THE TRIBE
“I Tribe because I believe that we are enough.”
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Joining the ever growing, and increasingly powerful movement of celebrating women, THE TRIBE ranks up there with some of the best. Celebrating the woman you are and coming to the realization that you are enough.
We had the opportunity to speak with Samata, fashion, media entrepreneur, and founder of THE TRIBE. To say that is all this talented woman has done would be a real understatement. On top of being an advocate for following your passions and enjoying your personal journey, she is a published author and is known for her work as Global Director for Suzy Amis Cameron’s Red Carpet Green Dress campaign, featuring sustainable fashion on the red carpet during the Oscars every year.
WHAT IS THE TRIBE?
So THE TRIBE is a collective space and a movement. I think that is the best way to describe it. It’s a collective and space for women to get together and rally each other but also unite themselves. I just feel a lot of the time when I go online or even when I go to events for women or by women; there is always this underlying intention.
The underlying intention is that you’re supposed to go to these gatherings to meet people who can help you to ‘become more’ in the future. So you’re going to meet people that can help you reach that next stage in your life, or to grow your business, or to become this other person. And with THE TRIBE, I’m trying to create a space for women to realize they are already all of those things.
WHAT ARE TRIBE EVENTS?
The events are just a piece of what THE TRIBE mission is to their community. The events are important because it’s a chance to bring together other women. Today I don’t think there are a lot of spaces that celebrate everyday women. Even if I think about awards for women, a lot of the time it’s a woman in the public eye, and when I think about it, there are so many women in my life worthy of celebration because of what they are doing already. The events are just one way that THE TRIBE realizes what the movement is and engages in the conversations that are happening around the world. We have women around the world who are getting the concept and who are getting fed up with this feeling of like whatever they achieve there is always this next thing they should be aiming for in life. And they’ve never been given the space to celebrate the successes or the wins. For instance, I’ve said this before but it’s like you get engaged and the pressure is on to get married, when you are finally married, it’s about when are you having your first kid, then when are you going to have your second, or buy a new house, it never ends. It’s relentless, and that is just in your personal life!
THE TRIBE ENCOURAGES A DIFFERENT MINDSET, WHAT IS IT?
There is this idea that once we get from A to B, we’ll finally be this other person that we’ve always wanted to be. Or once we’ve done ‘this’ or once we’ve done ‘that’ or once we’ve accomplished ‘this’ then we can feel ‘this way’ about ourselves. It’s like then we can ‘allow’ ourselves to feel this way about ourselves. And with THE TRIBE what I’m trying to do is encourage a mindset that encourages us to see that we are already there. I think the mindset is less about anticipation and more about appreciation. So verses anticipation, this moment in your life where you finally get to celebrate all the things you’ve achieved. The realization you need to have is that you’re already at that moment now. And you’re almost depriving yourself of that moment by not seeing it. A lot of times when we get a compliment our first reaction is “Oh thanks but..” or “It’s just okay...” and in our mindsets it’s like we are saying we aren’t deserving of that. I think THE TRIBE is saying, “Yes, I can accept this in the now, and I don’t have to defer my enjoyment to another point in time.”
YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT ARE THERE ANY PIECES OF ADVICE YOU WOULD TELL YOUR YOUNGER SELF?
I would say that anything that is meant to last takes time. When I was just getting started out, I would get so frustrated that things would take so long and it would make me question myself if I was supposed to be doing this? The negative self talk is just lies, smoke, and mirrors because it takes as long as it's supposed to. It takes a long time to develop things that matter and last. So don’t doubt yourself or your place just because it hasn’t happened yet. It’s not meant to be quick and easy because if it were, it would crumble apart. The other thing I would have told myself is that the validation you build up from achievement is so much stronger than the self-esteem that is connected to things that can come and go like the wind changes. As you grow and achieve things you have a different swagger about yourself, you have a different type of self-esteem it’s not rooted in anything someone can take from you.
WHAT IS A MISCONCEPTION OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH SUCCESS?
That it can happen quickly, in actuality, it takes a long time. I guess it doesn’t help that we have this idea of instant celebrity. Sometimes I feel like it’s very fatiguing, you know the idea that you can become this overnight success or this late hit, or you can go viral. But what’s the point if the foundation isn’t there? If everything isn’t lined up if you haven’t done your groundwork? Then you go viral, and you’re not prepared to cope with that. So I think we shouldn’t be aiming to go viral. We should be aiming to be a legacy. And those are entirely different things. Viral is like a hit seen all around the world where a legacy is something that will affect people long after you are gone.
WHY DO YOU TRIBE?
Last year when I got back from the Oscars, and I had had such a great year, and I was so happy and proud of myself. The first question one of my friends asked me was ‘So, what’s next?’ And I just had a moment of realisation, that the idea that we have to keep going all the time had no power over me. And I love my friend but it’s this construct of you must always do more to be more. I mean I couldn’t be more satisfied with myself and more full, and then within a Nanosecond, something - not someone - has tried to steal my joy. I believe that we are enough, so that is #WhyITribe.
Check out more about this wonderful woman by visiting THE TRIBE, their Insta page, and her website.