We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Slowly. I always had a plan when I was a teenager, even early twenties. I knew exactly how I wanted my life to go. But my “plan” had no depth, and did not account for life changing events. Becoming a mom made rethink my whole plan. I was in law school and what I thought I’d do after graduation was no longer what I wanted. It was the first time in my life that I really considered if I wanted to do something, analyzed how different options served me and my mental health. And so, in taking on anything that sounded interesting to me: jobs, events, networking, hobbies, and rejecting anything that was not a good fit, my life slowly started to show what my purpose would be. Once I experienced being lit up inside with excitement and passion, I knew that was the purpose to follow. I am in my thirties and not only do I have a better sense of my purpose from the trial and errors of past decisions, I am also very comfortable with the flexibility of my life’s path. My purpose and how I reflect my purpose to society or how I experience it, is not set in stone.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
In February of 2022, I founded a nonprofit organization called The FEMISH Organization. The idea was born after reflecting on some feedback I received at my first law firm job: dress less feminine in order to be taken more seriously. This was 2018. I started researching this idea that femininity equates to less serious, less competent, and found the word “femmephobia”: the systemic regulation and devaluation of femininity, which places limits on who can be feminine and how (Dr. Rhea Ashley Hoskin). Over 30 years of research exist on this topic and I’d never heard the word before. This issue is tightly woven in our society, so normalized. It’s integrated into misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and gender-based violence. It’s experienced differently based on our identities and so we address it in an intersectional way. FEMISH educates and empowers with the goal of creating awareness to encourage self-reflection and create sustainable change. We as a society cannot address gender inequality without addressing this. It’s a passion that runs through my day-job as well. As a lawyer, I show up as myself, which is not the formal lawyer that your parents hired. I practice Estate Planning and Business Law, always aiming to not only give my Clients a simple legal experience but also educating them. I teach business owners classes on business law to help them be confident running their business. It’s so much fun helping people achieve their dreams, and on the estate planning side, ensure that parents feel like their children will be taken care of in a worst-case-scenario. Both help me ease my Clients anxiety, I want them to leave my office less worried than when they came in.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Reach out. The first person I reached out to when thinking about starting FEMISH was Dr. Rhea Ashley Hoskin. She is the leading expert of femme theory, a feminist sociologist in Canada, and defined “femmephobia”. She agreed to talk with me and she has been beyond helpful, and is on the board of FEMISH. Reaching out has helped me in many situations. Sometimes just asking someone for support will surprise you in that you’ll actually get it!
2. Give it a try. I was so nervous before I started FEMISH. What if no one cares? But if you try and fail, you learn and you try again or move on. FEMISH has not raised millions of dollars (yet 🙂 ) but we had an intern switch her major to Gender Studies after working with us. We’ve held events where such important conversations were held. We’ve spoken to Fortune 500 companies about how the issue of femmephobia presents in the workplace. Research, plan, then TRY!
3. Find Stepping Stones. Don’t get hung up on finding THE job, or THE opportunity. Sometimes we need a stepping stone or launching off pad to get us closer. While I encourage staying away from anything toxic or things that just don’t fit you, if something can fit temporarily and you can use it beneficially to get to your end game, consider it.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Life is just more fun with collaborations.
For FEMISH: We love creating collaboration IG posts and highlighting how two issues are related. We have relationships with schools for interns and always welcome more. 2023 was a big speaking year for us and we’d love for that to continue since we’ve seen how impactful this topic can be in a speaker format. Of course, we run on donations, so any fundraising collaborations would be so helpful in aiding us to creating all the change making things we have in mind, including continuing our own research!
As an attorney: I love educating. Collaborations with others that have experience/knowledge that compliment my knowledge and can be brought to consumers would be fun and empowering.
And I am always open to new ideas for collaborating!
I can be reached at [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: www.femish.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femmeesq
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-martin-3665b065/
Image Credits
Take Care Photos @takecarephotos MUA @suz_sabat_mua
