We recently connected with Scottlin Smith and have shared our conversation below.
Scottlin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
The name of my nonprofit is Love Travels Beyond, Inc. Oddly enough people automatically assume it’s a travel agency lol . As if simply spreading love is not so common. I thought of Love Travels simply by serving. I could see how contagious doing something for others could be. How the vibe in rooms change off of love. How people could be going through their darkest times but how serving others somehow made their day better. I could be going through the toughest time in my life but still choosing to serve and I could just feel the love and joy traveling all over my body. When I see people I’m serving light up I can see the love I have to give traveling through them. In summary I would say the name came from experience love travel through service events.
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?
My name is Scottlin Smith. I am the founder of Love Travels Beyond, Inc. We are a 501(C)3 nonprofit dedicated to spreading love through community service. We concentrate on youth development. Although our mission is wide spread and we help everyone from the elderly, to the homeless, to families in need. Our main goal is for the youth to come along with us as we serve. We seek to help build up the next generation of servant leaders. We hope to show them us being the change we wish to see in the world so they can do the same. We host the ultimate prom dress shopping experience free of charge! We have a red, carpet, a dj, scholarship giveaway and so much more. We host positive events in the community that bring everyone together through love. From our Charity Basketball Tournament to our Service Summer Camp to our Black Excellence Awards Show. We give the community something to be proud of and look forward to. I am a first generation college graduate and both of my parents are recovering addicts. But through all the struggles they showed me the importance of giving back and spreading love to those in need. I seek to show the generation under me the same. I seek to ensure they don’t face some of the struggles I did growing up. I want to show them they can do anything no matter where they come from. Aside of from my nonprofit work I am a Zumba instructor, business partner in Black Bartow Events, LLC and a project manager with my 9 to 5 day job . I seek to lead with love, passion and show people in general it doesn’t matter what age or anything you can do whatever. Trust God to lead the way and show you who you are suppose to be to this world. Follow his lead, put in the work and everything will work together for your good!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I pretty much had to unlearn most of the things that I learned in my childhood . The foundation was always love but there were many things as an adult I had say hey I know this is all you know but you got to unlearn to learn new healthy ways to deal with things. From saying mean and hurtful things, to financial literacy and budgeting habits, to setting boundaries and showing people how to treat me. Those things flow over into business, your personal life and so much more. I had to learn ways to deal with childhood trauma to properly show this love that I was so desperate to show my community. My nonprofit saved my life. I turned that bitterness, hate I had received from some, and that feeling of being misunderstood into a successful nonprofit that’s been around 5 years now! Once I dealt with me God handled the rest. The love and positivity spread like wild fire! I learned to lead my team with Love first. I can understand people that feel misunderstood because that was once me. I can understand young girls that come from a big family and may not feel their parents have the time. God allowed me to be where they are so I can be relatable! Sometimes we don’t understand why we go through certain things and he’s using the test to become our testimony! The things in life we think are breaking us are molding us into who he needs us to be for his purpose and plan! I put in the work, I show God wherever you lead me I will follow and I watch him do the rest. Learn to let go of who you were and embrace the amazing person you are today!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my own on social media by being real, transparent and relatable. I don’t just share the good I show the journey I had to take to get where I am today! I show me serving on the good days, bad days and the ugly. I’m not into painting a pretty picture. People are more inspired by those who have been in situations they are and made it out! Being real, be you and don’t feed into the social media hype of pretending or being perfect!
Contact Info:
- Website: Lovetravelsinc.org
- Instagram: LoveTravelsBartow
- Facebook: LoveTravels101
- Linkedin: Scottlin Smith
- Twitter: LoveTravelsUWG
Image Credits
One shot John in my personal photo