The Stanley Social x Mountain Gate Collab—How Two Women Created A Bustling, Impactful Community
Chloe Makhani, Sophia Parsa | Getty Images
When tech entrepreneur Sophia Parsa (Forbes 30 Under 30) invited friends over to her home for a simple meeting of the minds in 2016, she had no idea the discussion would evolve into a vibrant community that now meets monthly. Her community, Mountain Gate, consists of entrepreneurs and creatives who bring their curiosity to curated panel discussions featuring highly seasoned CEOs and experts there to dispense their knowledge and answer hard-hitting questions. Now, with the help of her co-founder Aleksa Mara, Mountain Gate has expanded to San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.
Parsa, whose passions include education and community building, committed herself to create a meaningful, impactful place where those looking to expand professionally would organically come together and exchange ideas.
Enter Chloe Makhani, founder of Stanley Social—a unique and adaptable event space in West Hollywood. Aside from hosting parties and dinners for large corporations, Makhani uses her event space for community building, and it all started when she began collaborating with Mountain Gate.
Just recently, Makhani and Parsa hosted an Q&A event for Soheila Adelipour, author of the new book ‘Dancing in The Darkest Light.’
But what brought the two LA Natives together initially? A mutual commitment to community building and a passion for helping people.
“It’s funny because we weren’t necessarily looking to partner with anyone, but our collaboration just clicked,” says Parsa. “That is actually one of the great things about our collaboration, the fact that it happened naturally. The flow of Stanley just seemed to be perfect for the nature of the event, and it has now become Mountain Gate’s home.”
Stanley Social Interior
The reason why their partnership has worked and still works so well is because they play to each other’s strengths. “Not only do we allow one another to work collaboratively, but the nature of Mountain Gate x Stanley Social is that it also allows us to work independently,” adds Makhani.
The two also mention that having fun together has been key to the foundation of their collaborations, along with enjoying each other’s company and having open communication.
“There are so many communities people can join in L.A., so our goal was to create one that would speak to a variety of people with each event, so that we could cater to and connect many different people across various industries,” says Makhani. “These events are also special because you don’t have to be a part of the industry any given event is about— everyone can participate in open discourse and collaboration across industries, which was one of our biggest goals.”
Mountain Gate gives people a platform to ask questions that they would not be able to answer in isolation, which is key to community building, but the two founders are also audience to their panelists.
Their favorite speakers?
Sophia Parsa: For me, it’s quite hard to pick a favorite because I’ve built relationships with all of the people who have come to speak in the series. The way that I choose the speakers is that I find the people that I think are the best speakers in their category, so each individual is, in my opinion, the most interesting expert in their field.
Chloe Makhani: Garrett Leight because I am a direct consumer of his brand. Amazing people come through the doors every month, but I thought the Garrett Leight panel was particularly interesting because I learned that Larry Leight became an optometrist to make money and to support his family, but created Oliver Peoples because he had a desire to be more creative. Hearing him talk about venturing out of what was typical for an optometrist taught me that you can really take your degree anywhere and do anything with it. I liked that the discussion highlighted how much the world is changing and becoming so limitless.
Left to Right: Ron Moon, Larry Leight, Garrett Leight
While Parsa found it hard to pick a favorite speaker, she did say she has some favorite Mountain Gate moments.
SP: The first was when an investor was brought to tears speaking about the moment she realized her daughters were growing right in front of her eyes. It was so beautiful to see her put her heart on her sleeve in front of a hundred people. Another moment happened back when I used to host the Mountain Gate events in people’s backyards. All of a sudden it started pouring rain during one of the events, and not a single person got out of their seats. Whether they didn’t notice or just didn’t care, that was one of the first moments I realized I had created something pretty special.
So special, in fact, that the tickets to this monthly event sell out rapidly to the Mountain Gate community that is growing even faster as a result of this fairly new collaboration. To date, thousands and thousands of people have attended the invite-only speaker series to gain access to its unique offerings.
But as fast as they’re expanding, the two entrepreneurs face new challenges every day.
CM: I think that the biggest challenge of being an entrepreneur is that we have to put out fires and solve problems all the time. And even though it hasn’t always been a smooth road, I think that that comes with the nature of the Mountain Gate events. We don’t do the same thing or host the same people every time, so there are bound to be new obstacles with each event.
SP: We have had to learn to be incredibly flexible and to think on our feet, but as much as that can be considered a challenge, I think it is actually more exciting than anything. It means that every time we will have a unique experience, and that no event is quite like the last. Also challenge is where growth happens, so we try to accept the challenges as they come and find growth in them rather than stress about them.
Their advice to other entrepreneurs looking to collaborate?
SP: It’s important to reach out and ask for what you want. This goes hand in hand with open communication. If you aren’t communicating about what works or doesn’t work for you the collaboration will never succeed. Another thing is to make sure you get along and enjoy working together. Luckily, Chloe and I have the ability to be blunt with each other about our needs and boundaries, which is why we work so well. Setting expectations is essential, it’s very important to know what you’re getting yourself into. Seeing what you need from them and what they can provide for you is an important first step. Also, it's important to find a common thing that excites you—find the passion. Respect is something that we’ve also noticed to have affected our collaboration. We respect each other, each other’s companies, and our partnership. Business also used to be so competitive and the idea of collaborating was not as appealing. That’s one of the reasons why now, in 2019, we could not be happier to have a dinner/speaker series that not only celebrates collaboration but fosters it as well.
Bonus: Productivity hacks, apps, websites, or resources that have been a game changer?
Using your iphone apps! It makes life so much easier because we can do things on the go.
Educating yourself and always being in-the-know about all aspects of your field
Splashthat.com has been a lifesaver because we use it for everything: CRM, ticketing, track, what’s going on, email, check in, purchase etc.
Also people spend way too much time trying to think of how to do things instead of asking others for help or just trying to tackle it head on
Developing a strong team and using them every time is amazing and so important in my opinion. Having people you trust and that are already familiar with you and the way you do things is incredible.
Excel!!!!
Sophia Parsa, Chloe Makhani