Meet Nora Sophia | Founder of Harmony

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nora Sophia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nora, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I am an organizational fiend. I love containers and I especially love containers custom made to fit specific things, the challenge is these containers only fit specific things…I realized long ago I was trying to live life like this, too. I wanted life to fit neatly into my day. In the West, we are taught to segment our lives. We have our work life and our home life. We view work as a place we go to make a living and earn a wage. We view away from work as our pleasure centers. Not only did this perspective make me miserable, it made me view myself as having two different identities. This is why I actually founded my company, Harmony. Harmony is an Eastern concept. It reminds us that everything belongs and we need everything working in unison to be whole and functional. The best way to understand the concept of Harmony is with the human body. It is designed to work all together in a systematic and organic flow. It works in concert. So, I quit severing my identity into “Work Nora” and “Nora Away From Work”. What it allowed me to do is find pleasure in my work life. It allowed me to create relationship with those I work with beyond just viewing them as colleagues–especially since typically I will spend more time with them than my own family. Harmony gives us permission to simply be who we are, no matter where we are.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Being an entrepreneur is not an easy feat. It takes finding a need the world has and learning to deliver that need in a way that not only makes sense, but a way that adds value to someone’s life. Harmony was crafted and grown out of my witness to life, to relationships and to the stunted growth of creativity in the marketplace. We live by labels to make sense of life. We create job descriptions to keep us bound and logical. We love personality tests, so we get to put people in boxes, too. What if there’s more? What if we don’t realize more because we have not allowed ourselves to be challenged to think a new way? To see from a new lens? To experience a new vision? Crafting Harmony was a challenge because I was uprooting many long held practices we employ in the West. We believe in conflict resolution rather than knowing conflict as a bridge to more solutions. We are taught to speak louder to prove a point, Harmony teaches to listen with intent to arrive at agreement. We are taught we must agree to have consensus. Harmony teaches we can have alignment without agreement. Harmony isn’t simply a new trend for more effective work, it is a practice for a better way of life.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I had the pleasure of living in San Diego for the better part of a year. San Diego for me is one of the most fantastical places on earth! It has outdoor air conditioning for crying out loud…So, I would take my friends to Balboa Park, to Dog Beach, La Jolla, Torrey Pines. I would take them to eat at my amazing friend Alexander’s “Pesto Craft”, I would treat them to Addison’s with Chef William Bradley, so many amazing places to eat. I love the people of San Diego, they are warm and receive everyone with the invitation to “come as you are”. You can’t beat that!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Shoutout is dedicated to all those who have read me, listened to me and believed in me before I believed in myself. To all those who reminded me of my magic when I had forgotten.

Website: https://www.norasophia.com

Instagram: Norasophia7

Facebook: Nora Sophia