For the Love of Creatives

#050: What If Reinvention Is Not A Crisis But A Calling With Sabrina Labvah

• Maddox & Dwight • Episode 50

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What if the fastest way to heal burnout is to make something beautiful? We sit down with designer and psychiatric provider Sabrina Labvah to trace how a grueling pandemic workload pushed her back to a first love... fashion... and why creativity didn’t pull her away from care, it made her better at it. Sabrina shares a candid roadmap for becoming: reflect on your past, choose readiness over pressure, and use journaling to metabolize what you’ve long suppressed. She reminds us that transformation isn’t linear; you may start and stop, then start again, and that rhythm is part of real growth.

Sabrina’s designs embody a powerful idea. By blending silk tie fabrics into tuxedo dresses, she unites masculine and feminine energy in a single garment, turning clothing into a symbol of integrated strength. We talk about how style influences presence, how uniforms can flatten identity, and how the right outfit can help you step into the version of yourself you’re building. Her brand name, Praxis Human, reflects a clear philosophy: movement, inclusion, and collective progress... fashion with meaning that goes beyond surface.

We also dig into the role of community for creatives. Sabrina found momentum by driving into the city, meeting peers, and sharing her work despite social anxiety and imposter syndrome. Authenticity, she says, is a magnet that attracts aligned collaborators and repels mismatches. Along the way she earned invites to local runways and Austin Fashion Week, tangible proof that connection multiplies opportunity. If you’re balancing multiple passions or craving a reinvention, this story offers practical steps and a gentle push: be honest, be ready, and let your craft carry your message.

Enjoy the conversation, then share it with a friend who’s on the edge of their next chapter. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what version of you is becoming right now?

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SPEAKER_02:

I mean it could be anywhere from underwear to lingerie to swimsuits to evening wear, but what is the thing you love to draw most?

SPEAKER_00:

The most it's uh business wear for, you know, like tuxedo dresses and things like what I'm wearing now. It's combining some masculine uh masculinity, which is the ties that men wear to feminine clothing. So that's that's the key of what sets my designs apart from everything else out there is that I'm combining masculine and feminine and some things that we don't generally see on women, such as ties, I'm combining that fabric into the collars of most of the I love that. Yeah, so that women can and and and men can have the the this um enmeshment of who we are as humans, that one thing.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, you're strapped in for another edition of the For the Love of Creatives podcast. I am your connections and community guy host Dwight, joined by our connections and community host, Maddox. And today we are joined by the lovely Sabrina Lava. Welcome, Sabrina.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you very much. It's really an honor to be a part of this show.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, we're so glad that you're here. Um, we ran into you at an event uh held by uh Fashion Group International, Dallas. And uh you got to tell us a little bit about your story, but um, why don't you share with our listeners uh just a little bit about who you are and and uh tell your your story in about a minute or so.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. All righty. So I have two sides to me, which is one thing that we talked about at the FGI event. One side is that I'm a mental health care psychiatric provider. So I see clients for a living who are struggling with mental health disorders of all kinds. And then the other side of me is a designer and a person who is heavily involved in the fashion industry. So now I can say that I there's a multifactorial way of me uh introducing myself into the world because I have two different sides, but somehow I mesh the two together because my mental health experience and what I do for a living meshes with the fashion world because it's about people, it's about people becoming themselves, which is one of the reasons that I am part of FGI and one of the reasons that we met, because we were people meeting each other. So in the grand scheme of things, those are my two sides.

SPEAKER_04:

Love it. And I I love the way that you you fuse those together. I'd I'd like to to compliment you on the the lovely uh ensemble you're wearing. Is that one of your designs?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it is. This is one of my very own designs. It's a silk tie material here, and then it's a business suit. So I this was one of my my first designs, and it's been very popular.

SPEAKER_02:

It's lovely.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

I I I also love the way you talk about both of your professions because it sounds like there's passion for both of them.

unknown:

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

We had a previous guest that was an actor and had a corporate job with uh Microsoft, and he talked about how he had decided that he was not going to have just limited to one passion, and that he loved both and intended to continue doing both. And that's kind of a new concept because most people are either or, and um if they're in one, they're trying to get into the other so they can let go of the first one. And so it's really kind of interesting and refreshing. Now you're the second person that talks about two passions and how much they mean, both of them mean to you. And I'm assuming you wouldn't give up either one to do the other. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00:

