We recently connected with Samantha Buck and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I grew up knowing I was more sensitive than other people, but for most of my life, I tried to push it down. As the only girl of eight grandchildren, with a grandfather who was loving but believed in very traditional gender roles, I found myself believing that sensitivity was “weak”. So for years, I was determined to prove to the world that I wasn’t sensitive, and that being a woman wouldn’t stop me from doing what I wanted. I resisted many things that are considered feminine and chose jobs that were physically challenging and male-dominated. Strength, courage, being bold, living life to the fullest and showing people I could do whatever I set my mind to – those were the things that were on my mind.
I had almost a dozen jobs over the course of a decade, in very different fields, and lived in five states. And for years, I enjoyed the adventures I had, but deep down always felt like I had something to prove, while also feeling like I didn’t fully belong. Because the whole time, I was still sensitive and felt everything deeply, but each time I would let my emotions out, I would be so hard on myself and tell myself I needed to “toughen up” and stop letting things affect me. And it was exhausting.
So it wasn’t until I moved to Hawaii in 2018 that I started to let go of the resentment I’d been holding on to, and started to tap into a side of myself that I’d shoved down and been ashamed of for so long. It was the feminine, nurturing, empathic side.
That’s the year I first learned the terms ‘empath’ and ‘highly sensitive person’, and finally began to understand myself better. I started writing again for the first time since college, and started my blog. I found myself sharing story after story with strangers on the internet, and my desire to empower women grew. I knew then that I wanted to make a big impact.
Because, I desperately wanted more women out there to understand that they were enough, that they were strong, and that they were both capable and deserving of love, happiness, and success. I was finally learning how to be fully myself, to love myself, to accept myself, and to live an empowered life – and I wanted to help other women do it too.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I ended up moving last-minute back to California, where I continued writing and tried to keep it together while the world seemed to crumble around me. That was a tough year, but it was during that time that I dove even further into my self-development.
Then I learned about life coaching, and everything just clicked. I started my business in the garage of our tiny 1-bedroom cottage and went through an intensive 8-month ICF coach certification program that taught me how to coach at the level where I knew I could help change people’s lives for the better. I started as a general women’s empowerment coach, but have since homed in on the niche I’m most passionate about: empaths and HSPs.
I feel so passionate about empowering women to go after what they really want and deserve, and even more specifically, empathic and highly sensitive women. Because so often in our society, being sensitive is still viewed as weakness, when in reality, being empathic and/or highly sensitive is a beautiful thing and doesn’t mean you’re not just as capable of living a successful, fulfilling life.
I know what it’s like to feel “too sensitive” for this world, to feel not good enough, to doubt yourself, to overthink everything, to feel constantly overwhelmed and drained. But I also know now that I don’t have to feel that way. I have so many tools now that I use pretty much every day to protect my energy, manage my mindset, and show up as the person I want to be.
And now, I use a combination of my ICF training, my experience, my intuition, and different holistic resources to help other empathic and highly sensitive women connect with their own inner warrior, embrace who they are, and learn to thrive on their own terms.
And I love it.
Samantha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi, I’m Sam – life coach, writer, empath, nature lover, and dog mom. I’m a professionally certified life and empowerment coach, educated through the International Coaching Federation. My coaching philosophy is that even when it doesn’t feel like it, you already have the answers you need inside you, and we all have an inner warrior who knows what we need to feel balanced and fulfilled in life. I’m both an empath and HSP (Highly Sensitive Person), and it’s my mission to empower other women empaths and highly sensitive people to conquer their lives and learn to really thrive.
I grew up as the only girl out of eight cousins, and rebelled against traditional gender roles for many years, so I didn’t really allow myself to embrace my sensitive, feminine, intuitive side until much later in my life. That’s when I learned the terms ‘empath’ and ‘highly sensitive person’ and started to understand myself so much better. I know first-hand what it’s like to struggle with people-pleasing, self-doubt, overwhelm, and feeling like you don’t have control over your own energy or that you’re “too sensitive” for this world.
