Meet Sabrina Harb

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sabrina Harb a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabrina, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer when I was 13, and he died when I was 17. During the last six months of his life, he had a seizure that his brain wasn’t quite able to recover from; he was in a state of dementia, and I was slowly watching my best friend deteriorate. Although he was struggling internally, he always smiled, laughed, and put on a brave face; he consistently exuded strength and resilience and refused to let his diagnosis control his life.

Throughout that four-year period, I watched my mom conduct herself with such grace while she stood by his side and helped him with whatever he needed. She constantly researched clinical trials, alternative medicine options, and at-home remedies to improve his quality of life as much as she could control. Together, they did such a good job of masking their pain that I truly didn’t think my dad dying was a possibility; they seemed fine, and I believed that my dad’s cancer was more of a minor inconvenience that would be over with soon rather than something that would change my family’s lives forever.

While watching someone you love rapidly deteriorate is difficult and unimaginable, the harder part for me was learning how to continue to live life once he passed as if nothing happened. Because my parents did such a good job of hiding their pain, I didn’t get much of a chance to really understand the severity of the situation. Plus, I was just a teenager, and death feels more like a concept than fate during that time of your life. So, I had a really hard time coping with his loss. I was irritable, impulsive, and I got myself into toxic relationships. I had to learn how to pull myself out of a really dark place mentally, and I told myself that this isn’t the person my dad would want me to be, nor is it the person who can show up for my mom and sister in a healthy and loving way.

Instead of running away from the pain, I learned how to live life alongside it. That pain isn’t something that’s ever going away, and it’ll always feel like something in my life is missing. However, the realizations I’ve had from this life-altering experience have made me realize that my purpose is to encourage meaningful relationships, connections, and long-lasting friendships through my events since we often don’t think about the fragility of life on a daily basis. While I’m obviously not jazzed that my dad passed away when I was 17, I’m beyond thankful for the lessons I’ve learned at such a young age and the resilience I’ve developed by choosing to move forward in a positive way despite any obstacle I’ve faced in my life so far. Onward!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m a Host Planner, and my role is to help people host magical, intimate, and intentional gatherings in the comfort of their own homes. I focus on the in-between moments, the random, themed get-togethers that happen for no reason at all. Whether it’s choosing a theme, curating a menu, setting the mood, or styling the tablescape, I’m here to take the stress out of hosting so my clients can enjoy the moment. My slogan is: “Your home. Your People. Because every day should feel like a holiday.”

While I’m available to help people host events, I also host my own private events once a month. For each event I host, I’ll post a promo video on Instagram, and I’ll include two emojis that correspond with the event in the caption. In order to attend, you must DM me those two emojis, and you’ll receive your private RSVP link.

I absolutely love what I do. I love choosing a theme that relates to the season and bringing the world I’m envisioning to life. I find so much joy in seeing all of my guests enjoying their time, meeting new people, and creating new memories. We spend so much time glued to our screens, whether it be for work or just to doom scroll, and it’s so refreshing to see people go from strangers to friends simply through meaningful, face-to-face connection.

My mission is to create memorable moments through private, intimate themed gatherings that turn ordinary days into holidays, providing solace and a sense of community for those who dare to enter. moodysolace is just getting started, and I’m so excited for what’s on the horizon.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three things that have been the most impactful in my journey so far are passion, discipline, and connection. moodysolace is a culmination of all of my pain, struggles, and lessons that I’ve compacted into one clear mission: to create memorable moments through private, intimate themed gatherings that turn ordinary days into holidays, providing solace and a sense of community for those who dare to enter.

My drive to continue growing moodysolace is so I can provide people with an immersive world to escape to when life feels a little too heavy, something I wish I had during my darkest moments.

Motivation is fleeting and highly unreliable. Discipline, on the other hand, is something that’s available to you every day and offers consistency and dependability if utilized effectively. I set daily rituals and routines for myself that are non-negotiables to keep myself accountable and to keep momentum, like waking up at 5:30am to start my morning routine and heading to the gym at 6:30 every weekday.

Lastly, I believe that social media is severely hindering our ability to communicate deeply with strangers and has created deep polarization among people. I want to go back to the roots of human connection by encouraging face-to-face interactions while providing an environment for people that makes it easy and comfortable to open up to strangers.

I’m early in my journey, so I don’t have all the answers. All I know is that my passion for what I’m doing, discipline, and the need for more genuine, human connection has been instrumental in setting a healthy, stable foundation for moodysolace.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Like most businesses, moodysolace started from a place of passion. I didn’t start with a scalable business plan in mind; I started because I absolutely love hosting, and I love bringing people together. Once I have an idea, I just have to execute, and I tell myself I’ll deal with the logistics later, once I hit a roadblock. This mindset is incredibly helpful because it means I’m willing to try new things without fear of failure, but I don’t always take the time to create a clear, actionable plan for whatever it is I’m doing.

While I have all the passion in the world to continue moodysolace until the end of my days, my current obstacle is learning how to take moodysolace from a passion project to a scalable business. The biggest questions I’m asking myself are: How can I generate more exposure for moodysolace? How can I access larger venues while still keeping costs as affordable as possible? What’s my 5-year plan? Rather than capturing random videos and putting reels together for the sake of posting something, how can I plan out my content ahead of time in a way that tells a story and adds value to my audience?

Those are just some of the questions I’m currently exploring the answers to. I have so many goals and milestones I want to hit for moodysolace, but if I continue to let my impulsive mind take over, I’ll always lack the structure I need to enable steady, consistent, and stable growth. Learning the ins and outs of running a business can feel extremely overwhelming, and it’s quite daunting. However, I’ve been listening to quite a few audiobooks, watching videos on YouTube on business management from CEOs of multimillion-dollar companies, and asking people for help. I’m so bad at reaching out, whether it be for advice or for help setting up for an event. I’m learning that you can’t run a business alone and my biggest resource is leaning on those who are able to offer value, assistance, and insight. Again, I don’t have all the answers, but I’m extremely eager to learn, grow, evolve, and adapt.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJnt9gwOHPT/

Image Credits

Taylor Anne