Meet Vanessa Smithers | Founder of Grow Home, Please | Writer, Workshop Facilitator and Keynote Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Smithers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanessa, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I take a lot of pride in showing up authentically, and I think that because of that component, people show up for my brand authentically also. We live in a society that I feel as if is so rooted in being everyone but yourself. It’s rooted in doing things because we ‘should’ do them, living my other peoples guidelines and ideas of success and growth. Oftentimes, people are so focused on what the algorythm is asking for instead of what their heart needs and what they genuinely want to do. With Grow Home, Please- I show up when and how I want to. I say what a lot of people don’t say because they’re scared of what other people will think. I want the people who support my brand to know what they’re signing up for off the rip, and know that I’m going to always be me, despite what that looks like for them. For a living, I support people in learning how to stand in their power, and that’s by being themselves. I can’t do that unless I’m doing the same. You know? Authenticity will win every time, especially when it comes to business because you’ll attract the people who are meant to be there and want to be, based on the truths that they know about you.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Writing has been the primary building block for all things in my life that are beautiful and how I’ve moved through things that may be the opposite. I grew up in a household where I was never granted the ‘privilege’ of having a voice. The only way to express myself in the ways that I felt necessary was to write journals and letters to the people who needed to know how I felt. Whether it was love, disappointment, anger, hurt, lust, or whatever else was in my ‘feelings toolbox,’ writing was a surefire way to get the message across. Ways for me to escape daily chaos in childhood were to either read or write. I knew that I could navigate my way out of anything to find peace, even if it was just for a moment. Throughout my life, I was commended for my insightfulness, writing skills, and my ability to connect with others through these things. My voice was often unheard, but on paper, I was louder than a holler across an empty gymnasium. I often thought about being a writer when I ‘grew up,’ but due to my life circumstances, I was only able to see the bigger picture a few hours from the present time. I spent a large part of my childhood and adolescence in the homes of other people- foster homes, group homes, grandparents, aunts, uncles, shelters, and friends. I had this idea that home was a place and felt as though I’d be searching for it for the rest of my life. Where would I feel comfortable and rest my head to experience safety? Where could I put my ‘bags’ down and unpack? Stay a while? Where would I find love, and who would love me enough to keep me around for long enough to establish anything solid?

As I trekked through the different realms of my life, I found that the consistent theme was trying to find peace of mind in a place or even a person that I could identify as “home” and grow from there. 15, 20, 27 years passed, and still..no luck and no feeling or finding of ‘home.’ But, we carried on… Graduating from University and moving into my career in education, community advocacy, and employment, I finally established my voice. I unraveled the things that I was most passionate about and learned how to use my words for the betterment of others, the betterment of myself. Community, supporting people who want to ask for more in their lives and, through this, helping people obtain meaningful careers. We’re in ourselves for our entire lives. The least we can do is honor our existence by showing up in the best ways we can to do right by us. Weaving in and out of my career, romantic relationships, friendships, relocating, and familial ties, I slowly started learning that home is within me, within us. Home is a feeling and not necessarily a place. I spent my entire life looking for a physical location that felt like home, only to learn that it was within me all along. I can create a home anywhere on this earth because home starts here. Home is safety, it’s love, it’s joy, it’s peace, it’s comfortable, it’s space, vulnerability, and it’s where I want to be at the end of the day. Home is me. Home is Vanessa. Once I realized this, I started moving closer to the things that made me feel the best when doing them, redefining my relationship with food and movement after years of eating disorders, eliminating all of the ‘shoulds’ from my life, connecting with people who sparked authentic joy, and committing to jobs that felt good in my spirit. I started reading and writing my ass off, allowing myself to daydream, which led to writing even more. I began to ask myself what I could do outside of continually throwing myself into a 9-5 box to really touch the people and propel them forward- pushing them towards going and growing home. All the puzzle pieces began connecting, and Grow Home, Please was born in 2018. I took all of the things that I love and threw them into this beautiful pot, watered them, and watched them grow. We’re still pouring, and we’re still watering.

Still writing, making people ‘feel the things,’ still diving into myself, and helping people gather their stuff while I’m collecting mine. I don’t know if Grow Home, Please was based on logic, but it was undoubtedly built on feeling. Through harnessing my personal story and journey, I’ve supported over 1500 people in growing their homes through storytelling, career navigation, workshops, and keynote speaking. I’ve been able to put my bags down and stay a while, encouraging others to do the same, to make their dwellings precisely what they need them to be.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to dedicate this shoutout to the people in my life who have always seen me, even when I haven’t been able to. Leaving “home” at 12 years old, I had people who would often tell me that I wouldn’t amount to much, however- there were always those people peeking out around the corner on some “nah, Vanessa- you got it. You have big things to do in this life.” It wasn’t until the last 5-7 years that I started believing that. That I started believing them. Moving around a lot in my earlier life, I wasn’t able to maintain connections for very long because who knew where I’d be next. Someone who has always been constant in these parts, has been an old youth worker of mine, turned friend- Stephen Lawrence. He’s one of the very few people who stuck around, told me the things I may have not of wanted to hear at the time, but rang true. He’s one of very few people who I’ve looked up to in my life and aspired to be even remotely close to as impactful as he was for me. I’m not sure that I would’ve kept pushing in this direction if he wasn’t in the forefront or the background of my life. He deserves a lot of flowers. Bouquets on bouquets.

Website: www.growhomeplease.com

Instagram: @hellloitsvee.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/en/vanessasmithers

Twitter: hellloitsvee

Image Credits
Eno Bull Photography for anything in the leopard dress, close up headshot or ones with the headphones on