highly sensitive power

Founder and President of Echo Memoirs

After Sam felt the loss of not having recorded her grandmother’s life story, she became curious about the life stories of the people around her. In 2001, her fascination became a business. Since then, the capable Echo Memoirs team has ushered more than 200 stunningly beautiful hard-cover memoirs through the process of creation for their clients. They have a cry rate of 100% upon delivery of their books.

In 2005, Samantha was named one of the Top 40 under 40, an award given out by Business in Vancouver magazine to British Columbia’s top business achievers under the age of 40.

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In what way are you most successfully sensitive?

I have always felt like a conduit for people’s energy. If the energy around me is positive, I am boosted by it; if it is negative, I am weighed down by it. Since I have the good fortune as a business owner of being able to select the people that I want around me at work, I have made a conscious effort to pick positive people. The result for me is that when I come to work, I am inspired and motivated by my colleagues. And my business is impacted in a very real way — our clients love working with our team so they refer new clients. I have never paid for a lick of advertising and my business doubled its revenues five years in a row. In my personal life, the formula is easy: attract positive people, add me, blend thoroughly, enjoy.

What or who has inspired you to embrace your sensitivity?

Perhaps it’s having been an only child, but my pattern has always been to remove myself from situations in order to reflect upon them. Simply put, I need to be alone to really think. Or more specifically, I need to be away from familiar places and people. In my early twenties, I travelled a lot: Europe, India, Central America. I drove 45 minutes to Chilliwack once and camped in an RV park for the weekend in the back of my mom’s Toyota hatchback – all to get some much-needed perspective. This string of solo wandering fortified me with the strength to let old, unhealthy relationships fade away and recruit juicy, positive people into my life. Somehow, being away from it all clarified what and who in my life was sinking me and what and who I needed around me to let me float.

What are your eternal fascinations?

What it means to be truly hungry for honesty, in myself and others. Living life between the highlights. The enormous capacity for miscommunication. Where creativity comes from.

What quest currently captivates you?

I read recently about a writer who was asked if he meditates. He answered: “I have a profound relationship with meditation; I think about doing it all the time.” I can relate to this. I am captivated by the adventure of going inward and yet I find myself deftly avoiding it at every turn. I just turned 34 and am determined this year to dig down there and dance, once and for all.

What is your favourite kind of help to give?

The spontaneous kind that activates my brain to think big.

Photo from the Echo Memoirs website.

Related reading: Interview | Paulina Bustamante, Sensitivity, Curiosity, and Leadership