Meet Shana Gibbs

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shana Gibbs. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shana below.

Shana, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I credit my mother with really instilling these qualities in me, during my formative years. Not a day went by where I was not affirmed by my mother, who told me that I was beautiful, smart, bold, caring, *insert any & all affirmations*. She was haunted by her own insecurities and instead of instilling fears of the world in me, she took her deep seeded doubts and created a positive environment for me to gain traction to find and be myself … every day, I was told that I would (not could!) make a difference in this world.

And when that wasn’t enough and I was being taunted by boys at school, she taught me how to gingerly cuss at them. I laughed and said, “I can’t say that … and neither can you!” It allowed a certain freedom in being able to take action in life, instead of apologizing for who we are.

As I grew older, I learned that this is the practice of being your authentic self. I say practice, because it doesn’t just happen. You must lean into getting to know yourself and who you are, what your values represent, where your boundaries lie and what you want to do on your path. That takes work and a lot of inner dialogue, it doesn’t just come to us magically.

We all have our days, where we just aren’t feeling ourselves. And that’s ok, we have to give ourselves that time to honor where we are emotionally but we can’t stay there too long.

There was never a doubt in my mind that this world was too big for me. My mother sent me out into the world with grace and strength to face the trials and tribulations, but most importantly to celebrate the big & small things, while not taking life too seriously.

To this day, I can hear her say, “Throw your shoulders back, Lee Lee” This is a cue to myself to stand a little taller, throw those shoulders back and be assertive to live the life you want and pay less attention to the critics and more attention to yourself.

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?

It’s hard to believe that I have spent over twenty years in the event industry, spanning political arenas, the non-profit sector, and in the last ten years, corporate event production. When I set out professionally, I would have never foreseen these careers would take me worldwide, creating memorable experiences through events, connecting with people and seeing culture on a wide landscape. I’ve been able to open my world and my way of thinking, by being thrust into new worlds beyond my comfort zone.

Ten years ago as I lived in Texas, if I was told that I would be a business owner in a beautiful beach community in San Diego, I would have chuckled and told you to put the tarot cards away.

The next phase of my career is centered around community, as I think this is truly important to connect with people in person instead of through the isolation of technology. In the last year, I started Mission Beach Concierge in our small tourist community of South Mission Beach, where the Belmont Park Rollercoaster meets the beach. If you have never been, I invite you to spend an afternoon walking the boardwalk and finishing your day at Beachcomber, where you will meet some of the best people for an afternoon – locales, that have both grown up in this quaint community and those that found it somewhere along the way. It is the real life “Cheers”, where everyone knows your name.

The mission of Mission Beach Concierge is to curate experiences for tourists that visit our beach community, by showing them how to vacation like a local. Short term rental guests don’t have the advantage of a hotel concierge, asking for recommendations, booking family dinners, catering special occasions, transportation or personalized tours of San Diego – by land or water! We want to bridge that gap and connect tourists to our beach community businesses and give guests a full service experience, whether they are in town for a bachelor/bachelorette party, family reunion or a beach vacation escaping the Arizona heat.

In 2025, we have plans to open a small cafe, South Mission Cafe: Where the Community Gathers. My partner and I want to throw open the doors to a family friendly space on the corner, where ice cream is scooped on a summer night after sunset, community workshops are held on weeknights, and memories are made at sidewalk bistro tables, people watching. Stay turned, as we develop!

One of the many life lessons that I’ve learned is to keep the doors open, if even just a crack. You never know who will enter your life or how your endeavors change. And I’ll be damned if the tarot cards weren’t just a little bit right!

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?

Never Stop Learning

One of the most important qualities that I can’t stress enough. While I was raised by a middle school teacher, I saw the great significance in making learning your own. Find what you’re passionate about and read about it in books or online, find documentaries that interest you, music that bring out your soul, take an online course. The advantage of the internet is that we have a plethora of options for free learning.

Not only does it make us better humans to broaden our horizons, but it makes us better conversationalists. As you never know where one conversation will lead in life!

Most importantly, it gives you a better understanding of the world around you (and beyond!)

Review Your Life: Weekly, Quarterly, Yearly

Every Sunday morning, my ritual is to sit down with a cup of coffee and my planner. I review the week and ask myself “What worked?”, “What didn’t work?”, “What are my Big Wins?” and it gives me time to reflect on how to tailor my next steps or pivot, if need be.

After I review the week, I move into the week ahead of me. I ask myself “What are my Weekly Big 3?”, which correlates with my overall annual goals. This helps me to chip away at my overall goals and keep me on track. Then, I follow through with what my week looks like and pencil in my commitments, important deadlines, dinner dates and my work and life lists for the week. Not only, does It supports my goals but it helps me to compartmentalize tasks and use my time more efficiently. If you are looking for a planner, check out the Full Focus Planner at www.fullfocusstore.com (this is not a paid ad, I just love them!)

And then, I do the same for each quarter and year end! I must admit, I love a clean slate! Therefore, New Years Day is one of my favorite holidays – not for the pomp and circumstance but for the endless possibilities that lie ahead in a New Year. I write out my annual goals and after reviewing the year, most likely these goals have changed depending on the growth that I have made or I check some goals off the list (which always feels so good!)

I’m a firm believer that we can’t properly move into the next phase, without first learning from where we have been. In looking back, I always find a great sense of pride and gratitude to see what I accomplished and sometimes, that can just be small steps to the bigger picture but I know it’s a work in progress.

Get out INTO the world!

When I was a kid, I remember saying to my mother that we didn’t know our neighbors because houses (where I lived) no longer had front porches. People no longer hang out on the front stoop or have rocking chairs, watching the world go by and wave. It was a very prophetic statement for the an 80s child.

That is likely the strong correlation why community is so important to me now. I challenge you to get into the world and meet new people, see the places that are listed on your bucket list, experience culture – even if it is just making reservations at an Indian restaurant in your town. Buy that plane ticket! Living outside your comfort zone is the most thrilling advice that I could ever give.

It is so important to make the world bigger than yourself and see it for yourself, instead of taking someone else’s opinions, accounts or commentary of it. Once you have these experiences, you are able to be a better decision maker, be a little more empathetic to other’s circumstances, a better conversationalist, and make educated choices in life. In short, it will help you become a more well rounded individual.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I have several forms of self care but the longest standing habit I’ve had since the age of twelve is journaling. As a teenager, it was the only place that I felt safe to release my thoughts – locked away and hidden but I still felt heard in my introverted way.

As time evolved, my writing has changed and my purposes for writing changed. Sometimes it was sentimental, full of memories or emotional, dependent on life transitions. One thing has remained constant – it has always been therapeutic.

The latest statistic is that the average person sees 6,000 – 10,000 ads a day. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that we live in a world, where we are constantly barraged. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, journaling is the first line of defense for me.

Like so many, my mind is constantly racing and processing information new + old, solutions for the next project, music lyrics, the latest book I’m reading and, then you tack on the art of people watching! I’m constantly in a state of information overload. Journaling is a place for me to store these thoughts and get out of the spin zone! Emotionally, I can always feel when I need to make space and clear the cache in my head.

One thing with journaling that I want to express. It’s your practice. When I share that I journal, people always mention that they try but they can’t stick with it or they are unable to do it daily. Journaling is there, when you need it. It’s never judgy, it doesn’t shame, it’s just there. You write, when you are ready – however you want to do it (by paper, by computer, by audio locked away on our phone). If you go years between entries, thats ok … only you will know.

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Shana Gibbs

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