Even before I found out about life coaching, I was passionate about women empowerment based on my own personal experience. And, I had loved writing since I was little, so in 2018 I started my first blog, She the Warrior. That’s when my passion for helping other women started to grow. I learned about coaching in 2021, and things started to fall into place. I knew I wanted to help people on an individual basis and eventually on a larger scale, so it felt very natural to become an empowerment coach.
Now, I work with women one-on-one to end overwhelm, stop doubting themselves, and feel empowered to conquer their lives. Because my coaching philosophy is that you have your own answers within you, I act as a guide, a safe space, and an accountability partner all wrapped into one. I find this so much more powerful than just telling someone exactly what to do. My coaching involves asking deep questions, holding space, pointing out patterns they might not be seeing in their life, and providing perspectives and resources as they come up.
Personal empowerment to me is a combination of mindset, energy, and action – and that’s what we focus on. I lovingly challenge my clients to dig deep, and work with them to find new ways of thinking. Together we work to find solutions, and co-create plans to take action in their life.
Because I’m trained through the ICF, my clients can bring me any topic or issue that’s on their mind and I can coach them around it. But, some common topics my clients bring to me include overwhelm, people-pleasing, self-doubt, lack of direction, feeling “too sensitive”, comparison, overthinking, and boundaries. I’ve coached clients on their careers, relationships, and personal life – because when it comes to your mindset and energy, I believe it’s all connected. And often how you show up in one area of your life affects all the other areas, too.
I’m proud to be there for my clients and help them transform their lives – whether it’s personally or professionally or both. Through working with me, I’ve had women leave toxic work environments, set powerful boundaries, grow businesses, leave toxic relationships, learn to advocate for themselves, learn to love themselves, and travel the world. It absolutely lights me up to see my clients achieving their goals and feeling strong and empowered.
What sets me apart is my training, my experience, my passion, my commitment to my clients and their goals, and my approach to each person as a whole; body, mind, and spirit. Because like I said, it’s all connected! I’m deeply committed to each of my clients and their growth and transformation. I show up to each session with curiosity and compassion, and without judgment.
It’s my goal to help each person who works with me feel inspired and empowered from the inside out. And with every client, I’m committed to helping them walk away with a stronger sense of self-trust, deep mindset shifts, and strategies and tools that will help them conquer whatever comes their way.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I started my business when my partner and I were living in a tiny 1-bedroom cottage. It was such a cute place but was so small that there was literally nowhere for me to put a desk inside. Thankfully there was a little plywood platform in the garage, that I ended up being able to use as my office space. Looking back now it makes me laugh, but I remember it being such a challenge when I first started. It got so cold in there, especially in the evenings, so I used a little space heater and sometimes even wore fingerless gloves because my hands got so cold, and I still needed to type notes during my sessions. I just remember being so frustrated, so often, because I could hear everything going on outside our garage, (cars, people talking, lawn mower, dogs, etc.) and it was filled with stuff and smelled like smoke from the barbecue that we also kept in there.
I tried having coaching sessions from the kitchen table sometimes when my partner was at work, but my dog would bark and you could still hear everything outside, too. (We also lived near an airport, so there were planes going overhead all the time).
I was so concerned with being able to present myself in a professional manner, but kept wondering how I was supposed to do that when I was in a tiny plywood office with thin walls where people could hear cars and planes going by. My background for the longest time was a sheet hung up behind me, which makes me laugh now.
I remember hearing that something like 90% of life coaches give up on their business in the first year. And I knew I didn’t want to be one of them, but then I would have thoughts like:
“How am I supposed to show up professionally when it smells like barbecue in here and it’s so cold that my fingers are numb?”
“How can I hold space for someone when we can both hear a lawn mower outside?”
“What if it’s just not meant to be right now, and maybe I should put my business on hold until I’m in a better spot?”
Then one time I was in the middle of a session with my client, and there was actually an earthquake in our area! The wooden platform that was my office literally started shaking, and I was shocked. I mean, what are the chances? It only lasted a few seconds, but I remember thinking, “are you kidding me?!” It was a crazy experience, because my client could literally see the computer screen shaking on my end.
