Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
With her genuinely good heart and a wealth of experience behind her, Susannah works to connect local business and non-profit leaders to their neighbors. In a community like ours in which so many have invested their lives, there are fantastic stories all around us that motivate and inspire, often right next door. She hopes to share some of those here, on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Book an interview today at GNPAuburn.com
Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#58: Rediscovering Your True Self: Samantha Santiago on Confidence + Faith
What if your greatest struggles could serve as the foundation for helping others? Samantha Santiago, the inspiring founder of Confidence + Faith, joins us to share how her own challenges—ranging from parental divorce and alcohol addiction to battles with self-worth—fueled her passion for consulting. Samantha's services are as unique as her story, offering highly personalized guidance that tackles everything from spiritual confusion and relationship dilemmas to deep-seated habits like drinking. Her mission? To help you rediscover your true self and design a life brimming with authenticity and joy.
In our engaging discussion, Samantha reveals how her PhD in metaphysics equips her to create profound resources for healing and self-discovery. She breaks down the barriers of seeking help, emphasizing that vulnerability is actually a strength. Samantha’s compassionate, judgment-free approach allows clients to explore their fears and questions, leading to transformative personal growth. Tune in to discover how Samantha's blend of personal experience and professional expertise can elevate your spiritual journey and enhance your life path.
The Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susanna Hodges.
Speaker 2:Welcome and with me today is Samantha Santiago and she is with Confidence Faith, and Samantha is a consultant. Welcome, samantha. Thanks so much for being with me today.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about what you do and what kind of consulting you offer.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. Confidence Faith is a luxury and creative consulting business that helps people to overcome obstacles and to design a life that they love. Where it came from is actually my own story. I have been lost, stuck, feeling unloved and just depleted of my own personal light, and I decided that it was time to help other people with the information that I learned. So what I've done is I've created literature as well as host services to help people really explore those root issues of what has held them back and also create a road plan to allow them to propel further into a future in their authenticity.
Speaker 2:Well, what would be some of the reasons someone would give you a call and seek out your services?
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 3:So, for instance, if somebody may not be very strong in their faith and they'd like to know more but they might question kind of who to go to because they're scared of judgment.
Speaker 3:Or a new parent who has just kind of lost themselves in mother or fatherhood and they don't know where to go.
Speaker 3:Maybe someone who even has relationship issues and they're just wondering how am I going to be good enough, and my deep rooted ones would be maybe you have a drinking problem and you don't know how to stop because you haven't found the root issue. And that root issue might actually be found within a lesson or an event that stemmed in your childhood. So there's a lot of variations of where someone could come from and discovering that they actually should look for help, and each person is different, which is why my service is very customized per person. But if you feel ultimately as if you are just a little bit lost or confused on where you should go to get out of a pit or a rut or a mindset or a cycle, then that's where I would fall in and I would help to walk you through that process and to actually come out with a version of you that you're confident and you have faith in that's going to sustain and really elevate anybody's spiritual journey or life path on a totally different level.
Speaker 2:Well, tell me about your journey. How did you get into the services that you provide here? What led you to consulting?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. This whole business, like I said, is actually around my own life. So when I was I will say before the age of 22, I dealt with parental divorce and alcohol addiction, low self value. I had wounds from growing up in an area that may not have been the kindest to biracial people or and as well as leaving God, and so I went through each one of these things, not understanding how they built upon the last one. And ultimately, when I decided that I wanted to love properly and be loved in return, it kind of hit me with a brick wall that I had done a lot of things wrong so I had to reteach myself. The main one I remember is what love is and what it really is and how it actually functions in life. And from that point of healing I started to educate myself more. I went and got my PhD in metaphysics and then I have put it all into books and have really shaped and curated information and resources that can help other people understand where I came from and where they may be.
Speaker 2:Well, that sounds really awesome. Sounds like you've have developed something here that could really help people. Now you've been doing this for a little while. What kind of misconceptions or do people have about you know, seeking out a consultant like yourself?
