We recently connected with Samantha Sills and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was out at a small music festival that I had helped to plan and as the weekend was going on I realized there was not a single female on the lineup. Everyone besides myself in charge was also a man. The balance was off, and the feminine energy was very much lacking. It actually made me a little emotional thinking about the world of music I love so much, and the lack of women being represented. I thought that weekend in March of 2021, I need to do something about this. The idea that became “Goddess Awakening” was born because of it. It wouldn’t be until a year later that this idea came to life. A safe space that empowers women, where everyone is welcome was the goal. When the planning for the festival began is when I realized how important this would be to me and so many other women in the industry. There were way more women that the usual Electronic Dance Music festival than I had ever seen. The women artists were on the main stage all weekend long and each one told me how special they felt and empowering it was to see the other women being showcased all weekend long. We had a few workshops where we connected to each other, and people just started walking up to join us. It felt so inclusive, safe, and peaceful. It finally felt like I found a community that understood why we do what we do with music. That weekend a beautiful community was born and continues to grow in ways I didn’t expect it to.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 2010 I went to college at The University of Oklahoma. I had always enjoyed music but it wasnt until college that I started going to raves and got into electronic music in a big way. Thats also when I started promoting for shows to earn free tickets which at the time I just wanted to go to dance and meet new people. When I graduated college I was working my way up in leadership at Best Buy and decided to stay with the company. I went to my first music festival in 2012 – Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN. Thats when I started to find myself and what I am meant to do for the world. The energy and community within the festival and the people I met becuase of it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I have always been a planner, for myself, trips with friends, birthdays, really anything I could help to create a great experience. In 2021 I helped to plan my first music festival in Arkansas and then later that year when I was supposed to go to Bonnaroo in September of 2021, the festival was cancelled the night before 80,000 people were expected to setup camp for the weekend. Thats when my friends and I decided we still wanted to hangout and camp somewhere together. Overnight we had formulated a plan to host about 2000 people and through a renegade festival called Roo Refugees where we had camping all weekend long, two stages, live music, food and art vendors, and a safe haven for so many people for the weekend. That was the weekend I knew I can do anything I set my mind to. An LLC was purchased and the planning of Goddess Awakening was in full motion. In March of 2022, Goddess Awakening Music and Arts festival was born and now we are continuing to grow and evolve into what we will be as a company. I quit my job with best buy two years ago and started following my dreams and vowed only to take jobs that serve my end goal of owning land for an event space, self sustaining community, and an animal santuary. This year I worked and attended 14 music festivals and traveled all around the country to learn every aspect of music festivals I could. We are now planning year two of the festival which will be help in Arkansas, May 11-14th, 2023. Additionally we are focused on creating a brand that will give platforms to women, BIPOC, and the LGBTQ+ community in the music industry, and creating a safe space, harm reduction, workshops, and growing a community of harmony for everyone to feel included and welcome while having fun at other events.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met Brian Behrens one year when we were all getting ready to go to Bonnaroo. We typically go with about 100 friends and every year we add new friends and grow our little festival family community. For several years many of us had talked about how we need to start our own brand and do things the right way ourselves. Brian and I had become closer throughout the years and after our group hosted Roo Refugees in 2021, we knew we had to make this official. Thats when the LLC for our company was created, days after we got home from the festival. Brian got on and figured out how to do it and applied and made it all become a reality. All year long I had been talking to some of our friends in the group about the feminine energy festival I wanted to create. After the festival in September, I knew it was time to roll with it. Brian was the first one to have my back and start making moves to make it all happen. I knew balance would be important for any business venture and Brian became my right-hand man through planning all of the parts that became Goddess Awakening. There is no way I could’ve done the festival the right way without his support, hard work, and belief in my dream.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This was by far the most difficult and stressful part of the whole planning process for the festival. I was working as much as I could to have the money for the festival along with ticket sales. But I knew it wouldn’t be enough getting closer to the event. We searched for sponsors but for a festival that was a year one event in a small town in Arkansas this was tough too. I eventually started asking friends to be investors and thankfully we came up with the money we needed to host the event successfully. If it wouldn’t have been for these amazing friends, I couldn’t have made it all happen the way we did. Thank you to Brian, Grant and Arista, Cameron, Danny, Ashley, and everyone else who put in their time and money to make this dream come true.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @goddessawakeningmusicfestival
• Facebook: Goddess Awakening
• Other: email – [email protected]

Image Credits
Jerry Garcia @penguin_death_squad