Safe Space Evolution
Safe Space begins as an idea, born while I was still in university. I was struggling with depression and anxiety, unable to open up to or trust anyone with what I was carrying — Safe Space starts as a therapy app, an attempt to give people what I was desperately searching for.
Three months of coding turn into two years. I graduated and put everything — time, energy, money — into building the app.
The app launches and runs for a year, but the technical foundation keeps failing — constant crashes and endless issues.
I had tied my entire value and identity to this app. When it failed, I lost faith in myself and I was unable let go — until I learned the power of flexibility and a lesson that will forever stay with me "everyone fails, the key is to fail fast". I finally decided to let the app go, but not Safe Space. I invested in myself; completed a life coaching certification and traveled to Bali for a yoga teacher training.
I tried a lot of different things, none of which yielded the results I was hoping for. I poured everything I had into a podcast, social media growth campaigns, launching the card game, collaborations with other spaces, an athlete mental training program — and finally, corporate wellness programs. None of it worked out the way I'd hoped. Safe Space was costing me a lot of time and money, and everyone around me kept telling me to let it go. I almost did — several times.
I dedicated a whole year to corporate wellness programs. It started well — I got to work with incredible clients such as Nestlé, Orange, Dell, Samsung, and more. But by mid-year, work slowed down, and I wasn't doing the work I actually wanted to be doing anymore. By the end of 2024, I'd reached a new low. I decided to fully give up on Safe Space — until I realized it was never just a business. It was my passion, my purpose. So I doubled down.
I went all in and opened Safe Space to the public. People wanted to go deeper than corporate sessions could offer — and so did I. Going directly to the public gave me the freedom to build the services I actually wanted to offer. I started with healing circles and stress management workshops, and Safe Space finally started becoming close to the vision I'd actually wanted all along. The year had many ups and downs, but I kept going — and Safe Space kept growing with me. For the first time, I felt like I was on the right track.
We continue to grow and expand, always trying to serve in the best way possible. Monthly somatic yoga rounds. Longer, deeper transformative programs. A monthly book club. Community gatherings and events. Pop-up sessions and more — Safe Space keeps becoming more of what it was always meant to be.
The launch of the Art Collective, a new and exciting chapter.
About The Founder
My name is Farida Ismail. I'm the founder of Safe Space, a certified Life Coach and Yoga Instructor. But most importantly — I'm human.
I've struggled with anxiety, depression, and apathy — emptiness, numbness — for most of my life. Growing up, I was under the illusion that strength meant not feeling anything. So I kept numbing myself, building walls, until I felt nothing and trusted no one. I spent years disconnected. Dissociated.
That was when I decided to create Safe Space. I needed a way out. I needed to know I wasn't alone. I needed something to keep me going.
A purpose.
Through the years, it became much more than that. It broke me. It strengthened me. It taught me endless lessons. It healed parts of me I didn't know were broken. It expanded my mind and my world beyond anything I could have imagined — and it continues to be the reason I wake up every day, the one thing that gets me through the tough times.
I'm a curious person. Always learning, fascinated by knowledge — I read and research a lot, and I try to let science and facts guide my work. But mostly, my guide is my heart, and my own experience. Sometimes I have to be strictly a life coach, or strictly a yoga instructor. But mostly, I lead every session first and foremost as a human.