He calls his community The Circle of Kindness. He calls the givers World Changers. And for more than 15 years, people's lives have been changed because of the smiles he creates. "We are in the mental health business," stated Mark Borella. "We are trying to help people all around the world through art."
Mark is the artist, the OG (original giver), and founder of Seeds of Happiness. The best way to describe Seeds of Happiness is to experience Seeds of Happiness. Mark explains how these tiny lumps of clay create deep connections between the giver and the receiver of every smiling seed.
"Everyone who has a smile knows exactly who gave it to them and where their smile is," said Mark. "People think sharing these seeds are small acts of kindness. They are not small things. These acts of kindness start as ripples and travel over long periods of time."
While Seeds of Kindness began as a company in 2006, the origination story of this bright, happy little shop located on 150 Prospect Avenue in Kirkwood began when three life-changing events converged during Mark's senior year at Kirkwood High School.
LIFE-CHANGING EVENT NUMBER ONE. Mark's good friend introduced him to his high school girlfriend, who would eventually become his wife.
LIFE-CHANGING EVENT NUMBER TWO. Mark won a national art contest that he didn't even know he had entered.
LIFE-CHANGING EVENT NUMBER THREE. Mark discovered what was wrong with him.
"I didn't know anything was wrong with me," said Mark. "I just knew I had been labeled as the dumb guy since grade school. At Tillman, I was sent to the basement for special education reading classes twice a day. I didn't mind because my teacher was young and wore feathers in her hair," said Mark. His face beamed as he recalled, "She smelled like baby powder and peaches." That special education teacher from Mark's grade school would eventually diagnose Mark with dyslexia during his senior year. Understanding his learning disability gave Mark the courage and the confidence to go to college once the scholarship offers started pouring in because of LIFE CHANGING EVENT NUMBER TWO.
"In my freshman year of high school, I decided to take an art class. I had always liked art, and I figured it was a class I wouldn't fail." Mark's art teacher was brand new to teaching and a bit of a curmudgeon. "Some people didn't like him, but I absolutely loved him," stated Mark. One day the art teacher noticed Mark wasn't his usual happy self. Mark explained, "I just got out of algebra, and I'm the dumb kid." The art teacher responded, "You're not dumb. They just don't teach you based on the way your brain works." The teacher told Mark to bring in his homework, and he would teach Mark some things.
"When you learn art, you learn how to 'see,'" stated Mark. "My art teacher taught me how to 'see' and how to use that to learn." Throughout high school, Mark continued to take art classes, specializing in oil painting and pottery. Unbeknownst to Mark, the art teacher made a portfolio of Mark's work and submitted it to national contests. LIFE CHANGING EVENT NUMBER TWO occurred when Mark won a prestigious art competition, and scholarship offers poured in from art schools around the country.
Naturally, Mark chose to pursue his art degree from Missouri State University because of LIFE CHANGING EVENT NUMBER ONE. "I chose my college based on where my girlfriend was going," said Mark. "I graduated with four degrees. Pretty good for the dumb kid." While in college, he found his passion for creating things out of clay. "Over the years, I would turn leftover clay into tiny round smiling faces. They would just sit in the studio collecting dust."
Then, in 2004, Mark's close high school friend, the one who introduced Mark to his wife, lost her son to cancer. Deviated and determined to help support her family, Mark grabbed a handful of clay smiles, blew the dust off them, and drove to her house. "There is nothing I can do to make this better," Mark told his friend. "But here are a handful of smiles you can hold onto until you get your smile back."
His friend looked at the bright smiles and asked, "What do you call these?"
At that moment, Mark declared, "Seeds of Happiness."
Feeling so much comfort from the smiles, the friend told Mark that he needed to give his smiles to other people, too.
"So, I started making them and putting them in a jar. If someone was struggling or if I wanted someone to know they did something nice, I gave them a smile," said Mark. Soon, creating Seeds of Happiness became Mark's full-time job and a growing business. "Pre-covid, we were sending 40,000 smiles out each month."
Mark said the ingredients of a Seed of Happiness are clay, love, positive energy, air, fire, and more love. But the secret ingredient is the giver who shares the smile. "Those are The World Changers – they are changing lives, and they don't even know it."
The Seeds of Happiness website has pages of stories from people who have given and received a smile. Each story is heartwarming and life-affirming. But there is one story that brings tears to Mark's eyes every time he tells it.
A few years ago, at a music festival in Mobile, Alabama, a 16-year-old girl walked up to Mark's Seeds of Happiness table and said to him, "Mr., those are important." In his best dad voice, Mark said, "Tell me why." The girl said she lived on the West Coast and was walking along a bridge with the intent of jumping off it. "As I was walking," stated the girl, "a stranger stopped his car in traffic and said to me, 'You look like you could use a smile.' He handed me a Seed of Happiness and drove away. I took it as a sign, and I went home and told my mom what I was planning to do and what had happened. She immediately took me to get help. I'm here today because you made that smile."
Mark couldn't wait to get back to the Seeds of Happiness shop to share this story with his co-worker. He said to his co-worker, 'If you had never helped me, I wouldn't have started making smiles. And that girl wouldn't be here today.'"
While Mark is the OG (original giver) of the smiles, Mark's co-worker can be credited as the first Seeds of Happiness World Changer; that man is Mark's former High School art teacher Dave Spiguzza.
"35 years after Dave helped me get through high school, entered my work in a contest so that I was able to go to college to learn art, a girl did not jump off a bridge because a "world changer" gave her a smile that I made. I thank Dave every day."