Meet Hassan Sabbagh: The Founder of Nature of Sound

Updated: Oct 18

Meet Hassan Sabbagh Founder of Nature of Sound

My name is Hassan Sabbagh, and I am the founder of Nature of Sound, a creative community solutions platform designed to empower connect individuals, business and communities towards charity through entertainment. I created Nature of Sound to provide a resource of volunteer opportunities and career development to communities in-person and online to support innovative and collaborative projects and ideas towards social entrepreneurship.

A Journey Rooted in Resilience, from Surviving to thriving

I am a second-generation Lebanese-American, or whatever that means. My father, came to the United States in the early 1960s as a 16-year-old alone from North Africa where he was living watching over property our “family” owned in the region outside of our home country of Lebanon. He joined the military and served for his citizenship, and left the military discharged and disabled due to his service. My father ended up marrying and divorcing twice, and having children with two previous wives before my mother and I entered the picture. In 1991, I was a US citizen born overseas in Lebanon, where he married my mom, unlike my brothers born in America, my mother had to travel to Syria to the U.S. embassy in order to attain my natural born citizenship birth certificate. Soon afterwards, my mother and I were on our way to California to meet the rest of the family. It was clear. We were not like other families. Being the children of a single father in the military, they were sent to live with our grandmother in Lebanon in the 1980s, a period that was shortly after marked by civil war and untold levels of trauma. They survived.

Trauma shaped my life from before the moment I opened my eyes. The conditions for my upbringing were set by the experiences my brothers endured. Access to mental health especially in young men was not available to them. Either due to my father’s lack of knowledge having little to no parental guidance himself or just general attitude towards male mental health that even today still exists. Unable to cope with their own trauma, their lives became tangled messes that directly resulted in my own trauma.

I grew up in Vacaville, California, with my four older brothers and an eventual little sister, with wide age gaps between us. The closest in age to me is seven years older. Just to briefly go into my story as a survivor I was a child and attended Hemlock Elementary School where I was first reported missing. When I was found, within 24 hours I was already home. Nobody suspected that I had been taken and exploited, and somehow, I suppressed those memories until they boiled over in adulthood. This caused a lot of anxiety and difficulty developing relationships as a teen, I channeled that frustration into my music and passion for Dj'ing. It was only coincidence that through my adventures as a DJ I would be re-exposed to the realities of exploitation and my part to play in combating it. I won't be sharing all the details of my story here, but I will be writing a book about it and will need your support during that time.

The Genesis of Nature of Sound

The initial starting costs for Nature of Sound were raised by saving my tips from pizza delivery and DJing events, setting up nightlife entertainment across Northern California from 2007-2013. As a teen and young adult, all I wanted to do was share my passion for music, which led to me DJing at 16 years old in Oakland and Sacramento. There, I grew an audience for house parties while also working for more “professional” entertainment companies. The nightlife industry was ugly with poor safety and management standards from my experience as a DJ locally here in Northern California. It was during this time that I realized something was missing, especially within the nightlife scene. There was so much to be desired in terms of creating a genuinely safe space for music and trauma survivors like myself.

My Personal Journey: From Survivor to Community Leader

I didn’t realize it at the time, but as a child, I was exploited and sexually abused in multiple situations and circumstances that were beyond my or my parents' control. This suppressed trauma developed into a desire to support survivors of human trafficking. Through their strength and support, I found the courage to come forward as a survivor myself. Putting the pieces of my life together and understanding where these incidents occurred and their effects on my life has been immeasurable in terms of the loss of happiness and enjoyment of my youth. However, that has never made me bitter. I am an optimistic person, truly with rose-colored glasses on, which helps me continue the fight against exploitation.

Building Nature of Sound

Once I founded Nature of Sound, I wanted to create a nonprofit production company to host entertaining events, discuss local issues in our community, and fundraise for local programs that support youth with trauma-informed care. In the very beginning, the makings of what Nature of Sound was going to become were already there. We wanted creative individuals to bring peers together, and we wanted survivors to share their stories or feel supported by the community as we carried the torch of advocacy.

