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Words from Samantha
How it Started
I cannot remember a time in my life that I wasn’t a part of serving people food. I toasted baskets of bread at my father’s breakfast restaurant when I was barely tall enough to reach over the counter, and my first “job” was at my grandfather’s hot dog cart on the beach. My fondest memory is those summer mornings when I was a child, chopping onions on the porch with my grandmother and driving to the Italian bakery with my Pop to pick up rolls. I can still smell the flour handprints on their aprons as they would hand me a donut with a smile every time.
As a teenager I started working as a server in high-end restaurants mobbed with Jersey Shore tourists. Growing up in a coveted coastal town afforded me over a decade of experience in upscale dining at high-volume restaurants. From serving to cooking to managing— every summer of my adult life was spent in the food service industry.
I went to college at the University of North Carolina where I majored in Creative Writing, and went on to work as a journalist both domestically and abroad. I spent a number of years living in gorgeous cities like Barcelona and London, before backpacking through the Balkans and eventually landing in Kosovo for a year, where the local cuisine is something I still dream of.
I eventually returned to America and opened my own restaurant back at the shore; an intimate little bistro called Soma Café. Besides regular breakfast and lunch service as well as a full barista bar, Soma offered monthly supper clubs and wellness events. Most dear to my heart though, it was a safe and intentional gathering space for those looking to build a spiritual community in a small town.
That concept of community, combined with my experience in food service and traveling abroad, evolved into offering Soma Retreats. Our first was in the Appalachian mountains of Pennsylvania with four guests, and our next was a week-long adventure in Puerto Rico with fourteen! Since relocating to the Pacific Northwest, Soma has thrived and grown into everything I imagined and more. Still staying true to it’s original meaning: Simple. Organic. Mindful. Alignment.
