In the latest episode of presenter Jules Sebastian’s YouTube-series Tea With Jules, global jewellery designer Samantha Wills talks about being brave, finding the balance between kindness and business and how she was inspired by Taylor Swift to share her own deeply personal experience of sexual assault.
To start their interview, Jules introduces Samantha as one of the nicest people she’s ever met, saying she’s a selfless entrepreneur and role model who’s doing good things in the world through her Samantha Wills Foundation which supports young women in business.
Discussing the ethos behind her brand, Samantha says that being brave and having empathy is what makes a good business leader.
“Being brave means you’re the one willing to take that risk,” she tells Jules. “It doesn’t mean that everything’s going to work out great all the time, but you have to wear that. The best leaders take the biggest risks – and they also own their failures.”
Samantha also talks about her reasons for writing a powerful piece on her experience of sexual assault.
“When Taylor Swift came out with her counter sue against the Denver DJ … I just thought it was such a brave thing to do, to take a stand against something that’s been happening for so long,” she says.
“I didn’t feel empowered at the time to speak up, for whatever reason, and then a few weeks later I was put in a position where I chose to deal with it differently … we have this momentum as women where it’s changing conversations. There’s this shift around what is acceptable.”
Samantha also talks about her reasons for writing a powerful piece on her experience of sexual assault.
“When Taylor Swift came out with her counter sue against the Denver DJ … I just thought it was such a brave thing to do, to take a stand against something that’s been happening for so long,” she says.
“I didn’t feel empowered at the time to speak up, for whatever reason, and then a few weeks later I was put in a position where I chose to deal with it differently … we have this momentum as women where it’s changing conversations. There’s this shift around what is acceptable.”
Jules then asks Samantha about how she finds the balance between being kind in business and still closing the deal.
“It definitely comes with maturity,” Samantha says. “One of my very best girlfriends, her grandmother would always say to us “do no harm but take no shit’,” she laughs.
“Kindness and assertiveness can live in unison.”
Samantha says she launched the Samantha Wills Foundation as a way to offer guidance to women in business who may not have other support networks to turn to.
“One of the great things of the digital age is it allows us to humanise things and really connect on what everyone’s going through (but) not a lot of people talk about,” she says, before going to say that for her, feminism is about wanting equal rights.
“What is most powerful in this subject is, where possible, having calm conversations and asking why, like ‘why do you think that’ and trying to see it from the other person’s perspective,” she explains. “I truly believe everyone wants equal rights for men and women … it’s just about how that takes place.”
While talking about personal branding, Samantha jokes that she’s glad her mum didn’t let her change her name when she was younger.
“When I was little I had an obsession with Young Talent Time and the chipmunks and I was like ‘mum, can I please change my name to Whitney Britney Courtney Wills?’ And she was like ‘absolutely not!’
“Now my dad likes to joke ‘if we had’ve let you change your name it wouldn’t have fit on your packaging!’”
To watch the entire episode, head to the Jules Sebastian channel: https://www.youtube.com/julessebastianchannel