Today we’d like to introduce you to Zarah Rubio.
Hi Zarah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory
I’ve always enjoyed hosting friends and planning fun gatherings like birthdays, dinner parties, and holiday parties. When COVID hit, I realized how much I needed to be with friends and family, as I’m sure so many of us are! To cope with the lack of social gatherings, my partner and I would try to spend as much time outdoors as we can with our dog, Koda. We weren’t alone, everyone else was also spending time outside because it was all we could do. The local parks near our house were always so full of people setting up little picnics and playing outside. Everything just kind of clicked, the idea of turning my love for event hosting into an event planning business and sharing it with our community. Why not make a simple pleasure like a picnic and elevate it into something extra special with decorations and an intimate setting! So, along with my life partner, Oliver, we started Olive & Sage! I’m the creative and brains behind all our picnics, working with clients personally to make their event an unforgettable one. Oliver is our everything and anything guy, the guy behind the scenes carrying our boxes of decor, maintaining our websites, and managing our finances. We love the idea of celebrating all the little moments in life and creating memories with our loved ones.
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?
I think with any idea or business, things don’t always go 100% your way. That was definitely the case for us! I didn’t even know where to begin when starting a business. I think the biggest hurdle I had to overcome was my mindset. I created an Instagram to promote our business and posted teasers of our new business. I started purchasing items like decorations, piles of pillows, and umbrellas, financially investing so much into the new business, then my fear kicked in. The fear of starting something new and the uncertainty of how it will turn out. It took about a month to intensive planning, creating a business plan, and hundreds of google searches to finally ease my mind. The amazing feedback and encouragement I kept getting from friends and family definitely also gave me the extra boost I needed! I also have a full-time job managing a well-being center for students at UC San Diego so all my nights and weekends are pretty much dedicated to Olive & Sage. I think finding the time to take a break and practice self-care can be hard and it’s something I have to constantly remind myself to do. I definitely don’t want to burn out!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Olive & Sage Events specializes in intimate picnics and events. We set up styled and decorated picnics all over San Diego, including your backyard! We also work with local San Diego businesses to add special touches to your picnic like grazing boards, desserts, florals, and more (Check out Grazing Box SD, Cheese & Honey SD, Sweet Insights, SweetcRIEtions, and Bliss Atelier SD). We even work with some really awesome photographers; Nina Benham, HB Photos, Socal Standard, Natachia Miller Photography, By Darius, and Dizon Productions. Our goal is to bring the most beautiful setting to your special occasion, birthdays, anniversaries, proposals, and even “just because” dates. We also offer wedding planning services for micro-weddings. We work with you to plan everything from the beginning, we arrange your event, you enjoy, and we take care of the clean up in the end. What we love the most is working with clients individually to make their experience unique, whether that’s adding custom florals or adding macrame backdrops! To us, every little detail matter so we leave nothing untouched. We LOVE love!
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love when people share our services with friends and family! Share us in your social media stories, tag a friend on our posts, or write us a review on Yelp, any shout out means a lot! We love collaborating with businesses around San Diego, so we welcome any ideas that you might have. You can send us an email at oliveandsageevents@gmail.com or direct message us on our social media accounts, Instagram and Facebook (@oliveandsageevents).
Pricing:
- Intimate Picnic – starting at $150
- Deluxe Picnic – starting at $250
- Picnic Party – starting at $550
Contact Info:
- Email: oliveandsageevents@gmail.com
- Website: oliveandsageevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliveandsageevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oliveandsageevents
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/olive-and-sage-san-diego
Image Credits
Nina Benham, @ninakawabunga