But after that, it was like a switch flipped in me. I realized that there were ALWAYS going to be external circumstances that might get in the way, and things I couldn’t control. And, that I had a choice: let those things keep getting me down, or find a way to work through them, help people, and build my business.
My drive to help people and continue with my business won, and after that I started getting really creative with my space and how I showed up. I got some better headphones that cut down background noise for my clients. I painted my space, put a rug on the plywood, got some scented candles, and made a huge effort to make it feel like my own nice (small) office. I started trusting that people would understand if a dog barked somewhere in the background (which they did). And I started trusting that I could and would be able to help my clients, regardless of what was happening around me.
Since then, we’ve moved and I now have more space, but I’m really proud that I was able to make it work from the beginning and didn’t give up. I still remember that earthquake and what a crazy experience it was, and how it served as a reminder for me to start relying on myself and not my circumstances.
Because really, my focus is on the people I want to serve, not when I’m serving them or where I’m serving them from. I control how I show up, and that’s what really matters.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes! I have always loved reading, and many books on personal development and business have affected me. But there are definitely a few that have stood out.
Existential Kink, by Carolyn Elliott
I’ll be honest, this book was a little difficult for me to get through at the beginning because I felt so called-out! But it was so worth it. It was recommended to me by a friend, and I actually read it as part of a book club, so we were able to discuss it and go through it together. It’s all about shadow work and delving into the unconscious parts of you that may be affecting your life.
I think starting a business involves a TON of personal growth, not just professional, and can bring up a lot of fears and insecurities you maybe didn’t know you had. My first year was really challenging and made me question some things about myself and my commitment. I had done some shadow work before, but reading this book was the first time I was actually open to uncovering some of the deeper things that I didn’t want to acknowledge in myself before.
But it was SO impactful for me, because I realized there were actually quite a few negative patterns that were showing up in my life. Until I read this book and went through the exercises in it, which forced me to be very honest with myself and what I wanted, I wasn’t aware of just how much I was holding myself back and even self-sabotaging. I don’t think the past version of me would have been able to admit that. But I’m so glad I was willing to go there, because now that I’ve worked through those feelings and patterns, I’m able to move forward in both my personal and professional life in the way that I want to, with much more awareness.
Year of Yes, by Shonda Rhimes
This was such a good story! It’s the story of how Shonda Rhimes made the decision to just start saying yes to new experiences for a year, and then changed her whole life. It was fun to read and I found it really inspiring, because it’s a testament that when you make a decision to be bold and stick to it, amazing things can happen. You can surprise yourself. You can exceed your own expectations.
This book inspired me to be bold and start saying yes more (though I didn’t commit to saying yes to everything for a year like she did), and even though it’s scary sometimes, it’s also exciting. This is another one that affected me both as a person and a business owner. Because, I want to have a fun, exciting, and fulfilling personal life, and I also want to have a successful, thriving business. And I think both involve getting out of your comfort zone and being open to new possibilities and opportunities.
Maybe It’s You, by Lauren Handel Zander
This was another one recommended to me, and I’m so glad I read it because it encouraged me to really look hard at my life. It’s written by a well-known life coach and it was very interesting to see her approach. There were a lot of different exercises in there and ways to approach and execute your goals, but the main message I took away from it was the importance of taking personal responsibility.
I think many of us go through life sometimes feeling like a victim to our circumstances (and don’t get me wrong, some circumstances are incredibly tough), but in reality we often have more choice than we think. We can be upset about something and continue to let it fester, or we can choose to interrupt that pattern and make a change. She talks a lot about honesty and holding yourself accountable, both of which I think are important to making positive changes in your life.
This book also made me examine many different areas of my life – not just the ones I thought I needed to work on the most. It was really eye-opening to do that, because when you’re going after a goal (like starting a business) I think it can be easy to become laser-focused on that one area and not notice other areas of your life that are also being affected.
So that was really impactful for me and helped me take responsibility for my own thoughts, actions, and results in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shethewarrior.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/she_the_warrior/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.buck.773
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-b-1764431b2/
Image Credits
All photos by author (Samantha Buck)