Planting Seeds of Mindfulness

As the founder of Mission2Move and CEO of The Calm Caterpillar, Sarah Habib `07 has dedicated her career to helping children self-regulate, connect with their feelings, and develop lifelong emotional resilience.

But if you ask Sarah how it all started, she won’t begin with a business plan or a boardroom. She’ll talk about burnout, basketball, and a moment of clarity.

“I was living in San Francisco, working as chief of staff for the CEO of an NBA basketball team,” she recalls. “It looked good on paper, but I was miserable. So I quit, started practicing mindfulness, and began coaching youth basketball. I taught the players what I was learning, and then the school asked if I could teach their other students. That was the spark.”

In 2017, Sarah moved back to Cincinnati and launched Mission2Move, a nonprofit focused on bringing mindfulness and movement into classrooms. With support from then-Cincinnati Public School Superintendent Mary Ronan, the program started in five schools and quickly grew to 34 buildings across the district. Today, her team serves thousands of students in school districts across the region, delivering daily lessons on emotional regulation and breathing techniques through playful, movement-based practices.

“Our program helps make mindfulness fun and accessible,” she says. “And it works; research with the University of Cincinnati has shown an increase in prosocial behavior among students.”

As with many aspects of our lives, though, the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything. “We were Zooming into the homes of 2,000 kids. We could see their bedrooms, their living rooms… and we realized, we were helping kids at school, but not their families at home,” she says. “That’s when The Calm Caterpillar was born.”

Starting with a simple Calm Corner Kit and now expanded into a full line of soft, mindful toys, The Calm Caterpillar is a social-emotional toolkit designed for families and educators. The line is now MESH-certified – a new designation akin to STEM, but focused on mental, emotional, and social health. Every plush toy is linked to a specific breathing technique, creating playful entry points for children to explore mindfulness.

Earlier this year, the brand launched nationwide in Barnes & Noble stores, a major milestone that Sarah hopes will expand their reach even further. “Our chief revenue officer used to be at Melissa & Doug, and he’s helped us make amazing retail connections,” Sarah explains. “We showcased at the toy fair in New York in March, which opened even more doors, including getting picked up by zoos around the country.”

The long-term vision? A whole ecosystem of mindfulness toys and educational content, all rooted in what Sarah calls Calmee’s Garden: a narrative universe that will teach children how to breathe, reflect, and grow. By year’s end, the line will expand to 12 products, many with patent-pending features like the popular Bloomie and Calmee plushes.

Throughout her work, one thread remains constant: a deep commitment to supporting children’s mental health. That passion is part of why Sarah was eager to join the school’s Board of Trustees.

“I’m really passionate about the intersection of mental health and education,” she says. “And as a school, we have a responsibility to protect the idyllic version of childhood. We need to do more to support families, especially around technology use.”

This commitment also inspired her involvement with Country Day’s Hold the Phone initiative, a campaign aimed at promoting healthier digital habits among students. “What I see in classrooms confirms what the research says: smartphones and social media are hurting kids’ mental health. As parents and educators, we’re the only ones who can set boundaries that protect them.”

It’s a full-circle moment for Sarah, who began attending Country Day as a senior after attending schools across the country. Her family settled in Indian Hill when her father took a job in Cincinnati; CCDS was the only school willing to accept a student that late in the game. It turned out to be a perfect fit.

“Even though I’d only been there a year, I felt so accepted,” she recalls. “I made lifelong friends, like Julia Wilson and Kellen Pomeranz – I just went skiing with them over spring break!”

Sarah credits the school’s College Counseling Office with helping her chart a path to Tufts University, where she majored in American Studies with a concentration in Comparative Race and Ethnicity. “I applied early and only to four schools,” she laughs.

At Tufts, Sarah thrived inside and outside the classroom, eventually serving on the presidential search committee and leading the school’s programming board. “Tufts was where I learned that you can do anything you want if you care deeply enough,” she says. “I focused on making the community better, and that’s really what shaped my career.”

Now back in Indian Hill, Sarah and her husband Eric are raising their daughter Elliott `39, a proud Nighthawk who adores her teachers, campus, and friends. “Mrs. [Vanessa] Collett told me I’m in the top 25 percent of needy parents,” Sarah says with a laugh. “But there’s no place I’d rather be a needy parent. The Lower School is amazing, and they’ve created an environment where every child – and parent – is accepted.”

As Sarah continues to expand her work nationally, she remains grounded in the community that helped shape her.

“Country Day gave me a sense of belonging when I really needed it,” she says. “Now, I just want to do my part to make sure today’s students and their families have the tools to feel that same sense of support, both in and out of the classroom.”