HYDERABAD: Teenagers lose their spirit and avoid social gatherings because of pimples, that make them feel vulnerable to criticism with various people giving multiple kinds of advice, they tend to get anxious while trying to deal with acne in a confusing age.
Addressing their concerns was a webinar by international fitness athlete, TEDx speaker and entrepreneur Sonali Swami.
The Zoom webinar which was hosted on Thursday witnessed the attendance of over 500 teenagers from class VIII onwards from across India. It was part of ‘My First Pimple’ campaign by Himalaya Purifying Neem Face Wash ‘to encourage conversation around ‘pimples’ amongst teenagers and motivate them to focus on larger life goals without getting upset about physiological changes and skinrelated concerns.
The other guest speakers were Keerthika Damodaran, brand manager in the consumer products division in the Himalaya drug company as well as Zeisha Amlani as the host of the webinar. The campaign provided various question and answer sessions by host Zeisha where the participants were given insight and were provided with details on how to deal with zits and provided extra trivia that created a fun environment for the participants.
Sonali narrated her story on how she gained her forte in weightlifting at the age of 37 post having two children and won the ‘Fit Factor’ competition in 2014 and won a bronze medal in WBBF Asian championship in 2016, prior to that she was a dance instructor. She spoke about how teenagers need to be passionate towards their dreams and the time as a teen is the best one for them to put in that ‘extra effort’ and not let mental and physiological challenges as pimples worry one.
She was empathetic and was knowledgeable regarding pimples being a mother of two teenagers she gave actionable a dv i c e stating hygiene, diet and your environment were the only things that mattered, healthy body and that pimples are a natural process. Sonali further emphasised, “Teenage is a challenging phase where the body undergoes many changes and the transition can often be confusing.
But, it is a phase where our choices shape our personalities. Closing towards the end, Keerthika added that the brand was reaching out to teenagers to normalise the stigma and emotions around pimples. The campaign has reached out to over 5,000 teen and that their product Himalaya Purifying face wash takes care of pimples for them.