That is correct. So basically, my career, my professional career in healthcare started decades ago, and I have four US degrees from universities all the way up to my doctorate degree. So my associates, my bachelor's, two master's, and my doctorate degree from my professional side. So there was a time in my life, decades, where I was just doing one thing. I was just pursuing one career, and that career was my entire life. I was breathing mental health care, I was waking up to mental health care, I was going to sleep to mental health care, and that really was consuming my entire life. So around the time of the pandemic, I felt really overwhelmed with the work life and trying to balance the work life and having a life of my own. Because during the pandemic, it was a very heavy time, as we all remember. There was a lot of things going on in the world and in people's family lives. And it was a time of uncertainty. And being a mental health care provider at that time was a very, very heavy burden for me. And that's when I started to realize that this burden started to overtake my entire being, that I wasn't using the creative side of my brain that I had years and years ago, which was my passion for fashion, um, the love of everything that included the glamour, the glamour. I suppressed all of that just to focus on everyone else and everyone else's needs, but I realized how overwhelmed and how burdensome it became just to be a caregiver for everybody else in this field. So I started to explore more, a little bit more about myself, wanted to become myself, wanted to understand myself. And I was also in a decade of my life where I had the capability and the mental understanding that there was inner work that needed to be done. So I started my clothing brand. I started to work on that. And I realized the more that I started to work on my creative side, the less burden I felt from my work. So it made me a better provider when I was living out my passion or starting that up during the pandemic. And then that kind of led to my evolution to come out from my shell in the suburbs to Dallas and start to experience more of the fashion world and the people that were out there, where I achieved more and more inspiration and more and more support and love. And that's how I decided to just continue the both to get both of them together.

SPEAKER_02:

Sabrina, what you have said has sparked a very specific question for me. Um, we were at a Halloween party recently, and of course, we talk a lot on the podcast and on our platform about becoming. It's a big part of the whole creative process, and you're you're talking about that. And so a woman at this party asked me a party, a question, and I I want to pass the question to you, and because I know what my answer was, I'd love to know what your answer is to this. We were I I have made the comment that you know, as human beings, we get to choose who we become in life, and we get to choose and determine, completely determine how we show up in life. And she said, I get that, yes, but how do you figure out who you want to become? And I'm gonna flip that question because I know how I answered, but how would you answer? You're in in the process of that. How would you answer? How do you figure out who you want to become?

SPEAKER_00:

I think that um there are certain steps to take in order to figure that out, but in the grand scheme of things, I think it requires a lot of reflection. And that reflection is about the past as well. A lot of times we suppress the past and we just want to focus on the future to become someone or or try to become a better version of ourselves. But only through understanding and processing our past do we go on that journey to become the best version of ourselves. And the inner work that's required, it takes a lot of steps and it's it's a it's a process and it takes time to do the inner work. The inner work does require uh reflection and understanding and going through the troublesome times in order to get past them. Because if we only suppress, if we only just uh, you know, just close our ears and our eyes and say that never happened, that that's not a part of me, it just comes back. It comes back and we have to face it over and over and over again. It's through reflection and processing to go through it, do we get past it to become the better version of ourselves?

SPEAKER_02:

So that process that you're talking about going through and becoming, looking and reflecting and all, I I'm I'm very aware of that and I completely agree. There is a certain portion of the population that is reluctant, reluctant to do that for those people that haven't taken that first step. They are in that reluctance, that resistance. What would you say to them that might inspire them to take those steps, that first step, and to launch into that self-awareness work and reflection? What are your words of wisdom based on because I can tell right now you're in this, you are doing this. This isn't some lip service that you read in a book. You speak in a manner that I can tell you're in this process.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I am in the process. I would say the very first thing is the readiness factor. The person has to be ready. If they're not ready to do the inner work, if they don't feel that they can face the past and the challenges, then they're likely not going to be successful. So when a person has the mindset and they say that I am actually ready and I really want to do this, then the journey begins. And a lot of times that happens when a person, some people have an epiphany, they have that moment where there's some sort of something happens, something changes in life, and they sudden suddenly start to see things a little bit differently. It could be through experiences such as travel, it could be through meeting other people, it could be through through various types of some epiphanies, sometimes dreams, sometimes health problems. There becomes a time when a person is ready and they generally know when that time is. And that's when people sit down and they try to look at the resources that they have in order to do that inner work. If the readiness factor isn't there and a person says, Well, I just want to do this, um, but they may not be quite ready, they may go halfway and then just stop. They may do a little bit of work and then just stop because they aren't fully ready to uncover all the layers to become the best version of themselves.

SPEAKER_02:

So I I guess what I'm hearing is if you start and stop and you get bogged down, that could just indicate that you weren't quite ready.

SPEAKER_00:

It could. Sometimes the process is very overwhelming, too. We start the process and we may be journaling and writing things down, and suddenly it becomes an interference in our life because those are some of the things that we aren't quite ready to deal with emotionally. So sometimes people have to put that to the side, do the daily work, the work, the going to work, coming home. People may suppress that for a little while because it was just way too overwhelming. But then people who have that desire and need, they'll go back to it, they'll start it again, they'll pick up their journal again, and they'll start writing again. So that's why it's an evolution. It's a process.