Speaker 3:So a lot of people see it as a weakness or a point of vulnerability. A lot of people are worried that they're going to be judged, and even when it comes to religion, people get very uncomfortable with maybe either a thought pattern that they have or questions that they may have, and so I really want to give people the space to say, ok, let's hear the questions and then we can talk it out. I don't necessarily say there's a major misconception besides the fear of looking weak to actually ask for help, but I think once people start to gain the help, they realize that everything they probably thought is a weakness is most likely a strength that has brought them to where they are today.
Speaker 2:That's true, yes, and I think that does keep people from seeking help is exactly that they don't want to admit that they need help or think it's a weakness if they reach out to help. So, yeah, it's, it's beneficial to reach out for help when you need it. Let's talk about you for a minute. What do you do for fun? When you're not working on your business.
Speaker 3:I love going outside. I think it is the most relaxing thing. I want to walk, I want to ride a bicycle, I want to be on rollerblades, feeling the wind in my face and just really appreciating what it is to be, just authentic, like nature can't change itself. So I really like to be there. And I love reading books because it allows my mind to wander and explore and put together new information and just hanging out with people that I love. I feel like if you can get that rooted core of who you are nurtured, then it's much better when you're actually helping other people.
Speaker 2:I agree the benefits of going outside in nature are, and I wish I would make myself do it more. It's one of those things you have to make yourself. Do Go out for a walk, just go. Well, when you are, when you are thinking about your business. You mentioned that you had some personal things that kind of led you to being a consultant. What is one challenge that you had to overcome, either for your business or in your personal life, that made you a better person or maybe made your business stronger? One of the reasons that I do this podcast is to encourage others to. You know, think about going into business for yourself, and it always helps to hear from other business owners. So tell me a little bit about you. Know we all have to overcome hardships to get to where we are in our own businesses. So what are some of the things that you've had to overcome?
Speaker 3:some of the things that you've had to overcome.
Speaker 3:Some of the things that I've had to overcome are actually, I think, my root and my biggest one is coming closer to God and changing who I was from cursing a lot, from drinking a lot, going out a lot, to actually starting to realize like, okay, this isn't really what I'm looking for.
Speaker 3:I'm actually looking for acceptance and love and having to evolve into the person that can sustain without those things. Another thing I've overcome is just the process, accepting the process and the path that you're on, not because you have to, but because it's better off for you, because when you reject the things that are happening to you, you actually omit and forget and even just erase the blessings that are happening to you. And then the third thing I'd say that I had to overcome is just realizing that you're gonna fail and you're gonna fail a lot and it's gonna hurt, and and it not every rejection or every no you hear is a slam in the face. It could just be a redirection. And a lot of the times, what we think are no's are actually just redirections, and if you would just look up a little bit, we can change our perspective and see a different path that is waiting for us.
Speaker 2:I love that. It's not a no, it's a redirection. Absolutely Well, what's one thing you wish people knew about your business that they may not realize?
Speaker 3:The one thing I think people would not realize about my business, it is blending religion and metaphysics, and that is like very big to me because I think it gives a vast understanding. And so what that means is really taking God, the Trinity, and blending it with the spiritual realm of what things we don't see maybe a flower that blows when we pray, or a scent that reminds us of somebody, or you know, you hear somebody say something and it really sounds like an answer to your prayers and just becoming more aware of how God interacts on a day-to-day basis and how it transpires. And so in my business it's not going to just be like. This is what you hear in the Bible. I got my PhD in metaphysics. I've done my research for 10 years on the Bible and other aspects of spirituality, so you're going to get a huge blend together and I'm going to produce to you what I have found is true and work with you so that you can find your own truth within it as well.
Speaker 2:Well, how can people get in touch with you?
Speaker 3:absolutely so. My one go-to is wwwconfidencefaithcom, and then there will be my social medias towards the bottom of the page.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, thank you for joining me, samantha. It's been a pleasure learning more about you and your consulting business. Thank you for being on the show today thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3:I really, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburncom. That's gnpauburncom, or call 334-429-7404.