SDH 012: Just Do You with Samantha Thomas
This week She Did It Her Way is interviewing Samantha Thomas, founder and host of SmallTALK Web Series, an online series focusing on the best People and Plates that Chicago has to offer. Samantha visits the quality restaurants and neighborhoods within Chicago while interviewing the city’s key lifestyle experts and influencers. Samantha is an Emmy Award winning producer and newly found entrepreneur with a passion for restaurants, food, and people.
“I’m excited about just being able to wake up and go hard at what I love.”
Samantha shares her experience from being a successful news producer with a deep desire to get in front of the camera to becoming an entrepreneur and doing just that. She encountered a setback which she was able to leverage to make her dreams of having her own talk show come true. Given her belief in herself, amazing personality, natural talents, and skills developed through her career, Samantha has become an influencer much like the ones she has been interviewing in her web series.
“Just doin me.”
Excited about: Not being confined and restricted and just being open and able to rock n’ roll to make things happen.
SmallTALK Web Series somewhat developed from when Samantha went to a casting call held by Oprah. In the interview, Samantha shares the story and explains how she.. Lives a ‘Why Not’ philosophy.
Samantha continued to work in news industry and found herself facing the opportunity to travel around eating food and writing reviews; however, this didn’t work out. She was let go and at a crossroad in life.
She asked herself: “What do I love?”
“I knew I had a talent in producing, but I just wasn’t fulfilled.”
She wrote down two things: she likes people and she likes to eat. – “People like to go out to eat and people like to talk about themselves, especially people who have something to talk about”
“The worst thing people can say is ‘no’ and the worst thing you can do is hate yourself several years later for not doing what you love.”
On working a job: You really don’t have time for a ‘you’. You’re kind of subjected to what they want you to do.
“Being let go from something made me miss it, but it also made me really focus on what my true gifts are.”
You are responsible for you. | Once you accept your flaws and own your truths, no one can use it against you. | Have faith and knowing that it can and it will get better. | There’s always a chance for a rebound.
“I knew I wasn’t going to ever be happy until I did what I really wanted to do.”
Never feel like just because you’re in a slump that it’s just over. Get yourself up, go with what you know, do what you’re good at, and make it work for you.
The Journey: Paying for quality, starting over in Chicago, sitting down with some great people now, strive for perfection and tries to be humble because you can get knocked down publically and it’s happened before
Overcoming challenges: Not too long ago she just wanted to give up on the show. She felt it needed to be further than it was and financially stronger. She was beating herself up about it. She had to have another ‘get back on your feet’ moment.
“It’s not about you it’s about you helping somebody else.”
You get confirmations that let you know you’re on the right track.
Things she’s still learning today: Maximize every hour to your best potential. Structure yourself to make sure you make every hour count. Try to do something different with your brand every day.
Book Recommendation: The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren
Other reads: Essence Magazine, Hearing from God Each Morning (daily word)
Advice: Always believe in you… even when you feel like no one is supporting you, or you can’t do it, or you don’t have the resources to do it. If you’re waking up every day, it’s the reason you’re still here to go through and make what you really want to do in your heart, happen.
“Know that you have it and that you can do it your way – Just believe in you.”
Connect with Samantha: SmallTalk4U.com, Instagram (@SmallTalk4U or @mssamantha922) and, Twitter (@SmallTalk4U)
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