SPEAKER_02:

I like how well you articulate all this. I sense that is the product of multiple, multiple degrees. You this is part of your your studies as a mental health professional.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, um, a little bit, but most of it came through self-discovery because I was preaching to people, journal, do this, do that. And sometimes I would see results, but it was something that was separate from me. It's when I picked up the pen and the journal that that's when the changes started to happen. And that's when I truly started to believe in some of the things that I had learned. But in addition to palliative mental health care, there was another part of my career that helped me to realize quite a lot more about life in my life, and that was palliative care. That changed my entire life, and that's what led me to pursue the career in mental health. Because with palliative care, that was being there for somebody through the most challenging time in their life. That really started to make me reflect a little bit more about my own life. So the the clients that I see in mental health care, they make me better because when I see them doing the work and they get better and they come back and they say, I'm I started this journey. I'm starting to see changes in my life, I'm starting to feel brighter, I'm starting to do things that I have suppressed for so many so for so long, such as hobbies. That's when I realize, okay, there this process does work. And I think we all need to at some point get do this, do this work.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, most of my life I've heard we teach what we most need to learn, and you have just validated that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, absolutely. Yes. So, you know, this this world that we live in, I think the inner work that we do to authentically live and understand our purpose in life is the greatest work that we can do. It's holy ground, and there's no other work like it.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree wholeheartedly. Wow, very well said.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It's really hard for me to uh as you as you share and reflect, uh, when you mentioned palliative care, I um was taken back to my pandemic experience. And uh in uh all of 2020, I I spent it in hospitals and in skilled nursing facilities. And it was a very long goodbye to someone that uh was um someone that meant a great deal to me. I uh wound up burying a partner in at the close of the pandemic, and uh I learned to we learned to appreciate the things that really mattered. Uh I I got to have a sense that there are a lot of things that people might tell us are important. But when you're facing the stakes that mean uh you have to you you know that you're going to say goodbye to someone that your sun rises and sets on, you start to evaluate what's really important. And that's the the kind of experience that that you're talking about. You you have to be ready before you're you're willing to to make those strides. Um and to to take it to a place that's not as as heavy that I I think has more of a universal uh experience for people. I I remember what it was like going through school and seeing uh older adults who are going back, contrasted with kids that were you know away from home for the first time. There's uh a different energy between those types of things. And you can see with the the kids that are finally away from their parents for the first time, they want to party, they want to go and have that experience, and some of them uh might might fizzle out, might they might get into trouble, they might get hurt. Whereas um somewhere along the arc, people that return really appreciate it a lot more, they value that experience a lot more. And I I think that's a a concrete, near universal kind of experience that anyone can relate to that is along those same lines. One when you're ready to hear it, you will.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, I think a common question is, well, how will I know when I'm ready? But you really articulated that in just saying, you'll know when you're ready. And and it may not be big fireworks and and a flashing neon sign in the sky that says, I'm ready, or you're ready. It could be something really subtle. I I've known a lot of people that the readiness looked like really bottoming out. I mean, hitting rock bottom where there was no other place to go but up. For me, it came as a complete surprise. You know, I I was 29 years old, and a a boyfriend's friend that I never met in real life, we would talk to him on phone. He was on the other side of the world, but we would talk to him on the phone. He said, Oh, I've just done this really cool thing and it's coming to your city. You should do it. Well, it was a personal growth workshop. And he just talked about how fun and how cool it was. And we were like, Okay, we're all in. We didn't do any research, we didn't, we just signed up and showed up without knowing what to expect. And it it didn't have as profound an effect on the boyfriend of the time. It cracked me wide open and made me realize that I had just experienced something that I wasn't really even sure what it was. I just knew I wanted more. And that was where my moment of I'm ready. And and it, yeah, I didn't even know what I was ready for. I just knew that I wanted more of what I just experienced. And I've spent my life reading books and doing seminars and trainings and coaches and therapists, and you name it. But it can look a lot of get being ready can look a lot of different ways.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And many times it is that rock bottom that you mentioned. That's generally what I see is the rock bottom to mean alcoholism or drug abuse or divorce or you know, losses. But um, but you're right in the sense that sometimes it's just this desire and need, this desire to want to be better, regardless of where a person is in their life. And what I tell people is that you're allowed to reinvent yourself many times in your lives. It doesn't have to be once. It's kind of like when you see electric poles on a street, each pole is connected with wires, one pole connects to another, and the energy continues to transfer. It's kind of like that, where one pole can stand as a version of you that you were. There's another version that connects, there's another version, and each version is your reinvention, and you're allowed to do that as many times as you want to.

