MEET SAMANTHA

Samantha Johns

business mentor

Hindsight is a beautiful thing… 

My journey, peppered with equal amounts of success and setbacks, wonderful highs and devastating lows, has helped me transform into the heart-led woman you see before you. 

I was always tenacious, head-strong and motivated by more. From an early age I discovered and relished the feeling you get when you come first, go further and be heard. To me back then, this was my superpower. 

Leadership came to me quickly; by 18 I was in a managerial role in a fast-paced retail environment, which saw me elevate up the corporate ladder. By 21 I was overseeing the flagship storefront, which meant I was in sales, human resources, customer service, performance management, team culture and engagement.  

At 23 I was looking after 100 retail staff across 9 stores, including managers, assistant store managers, part-timers and casuals; all who needed to hit their daily, monthly and yearly budgets, come to work happy - and remain satisfied. 

I was in control, and I lived for it. 

Diversity is huge to me. I started to develop ways to communicate to all employees individually; to embrace each cultural background, personality type, their behavioural patterns and everything that makes a person unique to the next. What makes them tick, what makes them uplevel, their likes and dislikes. 

I thrived on knowing everything, having a full calendar, developing and using rigid systems, strategy and structure. I operated solely out of my masculine. But it soon felt forceful and was leading me (repeatedly) to burnout. 

I left the office on a Friday afternoon, 8 months pregnant, and never came back to the girl I was. 

That afternoon it came to light that I had preeclampsia, and my 1st born came into the world 8 weeks early at just 1.5kg. 

This was my wake up call. Following my traumatic experience I began to suffer postnatal anxiety; I entered motherhood as someone who was so proud of what they had achieved, whose career was their entire identity. Beginning to take care of my baby, who’s life was entirely dependent on my own, meant I was forced to question everything.

When I eventually went back to the corporate world, I was different. I was softened by my experience, and began understanding feminine energy and how to master it. 

My leadership was more effective, I was more productive and efficient, I developed deeper relationships. I was promoted to consult at a national level communicating with other leaders, developing strategic and training direction across 400 retail stores. Again, I was successful, but I was fed up with how women were expected to lead. I didn’t identify with it anymore.

At eight months pregnant for the second time, I turned to my husband and said, "It's time", bravely and boldly leaping into the online space. Bringing a decade of high level business leadership and strategy to the table.

In the dance of motherhood and entrepreneurship, I’ve built my business in between nap times, I’ve accepted what I can and can’t control, and I’ve developed a feminine-lead, sustainable perseverance to serve my clients, always at my best.