Samella Watson: Shifting on Purpose

“For me, every time I fasted, the goal was to gain clarity on a specific aspect of the entrepreneurial journey—like the calling, who I understood God needed me to be,” says Samella Watson, tech entrepreneur and founder of BLCK. She joins Alex Raymond in this episode to share how faith and spirituality have been key to her growth, both personally and in business. Fasting, in particular, has been her way of quieting the external noise to gain focus and reaffirm her purpose as an entrepreneur.

Samella opens up about how this practice helped guide her during pivotal moments, such as the decision to shift BLCK from a short-term rental model to a membership-based home exchange platform—an approach that reflects her belief in making travel more accessible. How can aligning a business with deeper values, grounded in faith, create lasting impact? Samella believes it’s essential and shares how building a community of like-minded entrepreneurs has been a core part of that journey. Her story encourages us to think about how our own spiritual practices can shape both personal and professional growth, connecting our work to a larger sense of purpose.

Quotes

“The reason I fast is to turn off the outside noise of the world because it’s loud—very loud. When you’re trying to do something that’s not physically in your face and you don’t know how to do it, it can be intimidating. For me, every time I fasted, the goal was to gain clarity on a specific aspect of the entrepreneurial journey—like the calling, who I understood God needed me to be. I needed clarity on that, and the best way to gain that clarity was to shut the world off as much as possible and be fully present, ready to receive insights.” (16:29 | Samella Watson)
“I believe that because we’re in a climate where people are becoming more aware of the ‘bleasure’ lifestyle, it’s something that BLCK really wants to focus on. We don’t have to work our fingers to the bone or stay on this hamster wheel to be great, add value, and do awesome things.” (29:17 | Samella Watson)
“Another area that I have focused on is mindset shifting. I had to dig through that with the spiritual part of it, but a lot of times, we don’t challenge our choices. We just assume we think a certain way for some reason. But once you start asking, ‘Why do I think that way? Where is this coming from?’ you can clarify things and become more authentically yourself. So, mindset shifting is huge.” (31:11 | Samella Watson)

Links

Connect with Samella Watson:

Website: https://samellawatson.com/