Meet Samantha Monique Coelho of You Are Enough in South Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Monique Coelho.

Samantha Monique, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My anxiety was paralyzing. My world felt like it was crashing beneath me. I felt completely out of control of my life. But I was technically successful, always smiling, and optimistic. I had it all together, it seemed. I was traveling the world, I had a bomb career, and had just gotten accepted into one of the top universities in the country. But inside, I was empty and lost, it was dark and felt like nothing. Surprisingly, a few women reached out to me and said I inspired them with my openness on social media and using my voice to raise awareness for all things mental health, anxiety, personal development, and personal growth. I quickly realized I was not the only woman in the world feeling the constant pressure to be perfect. That was when I embarked on the most important journey of my life, to get to know myself and my true purpose and spread inspiration like wildfire.

Today I am proud to say I have a daily practice of self-love, self-care, gratitude, and affirmations. I am extremely passionate about women’s mental health and the term You Are Enough has become my life mantra. I am inspired by women who vulnerably and openly share their life stories (just as I did) and situations they have found themselves in; good and messy. It is inspiring to learn about these women and how they have also decided to embark on this lifelong journey to reach new levels of womanhood, enoughness, and self-value. Sharing my story will forever be an empowering tool and form of self-therapy and my goal of creating an online community and platform for women to openly share about their lives has blossomed into something incredible. You Are Enough has become a supportive community of women openly sharing about topics of mental health, worthiness, love, rejection, self-love, and value. As women, we all share a deep desire to feel enough in this world, and that is the hope You Are Enough offers to every member.

Today You Are Enough’s vision is massive and continues to grow month to month. The goal currently is to grow the YAE community to span the entire nation and as many international countries as possible. As the Founder and CEO of YAE, I am on a mission to empower women across the globe to not only empower themselves and stand up for what they believe in but to also tap into their vulnerability, tap into what makes their heartbeat, tap into their infinite enoughness and inspire plenty of individuals along the way to create a ripple effect.

The goal is to grow this fire within me and watch my embers spark thousands of fires across the world. Building wildfires of tenacious strength, resiliency, and beauty everywhere women are.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This question is an interesting one to think about. The scariest thing in life is the fact that giving up is probably the easiest thing a person can do. So scary that I almost found myself giving up on my dreams multiple times. Late nights, early mornings, fear of judgment, fear of failing, fear of missing the mark completely, and most of all fear of myself and self-sabotaging my gifts.

What I have learned is this… getting to know yourself is not as terrifying as people may think. It is hard, it is ugly, it is messy, it is scary, but it is beautiful and something the average and ordinary person may not dare to do in their lifetime. The road has never been smooth, but I would never want it to be that way anyway. All of the twists and turns are what has given me my perspective, my ability to connect with people, the fire inside of my heart, and the passion I find within myself to continue this work.

Please tell us about You Are Enough.
You Are Enough is all about mental health, creating educational tools and concepts, and content for women to gain value and strategies to make life as fulfilling and amazing as they possibly can. You Are Enough is something like I have never experienced before because it is a platform that not only offers everything mentioned above, but we also host LIVE (on pause due to COVID-19) and VIRTUAL conferences via the Zoom platform. Because of the pandemic and having to switch over to a virtual platform, we have been able to extend our reach from the United States to neighboring countries like Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, England, Switzerland, and Taiwan! At our virtual conference, women learn from other women who lead discussions covering varying topics such as successful daily routines, self-care practices, releasing limiting beliefs, practicing gratitude and meditation, affirmation creation, and so much more!

You Are Enough will soon be releasing its fully virtual online platform full of courses, resources, guided materials, journaling topics, meditative practices, and monthly affirmations that connect to the monthly theme/topic! Women who have immersed themselves in the content have been able to not only change their perspectives but also their lifestyles. This community has changed my life, and I cannot wait to welcome new women in the future.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
All throughout my childhood, I was greatly encouraged by my parents to highly value education and learning and to explore my environment at a very young age. I always remember waking up early before the sun would rise on Sundays to spend time with my dad. We would go to this small indoor soccer arena with all of his Brazilian friends to play soccer for a few hours. While my dad and his best friends would rub around after the soccer ball, I would open up the pages to whatever book I had on hand and I would “take a quick trip” into whatever fantasy land or autobiography I happened to be reading that day. That is where my love for people, places, situations, problem-solving, and connection began. I will forever cherish those early Sunday morning drives to the soccer field, listening to The Beatles and Elvis with my dad, listen to the soccer games going on all around me while I read, and ending the afternoon with a giant pizza slice and arcade games at the local pizzeria. Oh, to be young again.

Contact Info:

• Website: yae.community
• Email: samantha@yae.community
• Instagram: @yae.co and @sammmbella

Image Credit:
Alan Villaseñor of @alanvphotos, Ruben C. of @rubenc_photography

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