Today we’d like to introduce you to Skylar Saba.
Hi Skylar, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Skylar Saba, I am a 23-year-old gen-z entrepreneur that is passionate about sustainability and conscious business. Not just the surface-level kind of “conscious business” that gets thrown around online but the kind that has heart, creates community and has a ripple impact to change generations and the future of our planet.
I graduated from The Fashion Institute of Technology during the COVID quarantine (a weird time to graduate). I graduated with a degree in Fashion Business Management with a minor in Ethics and Sustainability. Unfortunately, the standard graduation process got shaken up and I found myself searching for a job during a time when nobody was looking to hire.
I decided to take what I learned and figure out how to support myself. I started to post videos on TikTok around sustainability and started to help others create a brand online via brand and website design. During COVID I taught myself how to build/code websites and built two businesses out of my childhood bedroom. I hustled, followed my intuition, googled a lot, and took things one step at a time.
Today, I have two successful businesses. Happy Earth Habits, a community-centered sustainability education platform, and Groove Street Creative, a branding, and website design boutique agency. In less than 2 years, I have grown to add three people to our team, a community group of 1,200+ members, and 55.5K+ followers on TikTok and we have worked with over 75 brands for graphic/website design.
I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to figure out how I could take my zone of genius and help other businesses and individuals! I often feel that through both companies, Groove Street Creative & Happy Earth Habits we are here to hold the vision and think of creative ways to execute the vision!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Taking the jump to do things my way, and starting businesses has been the biggest opportunity for personal growth. I think being an entrepreneur is not always easy, but it shows you where you can grow and strengthen yourself. Whether it’s through my leadership, my mindset, my communication, or through my boundaries.
Every day there is an opportunity for me to dive deeper into personal growth which then reflects on my businesses and team. As every business owner knows, there are always challenges along the way, but what I have found is my purpose and heart are what help me to pull through.
I am a young adult who started two businesses during a pandemic. I wanted to make a difference to help people and this planet. A lot of people have the whole, “being an adult thing” figured out before starting a business and managing a team, but I am trying to figure out who I am, while staying true to myself, being a leader to my team, showing up online and having the pressure of running two businesses.
My passion and the dream in my heart is to be an example. I want to show people that whatever dream you have for the world, it’s possible. The root of all change comes from the community and I want to keep pouring into the Happy Earth Habits community to make lasting changes for the planet. The Happy Earth Habits community and the Groove Street community are rooted in the same belief system that change is community oriented.
The Happy Earth Habits community is full of inspired individuals ready to make changes with their lifestyle choices while the Groove Street community takes the change to the next level with their businesses. I am grateful for you reading my submission and I would be extremely grateful if I was one of your scholarship recipients on so many levels.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Through Happy Earth Habits we help anybody & everybody feel inspired and motivated to make more sustainable choices to live a life in alignment with mama Earth. We are mainly focused on building a community and sharing information on how to live a sustainable & eco-friendly lifestyle. Most of my income on this side of my business comes from brand partnerships with sustainable brands on TikTok.
We feel honored and blessed to work with these brands. They truly support me so we can lean into our community and educate on sustainability. We have Club Happy Earth, a community group of 1,200+ members on the Geneva app where people post & communicate every day. This is what we want to pour my heart and soul into. We love making eco-friendly living & sustainability education more accessible & digestible for everybody.
We feel like when people know on their side they can make more lasting lifestyle choices to make Mama Earth happy. We create easily digestible information/guides/resources to teach people how to live a more eco-friendly life, whether it’s through videos, podcasting, writing, or graphics. We combine the grassroots community of sustainability with actionable steps to make finding the more sustainable option easily accessible for everybody.
Through Groove Street Creative, we create branding and websites for bold, authentic, and creative businesses. We have worked with brands specializing in sustainability & wellness hospitality & food… and everywhere in between. The common thread is that the brands are looking to bring the heart back into their business. Our creative process mixes the foundations of design with really tapping into the mission, impact, and individuality that each brand has to make sure it’s embedded into every design.
We are very intentional with the design process and love to create. Groove Street focuses on working with brands that want to make a difference. We help make the process of starting a business easier for people and make the process of growing your business smoother. We realize that not everybody has tons of funds to invest in a website when they are starting (that’s why I taught myself).
So we are in the process of creating DIY website templates with training to teach business owners how to create a website & brand that is aligned with their impact and individuality. This way they can stand out and have a strong design foundation to support their business online.
A bonus side note: A big part of our mission is to help gen-z people live their dream life. I love that I have a team of amazing people that get to embrace their zones of genius, work for a company that makes an impact, and help them create their dream lives too! I love being able to support my team. And I love being able to see them use their talents & skills to help our businesses grow! Without my amazing team, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Do you have any advice for those just starting?
I think for me it was so important for me to give myself and my businesses the freedom to grow and evolve and change as I did. A big part of being an entrepreneur is avoiding burn out and for me when I feel aligned and inspired by what I was creating I could avoid feeling burnt out. I was growing and changing and my businesses grew and changed too.
To stand out online you have to be authentic and the same goes for businesses. To stand out online it’s all about being authentic. So my advice would be to trust your gut and follow what inspires you. It’s okay to pivot. It’s okay to grow and evolve, and it’s okay for your business to do it too.
It’s so much easier to go all in when you are inspired and feel aligned with the change and impact you are having on the world. If I didn’t give myself the freedom to change and flow a lot my businesses would look very different today. Ohhh and also, get comfortable taking risks, because when you take the risks usually they lead you down the right path.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.happyearthhabits.com/ and https://www.groovestreetcreative.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyearthhabits/ and https://www.instagram.com/groovestreetcreative/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysaba and https://www.tiktok.com/@groovestreetcreative
Image Credits
Liz Pound