SPEAKER_02:

That's beautiful. That is beautiful. You know, I I think that probably the best kept secret in our world, and I don't know why it's a secret, but probably because when you say it, people don't necessarily believe. But I have come to believe that the key to everything we want in life, it doesn't matter what it is. The key to that will be found in our relationship with ourselves. Anything you want to be better, whether it's your own, your your external relationships with other people, your relationship with your job, your relationship with your family. It doesn't matter what it is. The only way you can get there is via your relationship with yourself. And it's it's not rocket science, but it's it's the final frontier. It's the the last place. I mean, we were laughing about it. We were at Creative Mornings this morning, and somebody said, I said, they were talking about, you know, the final frontier, the last thing. And I said, you know, Star Trek told us that space was the final frontier. I don't believe that. I believe in here is the final frontier. And we started laughing because one person said, you know, most people would go to the moon before they would go within.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes, because that void, if if there's a void inside, people sometimes try to fill it with other things, buying things, you know, um materialistic things, just fill, fill, fill, fill.

SPEAKER_02:

So external validation on social media has become big. Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I I tell people there's no one that can fill that void except yourself. And that's where you need to do that self-discovery and finding yourself, because that void will will remain empty until you fill it with you, yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

And and it's a bottomless pit. And until you the only thing you're you're right, the only thing you can fill it with is you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And what people see is the external is kind of like the iceberg on top of uh an ocean. People see the external, how you look, how you how you you know walk or whatever it is. But there's so much underneath the iceberg, underneath the water. And that's everything. Your your values, your belief systems, your your culture, whatever makes you you. It's underneath the surface. But in order to feel and understand yourself, you need to understand all aspects of yourself.

SPEAKER_04:

And not a uh a lot of people don't like sitting with uh what it is to do that exploration.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it's it's a little it's a little scary, it's a little hard for some people.

SPEAKER_00:

It is, it's a challenge, and many times people have to let go of things that they no longer uh that no longer serve them, such as there may be some generational curses that we talk about, or some old ways of thinking or superstitions that families believed in. A lot of times when people are uncovering and doing the inner work, they're letting go of things, and that's hard too. And a lot of times people have to let go of relationships. That's a challenge too, close-knit relationships.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's Sabrina, let's steer back to because what you're sharing with us now is what I'm what I'm getting is that this was the journey to get you to that second passion, to get you back in touch with that part of yourself that loves fashion, loves glamour, loves design. What part of your life was that in when you really started to head back in that direction? Were you a teenager still, or were you a fully, I guess you were a fully a full adult because you'd been in the field for a while?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I would say the passion for fashion probably started when I was seven years old because I have photos of myself wearing lipstick and heels and carrying purses. I was always one of those little glamour girls, just by by nature. I I'm pretty sure I was I was born that way. So it had always been there. But what's so ironic is that throughout my journey in my educational uh and my career, there was, I couldn't suppress that side of me. So I was always showing up 100% fully glamorous at just general dinners and general activities where there was happy hour and I would be my fullest version of my glamour self. And at some time, at some times it didn't quite fit in. Well, most times I didn't fit in. People would say, you look like you're going to a gala or you're, you know, you look like you're you're going to a ball or something like that. But I it was very difficult for me to suppress that side of myself. And I tried, I tried, but no matter what I did, there was always this, this, this intensity of that world that I wanted to just live every single day of my life to this day. So I I continued to kind of have it on the background, but I lived it out through just looking at others, through looking at magazines and admiring models and just kind of visualizing those things and um, you know, purchasing things and doing interior design, but I just couldn't take it outside. I couldn't take it out because I just felt like I couldn't. I felt like I had this career, I have this title, there's a barrier. What will people think? And most of all, what will my family think? So, you know, and then so obviously I had to get past those things because everybody thought I was losing my mind. People would say you're fine where you are. You have your career, you have your your safe space, you have what you've worked so hard for. So, what is all this? Is this your midlife crisis or what is it? And I said, Well, this is that side of my brain, the creativity that I suppressed for so long because of what I thought everybody else would think, the society's version of how I should be. So once I came out and started to live this out, I started to feel whole again. I started to feel complete and that the passion was finally out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think you just need to bitch slap that person that asked you if you were having a midlife crisis. Please, you're nowhere near midlife.

SPEAKER_00:

It's getting close. But I think it's that that you know, we we can we have that that one that midlife crisis. I don't think it's a one-time deal. I think it happens at certain times, but it's not really a crisis, it's that moment where we feel that we need to reinvent, we reflect, we understand, we look at the past, the present, the future. So it's it's a it's a good moment.

