibi, 15, will hold Slime Fest from 12-9 p.m. Saturday at The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo, featuring plenty of slime-related activities, live music, fashion shows for both kids and dogs, and 60 other vendors.
“Laredo’s Slime Queen” and CEO of Slimerella Azul Garibi, 15, will hold Slime Fest from 12-9 p.m. Saturday at The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo, featuring plenty of slime-related activities, live music, fashion shows for both kids and dogs, and 60 other vendors.
“Laredo’s Slime Queen” and CEO of Slimerella Azul Garibi, 15, will hold Slime Fest from 12-9 p.m. Saturday at The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo, featuring plenty of slime-related activities, live music, fashion shows for both kids and dogs, and 60 other vendors.
One young girl with a love for slime is about to embark on a new journey for her business as she will be hosting the first-ever Slime Fest Saturday, a festival-style event featuring her and several other vendors who work with various slime products.
Azul Garibi, who calls herself “Laredo’s Slime Queen,” is just 15 years old. But despite the fact she’s still in high school, the young entrepreneur is the owner and CEO of Slimerella as well as the pop-up shop business Young Bosses Laredo.
Slime Fest will run from noon to 9 p.m. and will be free for those in attendance. It will feature various activities related to slime products, live music and 60 other vendors under one roof at The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo, as Azul continues to expand her pop-up business model. It will celebrate her four years of business with Slimerella.
“Since it is back-to-school time, we want something fun for the kids and everybody to enjoy as we have had hard times with COVID. We just want everybody to have some fun and just to enjoy some time with their families,” Azul said. “I wanted to hold this Slime Fest to celebrate there at the Outlet Shoppes.”
This is a back-to-school event in which Azul will showcase her slime products and other things she sells. She will also provide activities for all people with slime. There will be live music as well as a children’s fashion show and a dog fashion show. School supplies will also be provided to some of the first children who attend. 
Still a child herself, she said she is glad to host the event, which she hopes makes many people feel great about school returning and helps them have fun. As a high school student in St. Augustine, she said she is glad she can continue doing her schoolwork online while also working on many of the projects she already has on hand.
“I am just glad it works this way, so I can give time for all the activities that we are going to have and all the dreams that I have,” Azul said. “Since it is going to be online, I am going to have a long time to plan out my future and what I want to do.”
Azul said she wishes she one day to have her own property and store dedicated to her Slimerella brand. She’d also like to have an area within the store dedicated to parties and other events, which can be infused with the slime theme for individuals to host slime parties. 
“I just want to have my own space to make my own mess of the slime that I have where I can do all of that, and for Young Bosses I just want us to keep growing and do more pop-ups and in different locations,” Azul said. “One of the things that we thought of was imagine having Young Bosses in San Antonio or stuff like that and just let it grow and have it in different places.”
Azul’s slime journey began when she was 11 as it began as a hobby until she eventually saw some business potential in what she was doing. As she grew and became a teen, her parents then asked her if she wanted a room dedicated to make her slime products and if she would like to sell them. Since then, she has been producing her products from home.
Prior to the pandemic, Azul also began selling her products at local mercaditos and other pop-up shop areas. She also even participated in various slime conventions in cities like Houston and Dallas where she would showcase her product. 
As she began seeing more attention and growth, she started “slime parties” in which families with children celebrating their birthdays would hire her, and she would take her slime products and have games and other activities. Many parents then asked her to do small camps where she could teach other children to make slime, and that helped her gained popularity on her social media channels. 
Although Azul stopped doing slime parties because of the pandemic, she said just a few weeks ago she began them again in efforts to showcase how she wants to bridge the gap between her product and also using it for fun. 
As her social media popularity grew, she also began working with other small local businesses to get them traction online, and she would make videos to promote them as her community grew. 
“A lot of people would message me then if they could help me with their business, and then I started promoting businesses.
Azul said that’s when she began taking a turn toward also being an influencer on social media.
In 2020, she held her first pop-up with the art studio, and after it was a big hit, they did it again the year after. She said she was then contacted by the mall to do pop-ups there.
At first, Azul said the mall pop-up shop vendors market event was going to be a one-day thing, but ever since that day, she created the company Young Bosses in efforts to get various vendors every weekend and put them inside to sell at the mall store while she also showcased her slime products. Azul said every weekend various vendors from the community gather to showcase her products, and she helps showcase them. 
“I think it is a great opportunity for each and every one of the vendors, as I love being there and hearing their stories,” Azul said. “A lot of people may think about the vendors like, ‘Oh, they have their business and are doing good,’ but everybody has their struggles, and I just like to share their stories. And maybe that is their job, or they are barely starting their small business or are a hard-working mom and stuff like that, so I just like talking to them and supporting them.”
Azul says YouTube star Karina Garcia, who also does videos with slime products, has been her inspiration.
Although she will not divulge the secrets to her slime, Azul said she uses simple products like glue, foam, food coloring, scent and a little charm for those who purchase it to enjoy.
There are different types of slime, and they can take longer to produce. Azul said thick slime is one of the hardest to make and takes the longest, but for slime that is more foldable and softer, it is much easier to create. 
The prices of her slime products vary from $5-7. 
“I hope that everybody can come to Slime Fest, as I think it is going to be a super exciting event. I hope it goes super well and we can have it as an annual thing, but it is going to be a free event for all,” Azul said. “There is going to be a lot of slime activities where you guys can walk on slime, be dumped by slime and don’t forget all the vendors that are going to have a lot of awesome things.
“To all the kids, never forget to dream big, and even if you have a small dream or a big dream, everything is possible.”
To follow news about Azul’s career, visit her Facebook or Instagram accounts @slimerella_azul and @youngbosseslaredo.
Jorge A. Vela is a native Laredoan who studied at Laredo College and Texas State earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. After a stint of working for several publications, other local media outlets and managing his own tutoring business for years, Vela decided to get back into journalism by working as a general assignments reporter for the Laredo Morning Times. He loves spending time with la familia, soccer, cooking and jamming out

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