Today we’d like to introduce you to Samaiyah Hampton.
Samaiyah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m a 25-year old woman living and flourishing in Atlanta, GA. After graduating college in 2016, from Auburn University, I planned to take a gap-year in order to apply to medical schools and work in research, for Emory during the process; however, after extensive shadowing, applying to different pre health professions, and literally working hands on in the field, I realized that I wasn’t as passionate about it as I once was. This realization has forced me to refine my life plan. Fast forward three years, I find myself in this space of complete and utter transparency with self and I’ve realized that my passion does not solely lie in medicine, and I am confident enough to say that and eager enough to work for what I truly want! As a 25-year old evolving, it can be scary, but it is necessary to constantly take a look in the mirror and remind yourself of your goals and the reason that you do what you do every day. I refuse to be stagnant. I refuse to not be truly happy in life and if that means creating a unique career for myself centered around all things pertaining to women through journalism, fashion, and business then so be it. I’m ready! Are you? My goal is to share my experiences in life through all the lifestyle essentials, while also advocating that there is power in transparency with self. It is the solution to unity amongst all women. Join me along the journey, as we navigate through life learning to operate at our highest level, by simply being real with ourselves, FIRST!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been easy at all. I came up with this idea to create a space online for women to feel comfortable with investing and taking care of themselves in 2017 with a close friend, and we eventually brought another friend on board; however, the vision was not the same among all of us. I had a vision in my mind of what I wanted the blog to become and they had theirs, so we simply weren’t on the same page and that got in the way of our success. It was really hard accepting the fact that we just didn’t work well together and the brand definitely suffered. I put a lot of energy behind the meaning of that blog, but I took what I learned from that situation and went SOLO! Starting my own blog, with my own vision has been the most scary, yet freeing experience that I have felt thus far. My platform and my purpose resonates with women evolving and to be in a space where I can share my experiences without boundary and use utter transparency to get my point across has given me the most accomplishing feeling. By starting www.samaiyah.com, I have been forced to grow and evolve in so many different ways, especially when it comes to fear. Overcoming fear of doing a solo project is by far my greatest accomplishment in life because, in retrospect, I had to include people in everything I did because I was scared to fail alone. I embrace failure now because it has taught me lessons that I otherwise would have never learned. The obstacles that I went through simply with self to get to my own blog have shaped me into this superhero of a woman and all that I want to do is encourage more women to have the courage to follow their dreams by THEMSELVES!
Samaiyah: Unifying Women Through Transparency – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My lifestyle blog, Samaiyah: Unifying women Through Transparency, is all about connecting women through sharing real-life experiences. Last year, after I stopped blogging, I went through a really rough time in life and I started writing as therapy. My writings and my talks with self got me through something that I otherwise would have let take over my life. At that moment, I realized that what I needed most was not venting or crying to my mom or a friend that really didn’t care. I needed a quiet place to talk to self. Everything I needed to know, I knew. Instead of having so many different ears in my business and questioning their loyalty and intentions, I got through my situation by being real with myself and having those talks to pick and build me back up. I wanted to share this process with women, but I knew I had to do it in an appealing way, which is why I started a lifestyle blog. My creativeness has depth and the content that I create for my blog and my motivational Instagram page, @sentiments2self, are all working to unify women. I believe that once we have a population of women living their TRUTH and being real with themselves day in and day out, there’s no way that there will ever by a divide amongst women. I believe that my need and want for authenticity for SELF is what sets me apart, and I want that to be a characteristic that every woman wants for herself.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Maybe two weeks ago, I uploaded an IG TV video on “How I made my first 10K,” and the engagement and feedback that I received was unbelievable. The videos are coined “Transparency Post,” because they discuss a topic that I choose to be “real” about. “Transparency Posts” high light one of my life experiences and give direct encouragement and advice to viewers. Then, they are able to follow up with more in-depth information via www.samaiyah.com for the text version. This was my first piece of content that did major numbers and it is constantly increasing. I am proud of this content, because not only did women, but men engaged in a topic about financial literacy and it just doesn’t get any better than that. I approached a loaded and sensitive topic with great visuals to offset how serious the money conversations can be because money should be something always talked about. My goal with this piece of content was to make women comfortable with talking about MONEY, and more specifically, SAVING!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samaiyah.com
- Phone: 4046494081
- Email: hamptonsamaiyah@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sosamaiyah/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/sentiments2self/
Image Credit:
Preston Howard
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
