career exploration & workforce development ... FOR GIRLS!
Sam grew up as a cop’s daughter so when she graduated from high school and enrolled at her local community college in their criminal justice program, it seemed like the natural thing to do since she had always had an interest in that field. During high school she worked in retail and transitioned over to a full-time position after graduation. She was juggling work, school and living on her own at a very young age and has always known the meaning of hard work and was never one to shy away from it. She graduated from community college and went on to the local university studying public policy and criminal justice as she continued to work full-time developing her career in retail. When she finished her undergrad, she was relocated for a new role as a store manager. After working in retail for 12 years, where she found a ton of success, Sam took a leap of faith and took a sales job in the construction industry and the rest is HERstory!
When asked if she has ever felt out of place in the industry because she is a woman, Sam says that the only time she has felt out of place was when she was newer in the tech/low voltage side of the industry. She had had a very successful two years and decided to approach the owner of the business to ask for a raise based on the revenue that she was driving. He told her that she was not worth paying more money, and that what she was doing was no different than her male sales manager. That night she went home and decided to start her LLC. Although she didn’t know a whole lot about starting her own business, with the love and support of her fiancé and the help of her CTO Google (lol) she made it happen!
Sam started her commercial low voltage business in the summer of 2019 and has surpassed so many negative statistics about the success of a female owned business in the first few years. She is so grateful for the skills she has acquired through life and education that allow her to be her own boss. She’s thankful for the support of so many incredible people around her – especially all the women who bring her name up in rooms full of other women. She has committed herself to remaining humble no matter how far her business grows.
Sam says that if she could go back and give her 18-year-old self some advice, she would tell herself to keep her chin up and press on. She would tell her to be prepared for many (young) years of financial and personal struggle, because the struggle is definitely going to be real but that eventually she will find the strength to use her voice and the path that once scared her is going to be the path that you pave for the next generation of women in industry. She would also tell her that she doesn’t “need” the support of anyone to achieve big things but rather to lean on the support of others to help soften life’s rough edges, accept it for a greater purpose, a source of love and comfort. Sam says that it was a hard lesson for her to accept help and support and to realize that it didn’t mean that she was weak, but that it is sometimes a quiet blessing in life.
If someone were to ask what her biggest challenge has been, Sam says the answer would be fear. Fear has held her back, motivated her...it’s part of her everyday life and she has learned to be completely okay with that. She wants to show other women that they are not alone, and that fear is not a weakness. When we are afraid of something, we have an opportunity to overcome an obstacle, jump a hurdle or shatter a glass ceiling and make change happen! She wants to encourage women to embrace fear and use it to drive them to do big things!
“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.” - Judy Blume
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