SPEAKER_02:

It's kind of a hurdle, isn't it? It's something where you it I think it's different for every person because it was it didn't show up for me anything like most people describe, but it was definitely an awakening. It it was it was stepping through the veil to the next level, yeah, and and everything changed. Everything changed.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the reinvention started. Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So when did you come out of the closet with your design?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I would say that was during the pandemic. I I authentically went through the whole process of learning about this business, reading, doing research. I wanted to do it right because I felt like I I was investing in that passion. And it was it was an investment in myself too. So I started to do a lot of research on trademarks and patents and how to organize the business. So I just sat down and started the structural process on pen and paper. And then I slowly started to understand how to develop these designs. And we have things that are, you know, actual drawings called tech packs and measurements, and took classes, sewing classes, measuring classes. I started to do that. And um, during my own time, my evening hours next to the candlelight, I learned about the process. And then I just uh going out networking was a big deal because that's when I met people that were actually doing this and pursuing this type of business. And I received a lot of guidance, a lot of um comfort and support as well, that I can go at my own pace. It doesn't have to be where suddenly I'm. One of the biggest designers in the world, that it's something that you just kind of do at your own pace, whatever feels right to you.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, it sounds like you really put in the work to make sure that it was done right. And uh it sounds like you found your people, you found your community. Um did you have some uh some victories along the way that spurred you on, or how'd that work out?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes. So the number one thing is finding my people because I, in the work that I was doing in the clinic and with telehealth, I'm serving others, but I didn't have a network of friends, I didn't have colleagues, I didn't see my people, I didn't know where they were. You know, the suburban life is pretty quiet out here. So, you know, and I just didn't know like how how can I find my people, but it really took a trip to Dallas getting in my car for a fashion show and just driving 45 miles to get to the show. And it was it was kind of like the epiphany where I found my people. I was like, they exist, they're here. And so I started to take photos of people and started, and believe it or not, I didn't have a social media account until until 2023. So I I didn't even know what social media was about. I didn't make any posts or anything because there was no need for it prior to that. But that's when I started to to um network with people and understand how to create a collective, a little community for myself. And I started to to look at what other people were doing as well and where they were going. And it was it was eye-opening. And so that's um as far as moments, I got invited, not only invited to fashion shows, but big events and gallas and balls, and then uh opportunities to exhibit my designs in a fashion show. So I've done plenty of little uh fashion shows in the local region, but then uh just recently I was invited to Austin Fashion Week, and that was more of a reassurance. It was reassurance that things are working out, things are going in the right path, that um as long as I'm continuing to pursue this passion, things are just starting to come together, sort of magical.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I I love the way you are talking about community. I mean, this is part of our platform as well. And we personally believe that community is just like ultimately important. It's it's not a nice to have, it's a it's a necessity. If if you're going to experience growth and fulfillment and success, you've got to be plugged into community because life just doesn't happen solo. And and yet we meet and talk to so many uh creatives that are isolated and solo. And and you know, a big part of why we have these conversations on this podcast is trying to light illuminate that, to let people who are in isolation and doing the solo thing see that it's not the most effective way to be successful as a creative. It doesn't matter what your form of creativity is. And somebody says, Well, I'm a writer, I can't write in a group. Well, no, maybe you can't, but you know, there's stories of a variety of writers that would convene every year with Ernest Hemingway in some one of the places in New England where they would hang out for a week or two and all write together. It doesn't mean you've got to be in a room full of people that are all painting, but maybe you're in the room with those people when you're not painting, but you're talking about your painting and your art and your art business and and how you connect with uh art collectors, D, all the above, everything that we need in life, you can get through the resource called other people. Yeah. I'm on a soapbox because I I feel so adamant about this. And your your story clearly depicts that. So, what were some specific wins that you've had that you wouldn't have had if it hadn't been for the people in your community? Maybe, well, you you said you got invited to show your work. That came from somebody that you met at some community function that saw a glimpse of your work and went, oh my God. Let's go a little more granular and talk about a specific thing where it just that connection to another person who had resources put you on the face of the design map.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes. I would say uh the number one thing which is on your cabinet is authentic. Being authentic. When I went out into the community, I just I was myself. I didn't uh pretend to be anybody else. I was just my normal quirky self out in the community. And so I think people started to just become attracted to me and felt comfortable around me and that it was safe to talk to me uh just because I I just portrayed myself as I am. So the right type of people started to network and communicate with me. But I'll tell you one thing when you were talking about the writer, is that it takes effort, it takes overcoming some of our own anxieties and our social anxiety of what will people think if I approach them and talk to them? Or, you know, the self-doubts that we have that, you know, people might think we're weird, or our own inner talk that we just talk to ourselves. And then that isolates people even more. Then people just may go somewhere and they may just not talk to people because there's some anxiety about things that they in their own head that they've created. And so I I had some of those anxieties too. I thought, well, what if people look at me like um like uh imposter, the imposter syndrome, that I'm not really who I say I am, that maybe I'm just out here just you know, exploring this field of fashion and that I haven't done the work. Even if it's that, it was my own self-doubt that I needed to get over and tell myself, I'm I'm not an imposter. This is something that I'm interested in. And until I take the steps to start talking to people about what I'm doing and you know, let go of all the barriers and the biases that I'm creating in my own head. I'm probably not going to get anywhere. I'm probably going to be isolated in my own office at home and just doing this solo work, which is not the purpose. When you're a creative, it's about sharing your work with the outside world. It's about letting it out. It's about this, the whole journey of creatives is to share your gift with the world.

