Conversations with Nikki Asghari

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Asghari.

Hi Nikki, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Nikki Asghari! I’m 24 years old, I’m an event curator and planner based in sunny Orange County, with a love for bringing people together and creating intentional, creative gatherings throughout Southern California and beyond!

The truth is, gathering people has always felt innate to me. I know that can sound a little cliché, but I grew up in a culture where hospitality was love made visible. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were always welcoming people into their homes. It wouldn’t feel like our family if we weren’t hosting someone.

Even if it was just one guest, my mom would bring out the most beautiful and decadent fruit and sweets with piping-hot tea bubbling on the stove. It was never just about having people over. It was the care and intention behind every little detail—and that stayed with me.
Even as a little girl, I found so much joy in bringing people together. I loved being surrounded by people, finding little ways to make everyone feel included, and creating that warm, familiar feeling of belonging. Community can feel like a buzzword sometimes, but in a world that can feel so disconnected, there’s something so profoundly beautiful about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to show up as their most authentic, unfiltered selves. I think we sometimes forget that we’re all just human, navigating the complexities of being alive. Life can be tender, messy, overwhelming, and wonderfully unpredictable, sometimes all at once.

I don’t believe community means having all the answers, fixing one another’s problems, or insisting on finding the silver lining in every hardship. Sometimes it’s simply having someone beside you who can say, “I see you. I hear you. I understand.”And mean it. There’s something so deeply human about being witnessed without needing to be fixed, about having room for both our joys and our sorrows without feeling like we have to make ourselves smaller or more palatable to be welcomed. That kind of kindness goes a lot further than we realize, especially in a world where isolation has become so commonplace.

I started hosting professionally in 2025, and since then I’ve had the joy of gathering more than 300+ people. I’m so grateful—and honestly, still a little in awe, that something so rooted in my family and my childhood has grown into the work I get to do today.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has it been smooth? Absolutely not! Being a self-starter means you’re the one who has to keep the fire going—and my brain is always asking, “What’s the next best thing I can do for my business?” That ambition is one of my favorite things about myself, but it can also be a lot. Sometimes I’m my own biggest cheerleader and my own biggest overthinker, all in the same day.

But the work feels so fruitful, so deeply aligned with who I am, that I genuinely wouldn’t trade it. I think one of my greatest lessons lately has been learning that building something meaningful doesn’t mean I have to exhaust myself in the process. There’s room to rest, to experiment, to make mistakes, and to let things be beautifully imperfect. I’m learning that not every season has to be about producing or proving something. Sometimes the most important growth happens when we give ourselves permission to simply be.

I’m still finding that balance, and I probably will be for a while.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I think what makes my gatherings a little different is the way I weave together artistry, self-discovery, wellness, and a whole lot of heart! Depending on the gathering, you might find yourself sipping tea, moving your body through yoga, practicing breathwork, journaling, listening to poetry, or being guided through a meditation I’ve written specifically for that particular theme. I love the idea of creating experiences that engage all the senses, where beauty and intentionality can coexist with playfulness, curiosity, and genuine human connection.

As a writer and poet, I’ve always found art to be such a beautiful vessel for understanding ourselves and the world around us. I think sometimes we become so attached to the chapters we’ve already lived that we forget we’re still the authors of our own stories. There’s so much beauty in remembering that we can reclaim our narratives, rediscover our inner wisdom, and allow ourselves to become someone new, and start over again and again.

But I also want to emphasize that you don’t have to come to my gatherings looking for some grand awakening or life-altering revelation! Truly, come as you are. Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t. Laugh a little, cry if you need to, make a new friend, or simply enjoy a beautiful cup of tea. There’s no right or wrong way to experience these spaces. Sometimes just being able to exhale and exist without expectation is enough.

Another thing I absolutely adore is bringing together people of different ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. I think there’s something so enriching about being in the company of people whose lives may look entirely different from our own. Everyone carries their own stories, perspectives, and little pockets of wisdom, and there’s so much we can learn when we make room for one another. I never want my gatherings to feel like you have to fit a particular mold to belong. If anything, I want our differences to be celebrated just as much as the things that connect us.

At the end of the day, my greatest hope is that people leave feeling more seen, empowered, and more at home within themselves. When someone comes up to me afterward and says, “I really needed this. I finally felt like I could exhale,” gosh, that means everything to me.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Honestly, I think I’m still learning what success feels like, not just what it looks like on paper, but what it feels like in my body, in my heart, and in the life I’m creating for myself. And that’s part of the beauty of it. I don’t think success is something we arrive at once and for all. I think it changes shape as we do.

What’s been coming up for me lately is this idea that success can be as simple, and as courageous, as sharing your art, your creativity, your voice, and your gifts with the world, even when you have absolutely no idea who’s going to receive them or what they’ll make of them. There’s something so liberating about creating for the sake of creating, without needing everything to become something measurable or monumental.

I wrote a poem a couple of months ago with the line, “We haven’t heard your story yet.” And I keep coming back to those words because, goodness, isn’t that all the more reason to tell it? To share the things that move you, the lessons you’ve learned, the things you’ve made with your own two hands, even if your voice trembles a little in the process?

Success won’t always look like what society has taught us to chase. It isn’t always about recognition, accolades, or how much we can accomplish in a lifetime. Sometimes it’s about having the courage to live a life that feels like your own. To share what you love, to be of service in whatever way you can, and to recognize how the very things that have helped you find your way might someday help someone else find theirs.

I think that’s the part that means the most to me. That my own story, all the messy, beautiful, unfinished parts of it, can become something I offer to the world.

That, in itself, is an art form. And presently, that feels a whole lot like success to me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @nikki__asghari & @hostedbynikki_