Ryan Marotta, a recent Kent graduate, started a clothing business this past year that works to spread mental health awareness and positive messages.

The clothing includes fashion for people of all ages, with subtle quotes and designs on T-shirts and sweatshirts.

Marotta’s interest in mental health began after he lost his roommate in freshman year to suicide.

“It was about two weeks before COVID happened, so I went from this really shocked state, I guess, to just being numb to pretty much everything,” he said. “It wasn’t a really good place for me mentally. I didn’t cope with the trauma of it in a healthy way.”

This experience is what motivated Marotta to focus his business on mental health awareness.

“I thought about that this year, like how I can wrap my senior project into where I started and how far I’ve come,” he said. “I found the best way was to create a company that tries to help individuals like where I was at freshman year, who are struggling.”

The inspiration to start his business, Mindfull Apparel, came from a capstone course in the entrepreneurial program. Students are tasked with formulating a business plan and then putting it into motion throughout two semesters.

Marotta said his fashion designs are one way he works to promote positivity for mental health through his business, while still having them appear trendy and simple.

“Our logo, for instance, is a skeleton with a garden growing out of its head, because that’s kind of how we view mental health,” he said. “It’s like a garden where you can’t expect it to be fixed instantly. It takes time.”

Mindfull Apparel also promotes positivity by donating to and partnering with nonprofit organizations that help those struggling with mental illness. One of the organizations the business partnered with is Reach1Teach1Love1, which Marotta joined his sophomore year for support.

Marotta said that his professor, Mary Heidler, encouraged their entrepreneurship class throughout the semester. He said that Heidler’s course was an opportunity to discuss business ideas with other students and through one-on-one meetings with her.

Similar to how Marotta was inspired by his personal life while creating Mindfull Apparel, many students worked with Heidler to design businesses that would involve their own interests.

“We have jewelry businesses, we have app developers, we have clothing businesses,” Heidler said. “Each one of them had to find something they were passionate about.”

She said that one of the most impactful experiences for her is the students’ determination to help others through their ideas. While her students are not required to create mission-driven businesses, many of them still choose to in some way.

“I don’t think there was a single business started where there wasn’t some passion behind it to give back,” she said. “Whether it’s a sustainability piece, whether it’s mental health or teaming up with a nonprofit, they’re definitely a generation that says, ‘I’m not just doing this for me, and I’m not just doing this for the revenue. I’ve got to give back or I’ve got to have a purpose behind it.’”

The most special part of teaching in entrepreneurship for Heidler is seeing her students realize their potential. She attended the recent spring semester graduation to cheer on the students, which allowed her time to reflect on how teaching this course inspires her.

“I just really enjoy getting them out of their comfort zone, pushing them further than they think they can go,” she said. “Their ideas are fantastic. They’re current and they’re philanthropic, and it gives me great hope in the next generation when you see a class like that.”

Kayla Gleason is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].