I’m Samantha, a writer with an oversized smile and a deep-rooted passion for vulnerability and lake days.
Forever swooning over simple joys, I’m a sucker for family meals, Amish doughnuts, Notre Dame game days, and the inevitable belly laughs that come from retelling stories that just never get old. My raving excitement for spontaneous ice cream outings contradicts my devotion to a sugar-and-dairy-are-the-devil diet; but we’re allowed to experience a little internal tug-of-war sometimes, aren’t we?
If I could sit across from you in a coffee shop, I’d wrap my fingers around a hot mug and ask about your guilty pleasures, if you know your Enneagram number, and then—my favorite—what makes you feel most alive.
Because I like midnight driving with the windows down, I share a thriving guilty pleasure relationship with One Direction. Nobody can drag me down. (But recently, I’ve started a thing with gummy worms. We might just be in the talking stage. I’m exploring it.)
Self-awareness is my jam. And I’ve got some kind of emotional spidey sense that wants to understand and connect with people on a whole new level of authenticity. I thrive most when I put emotions into words. My feels go real deep—like, we’re scuba diving amongst frilled sharks here.
Lake Wawasee is the wind in my heart sails. My great-grandpa purchased a cottage on Waco Drive in 1980, and Pier 614 is the memory-laden place where I’ve spent every summer of my life. I feel most alive when I’m in the middle of that lake, zooming over waves at the front of a boat or driving a wave runner like a daredevil or hanging onto tube handles for dear life. Everything seems to make sense on that Indiana lake—and if they don’t, just hang around for one of my family’s midwestern meals ’round picnic tables, and things will come together soon enough.
It’s so nice to meet you. *Insert oversized smile.*
Maybe we’ll have coffee together someday.
Samantha Nieves 