SPEAKER_02:

It's about putting yourself out there. Yes.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, there's an argument to be made that art isn't art until it's shared.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I I want to rewind for a second, Sabrina. You said something that I kind of want to do a disclaimer for the listeners. You mentioned meeting the right people. And I I just I think I know what you meant. I and I want to clarify, I don't think you meant, you know, the right people, that whole uppity snobby thing that people do, you know. The right people were about people that you resonated with. Correct me if I'm wrong, you know, and that you saw that you had something in common where you could benefit each other. You could help them, they could help you. There was this collaborative energy to move your careers, your businesses forward. I just want to put that out there that that's what what we mean when we say the right people. We're not, you know, that that that can have a whole other meaning. And I just wanted to make sure that the listeners got that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The right people is what we said, your people, your community where you fit in, that share a common purpose, a common value, and a common goals. So it's then the right people are either you there's a fashion community or it could be the automotive community. For some people, their right people will be in the automotive community if their passion is in automobiles, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I always say the right people are the ones that want to just come and sit next to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, authenticity is a polarizer. The more authentic you are, the more it draws the right people to you, and the more it sends the wrong people screaming and running.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And they may have their own type of people that appeal to them and their values and and belief systems and things like that.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and and authenticity can free you as well. I mean, the to to get more at what you were talking about, if you tried so hard to be something that you're not, I mean, to the point that you actually own it, like that mask has is complete. Well, you may start attracting some people, but they're not your people. And there's a point where you won't you won't be able to sustain it, nor will you want to.

SPEAKER_00:

Nor will it feel fulfilling, you know. It kind of widens the void inside, you know, because you just feel like it's not nourishing you, it's not nourishing your growth. And then there are the feelings of emptiness and isolation. Then people don't pursue things that they're passionate about. But um, that reminds me that, like when in the field that I was work that I'm working in, I'm sort of like this authority figure with this title, and I'm, you know, I'm like this, you know, professional person. But then this other side of me is completely different. That guard comes down. I'm quirky, I like laughing and enjoying myself. But it's that sometimes society has a certain view of how they they see somebody, you know. So I had to learn to become and and live out myself as I am, the authentic part of me.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Sabrina, as you do that, as as your design and the people that you have met through the design industry and all have allowed you to really lean into just being yourself, how has that affected the you that you take into the mental health? Has it had an effect? Have you have you found yourself starting to let go of a little bit of the, you know, the professional mask and show your coworkers a little bit of your quirkiness and some of the the more real you? Or do you feel like it it you just can't do that and you have to maintain that very different you?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I would say it's made me a better person overall in every aspect of my life to live my authentic self and be myself. So my clients, uh, a lot of them already see that in me. And so they've been my clients for almost a decade because they keep coming back for that human factor, where it's not about a diagnosis or a label or a medication, it's about them and who they are. And so we talk about stories, we talk about the inner inner side of what's going on, and that is the reason they continue to come back, the human experience. And I think no matter what anybody does for a living, whether they're in tech or healthcare or whatever, we can't forget that there's a human experience happening with everything that we're doing.

SPEAKER_04:

Say it again for the people in the back.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, say that again for the people in the back because the the medical profession needs to have that screamed at them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I'm at a point in my life where in spite of the fact that I'm really, really healthy, I I go to more doctors than I prefer to. And most of that is to remain healthy, most of it's um preventative maintenance, as they say, getting your car fixed before it breaks down. Um, but I certainly am in enough arenas where wow, that what you're describing is gone. You are a file folder with a name on it and a number. You're a number sitting out in the waiting room next, and they're just herding you through like cattle. Oh, Lord.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh and I fight tooth and nail to avoid that. So I'm one person out there that'll always say, my client is my number one priority. However long they need me, that's how long they need me at that moment. And I don't, I, I, I don't really, of course, I follow all the rules and regulations, but my client will never get the backseat. When my client comes to see me, they're my number one priority. And so I have I have been that way for a very long time, and I'll continue to be that way because this is what I believe in. It's my the inside of my core. You know, it's it's that human experience and and people, they're my number one, my number one priority. I've never put that on the backseat.

SPEAKER_02:

It has always been my philosophy. Now I wasn't in healthcare, I was a beauty professional for 40 years. But my clients absolutely came first above everything. And I treated them like family, and many of my clients were with me for 10, 20, 30 years.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes. And that says a lot about you, you know, and that, yeah, yeah. And that's fulfilling. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_02:

Immensely filling. I can't fulfilling. I I was having dinner with a former client last night, talking, re reminiscing and talking about my experience and how how blessed I feel to have been able to do something that I loved for 40 years.

