Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Haynes.
Samantha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
SamanthaSpeaks exist because I was/am, I’m never really sure how to say that, a teen mom. From the moment my water broke at 25 weeks gestation and I had to lay in the hospital bed day in and out, I was told how my life would be difficult and I wasn’t going to do much with it. Family, friends, teachers, church members, doctors, nurses, you name it all told me, in some way, shape form or fashion, they told me that I would fail or be static.
Being a 14-year-old mother, still trying to figure out who I was and caring for a premature child, so I believed every word those people told me. Naïve to what was really happening in my life I thought I was proving all those people wrong because I was making it though school. But low and behold I was all that they said I would be. In my junior year in high school, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. The creation of another life brought clarification and a full understanding of what had been spoken upon my life. I now understand that I have to do and be better.
In finding my own way I realized that was a lack of resources in my community. I wished someone would have taught me more about everyday living. I wanted people to care and want more for me. I want guidance.
Now I am in a place where I can say thank you to those same negative people. Those people’s negativity and more importantly the well being of my children pushed and drove me to be the great person that I am today. I finished at the top of my class. I received my associates while working parenting my children. But more needed to be done and a busy mama with low funds I didn’t know what else to do.
In 2015 I decided to found a non-profit providing all the things I ever wanted and needed, called Twoand10. Twoand10 ran successfully for four years graduating 15 students out of the program. While Twoand10 speaks to the teens of Southern Dallas I felt the need to do more. In 2019 I created more with SamanthaSpeaks. Now I am what I needed to everyone with no boundaries. SamanthaSpeaks tells my story while encouraging and motivating others on a daily basis. I’m am beyond ecstatic to see what the future has in store for me as I spread my wings to fly.
Has it been a smooth road?
Telling my story to complete strangers to make them feel better about their life, easy? Ha! Far from it. I put off even starting SamanthaSpeaks because we live in a critical world. Having a critical world, free speech, and access to everyone’s thoughts and opinions make this job terrifying. I live my life in the approval of God, but I still want to do well in this industry and the people are the deciding factor of how far I go. I’m not an “instastar” so getting bookings or a simple following has been more than tough. I’m starting from the bottom and simply climbing my way up.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
SamanthaSpeaks blossoms from the success of my teen organization Twoand10. I am in the empowerment business. My motto is “Don’t be like Sam, be better than Sam.” I believe that we were all created to be great. It is my job to pull out of you what God has already given you while instilling the confidence to execute! Nothing that I do benefits me. Every that I come from me is to better the world. All the while, I’m simply Samantha as raw as I come.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
My city, My city. I really love my city. The diversity, the magnitude, and the opportunity for growth are all the things I love, yet dislike about my city.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 2149980679
- Email: Samantha.speaksnow@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/samantha.speaks_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.speaksout/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnDO2OGhnWF-2PX8S-0AbA
Image Credit:
Dillard Gibson
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