Hi, I’m Sam, AKA Sunshine Sam, all the way from the warm heart of Africa, Malawi!
As a young girl, I was very active as a footballer and played at a national level for ten years.
In 2004, I came to England. I continued playing football with a ladies’ team in Surrey. I joined the Army, but my career was short‑lived as I got medically discharged in 2006.
Life had to move, man!
I tied the knot with my childhood sweetheart, and we were blessed with a child in November 2012.
Life was good!
A few years later, we found out our child was Autistic and non‑verbal.
What? I had no idea what it meant, but I felt all the challenges that came with it.
It was a very big blow which drove me into depression for 3 to 4 years. I lost myself. I didn’t know who I was anymore. I gained weight, lost my confidence, and did not see anything good in this world.
How I got active again
When I met Gary, one of the founders of the Evolve CIC Nottingham social club, he told me about Zumba.
One Monday morning, in May 2019, I braved myself and went into the social club to attend Zumba, not knowing what to expect.
When I entered the building, I saw this beautiful lady called Charm who was so happy to see me, she came to me and gave me the biggest hug and told me how beautiful I was.
OMG! I couldn’t believe it, I felt so good to be welcomed like that, and so nice to see someone who looked like me.
From then, I fell in love with myself again, went to all the sessions, and I was the first one in the building every morning.
I decided to volunteer for Evolve, which was amazing, making a difference in my community.
My name changed from Samantha to Sunshine Sam.
Charm told me I bought the sunshine into every room and said I should use that as my brand. Little did I know what I would need that brand for, but Charm saw my potential.
When COVID came, we did Zoom sessions, and it was so amazing.
But in June 2022 I fell on the stairs, where I hurt my knee really badly. It was really a challenge for me to do high‑intense exercise.
How I became a chair-based exercise leader
Charm saw the fire in me and she helped me try something else new: Chair Exercise.
I didn’t believe that I could do teach it. It took Charm’s love and trust in my ability to make me start believing in the dream.
We had meetings so we could develop ideas and hear Charm share what I should expect in the industry.
Charm is a great mentor. We had messages, phone calls, WhatsApp, and emails on how best to create my brand: Sunshine Sam. This took a whole year because life, challenges, and responsibility can get in the way.
Not only is she experienced, but she looks like me, and there are so many challenges for women who are not from a privileged background.
Charm found me a Level 2 Chair Based instructor course, which I did for 12 months, and I passed.
After qualifying, we started peer-to-peer training lessons to share resources and add a cultural flavour layer to the existing Western‑centric offer, such as Afro ‑Beats, Afro, and Caribbean Flava and spices!
There are so many things that are involved in becoming an instructor that I didn’t know before I met Charm. Qualifications, sound systems, insurance, funding and equipment.
She has not only helped me with the practical stuff but also helped me to find out who I was as an instructor and grow my confidence.
I now teach in the community, in places that I love, with other people who look like me joining. My classes are full of lots of different types of people as everyone is welcome. It is the first time I have seen this in Nottingham.
I’ve had lows too, when contracts have been cancelled early. This affected not just me, but those who come to my classes and can’t afford to join gyms and get active in other ways.
However, overall, this journey is amazing. It’s helped me heal from depression, get my confidence back, and become Sunshine Sam.
I’m so grateful to Charm, my mentor, who helped me turn my love of Zumba to Chair based exercise.