SPEAKER_00:

Blessing. Yes. And now this.

SPEAKER_02:

And then and then blessed to finally be able to lay it down and be done with it, to move on to the next chapter.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, as a different version of you, but you learned from all of that. Oh, it connects you, the next version of you, which will connect you to the next version.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's I I think I think I'm in a a little bit of a transition right now. That that new version is emerging.

SPEAKER_00:

It's emerging, and I would say embrace that. Embrace that. When you have that feeling, just embrace it. And it's the greatest feeling, honestly. Could be some challenges, but it's the greatest feeling once you start to uncover some things about yourself that you're learning the new you.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and I'm I'm really blessed to have this little brown man right over here who supports me in every way.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes. There's nothing like having a support system and somebody that believes in you, and that's somebody who's there for you for every version of you.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, old in. Well, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your some specific things about your designs. I I kind of want to know what came to me when you were talking about the designs earlier was you made mention of drawings. Do you still design on paper with pencil, or you haven't switched to the graphic design on computer screens?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I haven't because that's too expensive for me to buy all that software to do all those things. I'm a pen and paper person. I've all grew up in the 90s pen and paper drawings. So I still draw my designs and do my measurements. But I will say I have help. So, in order to get everything as sophisticated and tailored, I get help from seamstresses. So I get help to do some of the heavy work.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, Sabrina, million-dollar question. If money were no object and you could afford all of those big computers and programs and things, what do you think? Well, for you, it's going to be different for every person, but for Hugh, even if you could have all those, I kind of am having this sense that you would draw because there's there's something lost in the commute computer screen.

SPEAKER_00:

I will draw. I still have about three or four journals. I still write. For example, like even when it comes to journaling, there's apps, there's people that can journal into phones and just I like writing. There's a power to the pen and the paper that I think is a lost art.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, you're you're not wrong. You're not wrong. I I was reminded that there um were several notes from the late Steve Jobs that were lost because they were in there were several computers ago and they were just locked in that digital no man's land. Whereas in contrast, we can read the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Any person can. When those are uncovered, they're there for you to read because he left that record.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Sabrina, what is your favorite thing to design in the way of clothing? I mean, it could be anywhere from underwear to lingerie to swimsuits to evening wear, but what is the thing you love to draw most?

SPEAKER_00:

The most it's uh business wear for, you know, like tuxedo dresses and things like what I'm wearing now. It's combining some masculine, uh masculinity, which is the ties that men wear to feminine clothing. So that's that's the key of what sets my designs apart from everything else out there is that I'm combining masculine and feminine, and some things that we don't generally see on women, such as ties, I'm combining that fabric into the collars of most of the I love that. Yeah, so that women can and and and men can have the the this um enmeshment of who we are as humans, that one thing such as ties is not just for men, it can be for women as well. So these are actual silk materials that I'm putting, having the seamstresses put into my suit dresses for now.

SPEAKER_02:

I think what you're doing is very symbolic, and maybe you did this on purpose or maybe not, but I have done my share share of studying feminine energy versus masculine energy, not male versus female, feminine versus masculine. And I I clearly understand now that our greatest strength and and humanity will will not be whole until we integrate those two energies. Our real strength comes from when we create balance by utilizing both energies, feminine and masculine, because in any given moment you get to choose which energy you draw on, given the situation that you're in. And you're creating clothing that is the symbol of integrating those energies. I love that. Now, the bottom of that is that is that a onesie, or is it is it a dress? It's a dress. Okay, I love it, but that could have just as easily been a fabulous pantsuit, what like a a one-piece um coverall, basically.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So I wanted to um add on to that masculine and feminine, that when I throughout my just career and my life, when I saw men in power, I saw men wearing ties. So whether they were in the White House or whether it was just a CEO of a company, the way that men dressed with ties, I found that to be a powerful symbol. And this goes back decades, ever since I was a young child. So the tie was fascinating to me. And so I would put on my father's ties when no one was looking. I would put them around my neck just to feel that power, power of a tie. But it's something that is still, even in today's society, um, more geared toward masculine figures. Women don't wear ties, but there was this this the fabric. I would touch the fabric, I would feel the fabrics, I would put them around my neck. I would try, I looked up videos on how to tie ties. So I had this fascination of the power aspect of ties. And when I started to design, I knew immediately what I wanted to design right off the bat. It was combining that tie material so it can be around my neck and I can feel that. And then obviously the the rest of the garment itself, but still, like even when I'm touching this, to me, that that that's a lot of like masculine energy power, it stands for something, it's a symbol.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that a lot. You know, I think that I thought I I was a wardrobe consultant way back there and early in my career. And I realized that um what we wear plays a big role in our energetic presence and how we show up in the world. And part of our authenticity and our power is dressing in a manner that exemplifies and expresses who we are on the inside. And it's it's very, very powerful when you put on the right clothing that really you really resonate with and you you feel that expression, it it brings you forth in a manner that you're not present without that attire. Clothing is way more power powerful than most people realize. Hairstyles, makeup, shoes, jewelry, it's all very, very powerful.

