Meet Samantha
Mother, Wife, Award Winning Philanthropist, Entrepreneur, and Speaker. Brutally honest. Fast moving and supporter of all things SHE.
25 years of building things. Here's what I've learned.
I started teaching insurance at 17 because the instructor didn't show. Terrifying? Yes. But it launched something I didn't expect: a career built entirely on figuring things out in real time, and then helping others do the same.
What followed was 25 years of building — an insurance practice, a nonprofit, a consulting business, a podcast, two books, and a community of women who remind me every single day why this work matters. None of it came from a perfect plan. All of it came from refusing to quit when it got hard.
From agency owner to founder to consultant — and everything in between.
I started my insurance career in earnest at 23, co-founding an agency with my dad. I'll be honest — I cried at my desk a lot those first years. He reminded me there was no crying in insurance. He was right. That season taught me everything about client relationships, operational discipline, and what it actually takes to build a book of business from nothing.
By the time I had built, scaled, and transitioned out of that agency, I'd spent two decades in commercial P&C insurance — serving women-owned businesses, shaping industry education as a Curriculum Board Member for the California Department of Insurance, and educating thousands of California agents through LyteSpeed Learning.
In 2016, with two kids under five and what my friends described as an ambitious level of delusion, I founded the Sparkle Foundation. The idea was personal: my grandmother had carried more than anyone knew, with no support system and no safety net. I wanted to build the place she never had. Today, Sparkle serves thousands of single mothers and their children across California and Arizona, has raised and reinvested over $3.5 million into communities, and runs entirely on the power of volunteers. We later launched SparkleBiz — micro-loans and mentorship for women-owned small businesses — because the need kept growing.
Through all of it, I kept getting asked the same question: how did you build this? That question eventually became S. by Samantha, my consulting practice — where I help insurance agencies grow, nonprofit founders build real infrastructure, and women who are ready to be seen get the strategy and clarity to make it happen.
AS SEEN IN
WHO I AM
I'm a mother first. Everything else follows.
I have two daughters who remind me daily why legacy matters — and why you can't build one if you burn yourself out in the process. I'm also a connector by nature. I love bringing people together, making introductions, and watching what happens when the right women are in the same room.
I'm the host of InspiHER'd, a podcast about women doing extraordinary things in ordinary circumstances. I've authored two volumes of Impact, a book series amplifying women's stories. I show up at conferences, in boardrooms, and at community events with the same energy — because I genuinely believe that what I've learned is worth sharing, and that the women I'm talking to are capable of more than they're currently claiming.
What you can expect from me.
I work from experience, not theory.
Every framework I use, every piece of advice I give — it comes from having done the thing. Built the agency. Founded the nonprofit. Showed up on stage. Navigated the governance crisis. I won't consult on something I haven't lived.
I'm Direct and I'm In Your Corner.
I'll tell you what I actually think. I'll also cheer you on like your biggest fan. No sugarcoating, no empty validation — just honest support from someone who genuinely wants to see you win.
I believe in the power of the room.
Some of the biggest shifts I've seen in clients have come not from the strategy sessions, but from putting them in proximity to the right people. Community isn't a nice-to-have for me — it's part of the methodology.
I play the long game. Always.
I'm not interested in quick wins that don't hold. I want to help you build something that still makes sense in ten years — because that's the only kind of building worth doing.
EXPERIENCE
The short version
25+ years in commercial P&C insurance (License 0D22469) and agency operations. Licensed since 2001. Curriculum Board Member, California Department of Insurance. Educator since 1998.
Founder & Executive Director, Sparkle Foundation (2016–present). $3.5M+ raised and reinvested into communities. Multi-state reach. Founder of SparkleBiz. 5 years of independent consulting through S. by Samantha Inc.
Author, Impact: Stories of Change Makers, Creators and Everyday Women Doing Extraordinary Work (Volumes 1 & 2). Host, InspiHER'd Podcast. Co-host, Up2Speed Podcast.
Jefferson Award Winner (2023). North Bay Nonprofit Leadership Award (2019). Women of Vision Award (2023).