Meet Daris Gibbons

We were lucky to catch up with Daris Gibbons recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daris, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I would say that my purpose found me. I was raised in an abusive alcoholic home as an only child. I was left alone most of the time and wasn’t allowed to play with other neighborhood kids, so I felt very lonely. My imagination and my stuffed animals were my best friends, and for the most part, my parents’ friends were my friends.

My mother owned her own advertising and PR firm, and my dad was a general sales manager for a local radio station. I was lucky enough to attend many events because of my connections to them. We got lots of free concert tickets and passes to the state fair through my dad’s job, and my mother’s clients hosted various events, including holiday car sales and an annual Oktoberfest. I recall loving being part of the behind-the-scenes activities and acting as a helper or go-fer for my parents. It made me feel valued and important, not to mention “seen” by my parents. I was even given the title of “Little Miss Oktoberfest” one year, and got my own custom-made dress and sash to wear at the event.

I’ve had four careers so far in my life. Retail, Cosmetology, Massage Therapy, Event Production, and Non-Profit Founder/Executive Director. My love, joy, and passion turned out to be event production. The one thing that ties them all together is service to others. My purpose is to serve others.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My career move to event production was a bit of a roundabout journey. My husband and I had just relocated our family from Phoenix, AZ, to a small rural White Mountain city called Show Low, AZ. We had grown tired of the crime and heat of “the Valley of the Sun” and wanted to raise our kids in a safer community to escape the up to 123-degree summer heat.

I had just graduated from massage therapy school and started working in a couple of different locations in our new community. In 2006, the massage industry was booming, and I was successful enough to open my own practice. I rented a small room at a local nursery that rented out several outbuildings to start-up entrepreneurs. There was also a cute little café that served soups, sandwiches, and specialty coffees and teas. The cafe would host live local music performers in the evening, a couple of times a week.

The owner of the nursery gathered all her employees and the business owners renting space and wanted to collaborate on ideas for promoting the facility as a whole. We met, hashed out some ideas, and started putting them into motion. I came home that night, told my husband about the day’s happenings, and asked if he had any ideas.

In response to my request for ideas, my husband suggested we host a Renaissance Faire. My response was, “ah-right”! It was supposed to be a one-off event, and I had only two and a half months to put the whole thing together. Years of being part of events with my parents taught me how to pull it off. We had some grassroots connections in the Phoenix area who helped us promote there. My massage business already sponsored a local morning radio show, and I had another show do a live broadcast from the location. I found several vendors and a couple of non-profits that joined us that year, and we had over 500 people attend the two-day event. That was a big deal for the location, as no one knew where the little nursery was, and they were unfamiliar with everything it offered. We even got local newspaper coverage.

To make a long story shorter, we were encouraged to continue the event, and after the seventh year, I made it my full-time job. In 2016, our family founded our non-profit organization, which currently works to provide vocational rehab scholarships for Arizona military and first responders who become disabled in the line of duty.

Our foundation, along with our event production company, is currently working on a very large project that will create even more opportunities for our foundation and other local non-profits to fundraise and engage with both residents and tourists. The facility will fulfill many needs in our community, setting it apart from other available options. This is my primary focus. Our biggest challenges are raising funding, finding people willing to volunteer to help with the various aspects of fundraising, and finding donors, sponsors, and individuals who can help spread the word about our work.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The first quality that has impacted my journey is tenacity. It takes a lot to keep pursuing my goals in the face of all the opposition I have and still do face. I’ve wanted to throw in the towel so many times, but something within my soul just will not let me. There’s a saying about, “Don’t give up before the miracle happens,” that I hear in my head when I just want to quit.

The second quality is self-discipline. Despite my learning disabilities, I’ve continued taking classes, received certifications from international professional associations, and am working toward at least an Associate’s College Degree. All the while, doing things in my daily routine to maintain my physical, mental & emotional well-being so that I can continue to be of service to others.

The third, but probably the most important “skill” I’ve developed over the years is living a spiritual life and developing a working relationship with the “powers that be”. I do not participate in any organized religion. It has been in working with and developing a relationship with the forces outside of me that have brought me to this point. I trust those forces in my life that have brought me to where I am, given me the gifts I have, and guided me along my unique path in service to others to continue to guide me and create the fantastic synchronicities that keep me going and growing.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

I don’t think I could pick just one. The most impactful has been Rhonda Byrne’s The Greatest Secret. It’s about more than the law of attraction and focuses on paying attention to what goes on inside one’s mind, which attracts the circumstances we experience. It’s all based on quantum physics.
The next most powerful book I’ve read is The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell. It taught me what leadership really is all about and how I can best show up in the world to help others. I’ve read many other books by John and every one of them has given me new insight into the value a good leader brings to others and their community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.azmayhem.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Medieval Mayhem Renaissance Faire
• Other: Mountain of Hope Foundation website: https://www.mountainofhopefoundation.org/

Image Credits

Tiffany Fleckenstein