SPEAKER_04:

And it can completely sabotage you and it can completely um like make you yeah, and it's it's interesting though the way that you um just drawing on on what you said, I'm I'm made to think back to a time in my life from 1998 to 2002 when uh I had my clothing choices uh prescribed. Like I um I was enlisted uh in the army and we had specific uniforms. We we did not have uh choices in how it was that we appeared. Uh and the uh the appearance was actually uh codified in I don't know I can still remember, Army Regulation uh 650-1. And it just it described exactly how it was that uh that you were supposed to look, the length of your hair, the length of your nails, uh the um way that garments could uh garments could lay uh against um you know certain hem lines and uh the sleeve length and uh each each of the uniforms had laid out in detail exactly how they had to look. And mind you, uh this was to accommodate all of the the variances in body type that you might encounter because you uh the the army is vast and large. Uh uh everyone had to adhere to these standards. And you you have very little room to express, very little room to have choice. And as you know, the the intake process for that, they they take that to the nth degree. All of the men have their heads shaved. And you know, the the grooming and appearance standards for women are are pretty uh prohibitive. They want everyone to look as much as possible the same.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, they're removing all identity. I think that's what the school sisters have done in having kids wear uniforms to school. They want to remove the identity part of it, uh, which I have mixed emotions about.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, do I when you first received the uniform, how did it feel? I mean, I'm just curious. You were given this uniform to put this on now.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh my goodness. Well, um there's there was uh one luxurious aspect. Uh that it was my first experience. I remember uh getting fitted for class A's. It's like it's the fancy, the dressy uniform. Uh it was my first time to have an experience with a tailor. So that was uh different, and I was intrigued. It was unique. Uh, but of course, they went about it in a way that the only the Army could, because you're being pushed through with hundreds of other people at the same time, and everything's quick, quick, hurry, hurry. And uh but the the end result, uh it it was a a point of pride to be able to wear that uniform correctly. Like it was uh in a sense, you you still got to express in that you got to do your best to wear that uniform in the best way that you possibly could.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Wow, we do become what we wear once we change into you know different garments.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we do completely. And and speaking of become, that's my I guess that's my next and probably maybe our final question. We got to wrap it up here. So um let's talk next steps. I mean, what is it that no, not not what? That's a different story. Who is it that you are in process of becoming right now? The the next pit stop, the next goal.

SPEAKER_00:

The the next goal is for me to um gain my brand to gain more popularity across the United States, because there's one thing I didn't get to mention, which which was the philosophy behind the brand. As you know, a lot of people name brands after their own name. I actually didn't want to name a brand after my own name because I wanted the brand to have a certain philosophy. So praxis human is the brand, and praxis is a philosophical term. So what it means is it's an act. It's an act of becoming an act movement, is what praxis means. The opposite is apraxia, which is no movement. So, praxis human, what it means is the movement of humankind. We are moving together and progressing together. And the brand stands for diversity, equality, inclusion, the progression of humankind as we are and moving towards the future together. I want um everyone to understand that the brand stands for something more than just the garments. They're wearing something that's a philosophy of becoming and continuing to progress as a human.

SPEAKER_02:

It has meaning. Yeah, that's beautiful. So you said the goal was to build the brand. Now, that's the part where I want to know. So, who is it that you will need to become to build that brand, that inner stuff? Because we're kind of talking a little bit about external stuff here, more the inner stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

The inner stuff is still going to require me to meet many people in life of various different levels, whether they're strategic partners or marketing, but it and and whether it's just people in the community. That that is part of my becoming is knowing. People and getting to and um having people help me become. I learn through people, I learn through energies, I learn through discussions and conversations. That's how I grow. So I will continue to meet people, I will continue to network, and that's going to eventually become the best version of me. The experiences and the human experiences that I continue to have. It'll be part of my evolution and becoming the best version of me.

SPEAKER_01:

Beautiful.

unknown:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Beautiful. What a what a fun conversation. I just have to say, I've totally enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so did I.

SPEAKER_02:

I love your philosophy. I love your way of articulating your philosophy and your knowledge.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you very much. I think it was our human experience together. This hour of the day on this Friday was our experience together. And this is now a part of us.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

We have two of us.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Thank thank you for sharing your story with us and our listeners.

SPEAKER_00:

You're welcome. It was really an honor to meet both of you. And let's continue to stay stay in touch.

SPEAKER_04:

We definitely will. I would love that.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much.