I had heard this book was fantastic, that Samantha captures the heart of what it is to be a female founder, and was told it was a ‘must read’ if you are a creative and/or an entrepreneur (which I am both, so this was of course top of my TBR list). But I was blown away by how much Samantha’s story resonated with me on so many additional levels.
She sums it up herself so perfectly in the final chapter of her book when she states that the contract she signed was meant to be for a business memoir about the successful brand she built from her kitchen table and why she chose to walk away, but she soon realised that she had a lot more to say. She did not want to write ‘just the highlights reel about the business hurdles… but (both) the business journey and the personal journey’ because as a creative founder (and both the name and face of the brand) she came to realise that there is interest in both the public brand and her private life, and in giving life to her story that neither worked in isolation - that the highs and lows were all intrinsically linked to the success and happiness of the other.
The brand she built (Samantha Wills Jewellery) - although she credits so many others, she really was the visionary as well as the hands on design lead across everything - was incredibly impressive. Yet, it was all the stories in between that I found the most interesting, when she wove in her own personal emotions and actions. Her raw and honest accounts of (multiple) bouts of heartache, her constant struggle with imposter syndrome, relocating to New York on her own to hustle her heart out by day then only to spend every other week back in the air to do it all over again in Sydney resulting in years of suppressed burnout and personal health issues, and her rock bottom business moment where she had to find the strength to be brave enough to acknowledge her own mistakes, take on board the feedback, listen to her customers, and leave her ego at the door. Her strength, resilience and character across it all speak volumes.
Samantha is a beautiful story teller. She speaks with an authentic type of passion that is quite rare, she isn’t brash or full of any big statement name dropping ego, she is humble, wise and considered in her words and actions. It’s evident she not just led her incredibly successful business from the heart, but that in its final days she also led the closure of Samantha Wills Jewellery with only empathy, courage and conviction, as she made sure her team were all cared for and ready for their next chapters as she in conjunction took the leap to embark on hers.
A truly inspiring woman. One I’ve enjoyed following along for sometime but had forgotten about after she stepped away from her spotlight, and are now firmly back in her camp and cheering for her from the sidelines as she builds her platform to empower other women to follow their creative passions.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!