Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Smith
Hi Samantha , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up, I was a rodeo Queen for twelve years. However, rodeo queening can be ann expensive hobby and my family couldn’t afford to buy my sister and I new outfits for us to compete in. So my mother, sister, and I used to take old western shirts that we found at the DI, and bedazzle them to work for rodeo queening. My very first rodeo queen outfit was a pair of vintage coral wranglers we found at the thrift shop and a button down shirt that just happened to match exactly. Slowly I began altering and changing the pieces more and more to make them unique for my sister and I. I didn’t began sewing my own designs and rodeo Queen clothing until the fall of 2018 as a hobby to work on after the birth of my first daughter. I bought a sixty dollar sewing machine on Black Friday from Walmart, a pattern, fabric, and taught myself to sew through watching YouTube videos. Since then I have been able to grown my little hobby into a business that allows me to be home with my kids, but also gives me an extremely needed artistic outlet. My business has evolved into other facets such as leather working, and other embroidery work as well.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think running a business always has hurdles and trials that you don’t see coming. Sometimes it could be mentally exhausting and artistically draining to try and be creative 24/7. However, the benefits of seeing my visions come to life is always worth it in the end. Being a stay at home/work from home mom can also be extremely difficult. It is often hard to find time to complete the things I need to and feel like I have time to do the things I need. But that is what drew me to this job and this business is that I could find ways to balance, my work and personal life. But I cannot tell you how many nights I’ve had to stay up till one or two in the morning in order to find time to get work done after my kids have gone to bed.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a rodeo queen, designer, and leather worker. I tell people often that I make high-end, couture Style western clothing. I also make a variety of quality, leather items, such as rodeo chaps, belts, purses, etc. I paint and rhinestone boots, Embroider shirts, sew leather dresses, and much more. My business philosophy has always been to try and be affordable for other young women who maybe can’t afford the extremely well established designers in the rodeo queen world, and I’m proud to say that I feel like I’ve been able to do that. I know I could charge more for many of my items, but I believe that sometimes seeing people be able to have something custom-made, when maybe they couldn’t afford otherwise is always worth it!
How do you define success?
I defined success by how happy I am. I know there are many days where I could be much busier than I am, and there are days that I am much busier than I want to be. But I believe that when I have a really good work life balance and I am able to, be the kind of mom I want to be, and run my business at a level that I don’t feel overly stressed out, or artistically drained that I am being successful. I think being successful for me has always been about finding a good balance between having an artistic outlet and being a present mother.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.doubleswestern.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doubleswestern/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/DoubleSRodeoQueen/