Our journey began with the "Stop the Traffick" campaign across Solano County, where we were recognized as champions for children in 2016 for our efforts in educating the community. Following this, I became a member of the Solano Partnership Against Violence (SPAV), where I mentored under Lori Frank, a secretary for the Solano District Attorney's Office. She helped me understand how county collaborations work and guided me to become the chairperson of SPAV. Additionally, I founded the Solano Anti-Trafficking Coalition, a collaborative initiative run by Nature of Sound to bring organizations and agencies together to better respond to the needs of supporting our most vulnerable demographic in Solano County. (You can read more about that here.)

Impact and Achievements

Through our monthly meetings, we identified multiple gaps in services and drafted several initiatives to support the county. This involved access to shelter and trauma-informed care, especially in supportive programs and policies. We identified several gaps where survivors could easily fall back into the life and worked towards improving them. We brought local partners together to provide immediate relief to survivors suffering from sexual trauma and poor success rates at local substance rehab programs. We were able to get survivors access to prescriptions with telehealth services that are within 24 hours, designed to expedite access for survivors of human trafficking needing to wean off drugs. Unfortunately until 2020, Solano County only provided resources not designed for survivors of exploitation, which is incredibly difficult for an individual with trauma to use for withdrawals. Additionally, Solano County failed to provide sufficient mental health support to survivors during this stage of recovery, as they would prioritize detoxing services before mental health services, resulting in high failure rates among survivors seeking help.

This allowed us to go even further with the Solano Anti-Trafficking Coalition, eventually landing us a 3 million grant with our partners SANE-SART to provide shelter and trauma-informed care to survivors of human trafficking. This has been the culmination of all my years of work from 2013 to 2024. The grant was issued in 2023 and ends in April 2025. With the outlook across the nation and state due to budget cuts, we see 800 million in victim services being cut the following year. Solano County also has a precedent of low contributions to charity organizations, an issue being highlighted by California Forever as a guise to build a new tech city in Solano County. These are all pressing issues on the horizon.

Paying Respects to important people in my life

I couldn’t have made this much progress if it wasn’t for my brother Hussein, who supported me throughout the tribulations of our family life, and those who gave what they could while they were still here.

My best friend, Shayne Milam, who passed away in 2020 during the COVID19 pandemic. He was my biggest supporter and a loving kind person, he leaves behind a son, Weston. Shayne is recognized as a Champion at Nature of Sound for his unwavering support for his best friend.

Lori Frank and Hassan Sabbagh standing at the Solano Health Fair in 2018

My mentor, Lori Frank, who passed away in 2021 is recognized as the brightest star of Solano County at Nature of Sound. The Solano DA's Health Fair has been named the Lori Frank Memorial Health Fair, which is hosted every October and has been supported by Nature of Sound for over five years.

My brother, Kamel Sabbagh, who passed away in 2023 is forgiven for and loved as a brother lost to years of trauma. He is survived by a daughter and son. Goodbye brother, I have survived you. You will never extinguish the hope from my eyes or hurt anyone ever again.

As I look forward to another year, I am filled with gratitude for the journey so far and excitement for the future. Nature of Sound will continue to innovate, grow, and expand its reach. We have plans underway for more events and activities coming soon!

Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey. Your support and involvement make all the difference. Together, we will continue to harness the power of music, creativity, and community to drive meaningful change.

How You Can Support

To support our work, consider making a donation. Your contributions help us provide essential resources and trauma-informed care to survivors of human trafficking and other vulnerable populations. You can donate through:

Patreon: Become a Patron
Venmo: Send donations to @NatureofSound
PayPal: Donate via PayPal

For inquiries, please contact us at Contact@NatureofSound.org. Thank you for your generosity and commitment to making a difference. Thank you again for reading Meet Hassan Sabbagh Founder of Nature of Sound Keywords: