Paul Meunier 

Hey, it's Paul here. We're thrilled to announce you now have three options for how you want to enjoy the podcast. First, you could watch the full unedited interview with the behind the scenes look at the making of the episode, with or without closed captions. Second, you can read the full transcript of the edited interview at your own pace. And third, you can still listen in as usual. These new accessibility options are part of our DEI initiative, and our commitment to provide flexible learning opportunities to you. Just check out the show notes for a link to see all three options. Now on to the show.

Samantha Taitano 

While I was a mentor, I just saw it the job announcement for the executive director position and I had known someone who is working here. And they're like, oh, like there's an announcement, like if you guys know about anybody who's interested, and why not? The most they can do is say no. Then it's that process of like putting your resume together. When you're doing that, putting your resume together, kind of building my confidence. I can do this. Yeah. There's little things that I've been doing throughout my life that lead me to be a great leader at an organization. And so I applied, they interviewed me, and yeah, and now I'm here.

Paul Meunier 

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association. And I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I? I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening, because together we'll learn how their life experiences shaped their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker. Everybody, for this episode we're joined by Samantha Taitano, from Guam in the United States. Samantha is the executive director of Mañe'lu, a nonprofit organization that empowers and educates youth and families to make changes that better their lives. Samantha, I'm glad you're joining us on the podcast. Thank you for being our guest.

Samantha Taitano 

Thank you so much for having me, this morning for me, and late afternoon for you, Paul. So thank you so much for having me.

Paul Meunier 

You bet. I'm glad you're here. And we're joining each other from such a long ways away. But technology solves all those problems. And you and I are just, you know, having a nice conversation looking at each other on our computer screens. People that know you best describe you as hardworking, passionate, busy, and someone who knows how to get things done. Where did those personality traits come from?

Samantha Taitano 

I definitely think those personality traits come from my dad. As you get older, and you see the way that you're living life, and then you like reflect on how your parents are living. I definitely have this itch in my body, similar to my dad. He's always been moving around, doing things. He is 73, is gonna be 74 this year, and he's always doing like yard work. He, despite what we try to tell him to stop doing, like he's always like lifting heavy things. He can't stay still. And I definitely think I get that. And with the yard work or just kind of anything that he does in life. He's always working hard. He's kind of really instilled that into me.

Paul Meunier 

So your dad's a hard worker around the house now. Was he like that in his professional life, too? What did your dad do?

Samantha Taitano 

He was in the army. He retired as a Command Sergeant Major. So he had a long career of working hard in the army.

Paul Meunier 

Got it. So he learned some of those skills in the military. Some of that stick-to-it-tiveness and that regimen about being persistent. Do you think he directly tried to teach that stuff to you? Or did that just by osmosis rub off on you?

Samantha Taitano 

I'd say it's a little bit of both, a little bit of osmosis, a little bit of teaching us through things that he says. Like even now my sister was here during the holidays and so we all stayed together in the family house and we always tease everybody in the morning. Oh is like everyone gonna get up or get up yet or, and like, are you guys gonna start working yet? It's a little bit of us watching him and kind of learning from him. But then also some of the things that he said while we were growing up about working hard and the values.

Paul Meunier 

Well certainly it seems to rub off because the little bit I know about you, you're definitely a hard working person. And what was your mom like? Was she the same way?

Samantha Taitano 

Yes, she is. She's not necessarily the outside, getting things done, but she's the inside getting things done. And then also, growing up, my mom was a very hard worker. She was also in the army. When she had me, she switched over to the reserve. Even through that once my sister and I were in school, she was back at work. Sometimes during the tax season, she would also be a tax preparer. Both of my parents have worked very hard to be able to provide for us and then also to instill values of working hard to make ends meet and also generosity.

Paul Meunier 

Hmm. You have five siblings. Did any of them follow on your parents footsteps and join the military as well?

Samantha Taitano 

No, none of them did, actually. My youngest sister is a doctor now she has her PhD in immunology. And then my other siblings, one worked with a military but nobody knows what he did, because he can't tell us. But he wasn't like in the military. My older sister, she worked with the pharmaceutical company for a really long time. And then my older brother, he does real estate and then also works for UPS. So just like a bunch of things going on.

Paul Meunier 

So your parents are in Guam. Did they grow up in Guam or did the military bring them there?

Samantha Taitano 

So my dad is originally from here, but my mom was a military brat herself. She was born in California, but she spent most of her childhood growing up in Okinawa. They did meet because of the military. But when it became time for my dad to retire, he wanted to retire back here on Guam, to be around family.

Paul Meunier 

So you have five siblings. How are you like them? What would you say some of the characteristics of your family are? What are some of the common traits that you all carry?

Samantha Taitano 

I think, not even it extends past my siblings into like my aunts and uncles and my cousins. I think though, we all have a really good sense of humor. We all think we all have a good sense of humor. We all you know, but it's a shared sense of humor. It's a little bit obnoxious, my it's really based on like teasing each other. It's all in good fun, though. So I think that our family is all like pretty funny. Like to tease each other. I'd say that we're relatively modest. We kind of keep to the family, and we don't live necessarily extravagant lifestyles or anything.

Paul Meunier 

And you also described your parents as being very generous. Can you talk a little bit how that generosity shows through and what you were exposed to when you were younger and how that generosity played out?

Samantha Taitano 

Sure. In my house, we have this like little news article about my dad and his friends. I had actually given like a little talk about philanthropy and giving back to the community. It made me reflect back on where it where did that all kind of stem from. And first off, growing up, we were in competitive swimming. And with that swim club, giving back to the community was a big thing. So we did a lot of volunteer things from like ringing the Salvation Army bell, to going to one of the elderly homes and doing like Christmas carols, things like that. I also thought about my parents and seeing the way that they've given back. My dad and a couple of his friends, they're all veterans. They're all hard working, actually. They all came together to help one of the disabled veterans that they knew build a new house. The gentleman paid for all of the materials, and my dad and his friends who were retired at the time, all these old dudes helped to build this guy's family house. Sort of like the small things when they're able to, willing to kind of get back, They're one of the number one supporters of the organization I'm with. We have a Christmas event and I have pictures of my parents dressed up as elves for the Christmas event to do little activities with kids. This sort of their willingness to give back in a bunch of different kinds of ways.

Paul Meunier 

Well, they sound like wonderful people and it sounds like you had a wonderful upbringing and very supportive, loving parents and kudos to you. That sounds like a great experience. So you carry a lot of their characteristics with you. Is there something in particular that you've branched off that's just uniquely Samantha, that you carry different from your siblings or your parents? Can you think of anything like that?

Samantha Taitano 

For me, I'd say the thing that's a little bit different about me is that I'm a lot more free- spirited. I went to art school, my path was always sort of like, oh, that's Samantha. She's just going to do what she wants to do. I went to art school. And then after art school, I joined the Peace Corps, and they're just watching me like, okay, like, I guess, like, do it, you're gonna do a lot more free-spirited.

Paul Meunier 

Did you have one time think you're going to be an artist when you went to art school? Was that something you have a plan for?

Samantha Taitano 

Yes, definitely. I majored in film. And my emphasis was in film editing. After college, I worked in a film post lab, before joining the Peace Corps. And then even after the Peace Corps, when I came back to Guam, was supposed to be just like a six month stint, but then I'm still hear. The first job that I got was actually in sort of a marketing and brand development position. So I was able to use a lot of my art skills in that first job. With small businesses, you start doing a bunch of other things with Mañe'lu. I also led the disaffiliation from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Guam to Mañe'lu. And with that, that meant that I got to do a lot of the initial art, the marketing material, the first social media stuff I got to be a part of, and then just as we got busier and busier, I don't do as much of it anymore. Every once in a while I'll tinker around and create like a little video or a post. I still try to weave art into everything I do. I wrote a grant that was specifically to bring art workshops to underserved communities. Because I love art and I wanted, I just thought it would be a great thing to expose the kids to.

Paul Meunier 

You've done so many different things. You're a yoga instructor and certified coach, and you even are taking carpentry now, is that right?

Samantha Taitano 

Yes. I'm actually in carpentry level four. So I've been going to a trade school here for oh my gosh, maybe five or six years. I've dabbled in a lot of different trades. But carpentry was really what I wanted to start off with. I'm, like I told you, I kind of have this itch where I always have to be doing something. And so tinkering around with things. It's something that I've always enjoyed. And I've always wanted to be able to like build my own furniture or just like to do even like the basic home things around the house. Through my carpentry classes, I've been able to learn how to build the different furniture. Carpentry is such a wide skill that it goes everything from rough carpentry to finishing. I could also build a house if I really wanted to. Like you kind of said, I have a lot of different things going on. But I think it's because I always enjoy learning. I always want to learn something new. And I'm also a yes person. When there's an opportunity there, I'm going to be like oh yeah, why not? Unless I really can't create time or create space for it. I'll usually be on board because as long as it's a positive thing, like what's the worst that could happen.

Paul Meunier 

It's amazing what you take on and I believe you probably will build your own house someday. I'd love to see it when you're done with it. Do you ever just actually take on too much? You described yourself as a yes person, do you ever find yourself just overwhelmed or feeling like you've taken on too many things?

Samantha Taitano 

A little bit, yes. One of the things that I am working on is boundaries, being able to say no. I say yes because I really genuinely want to do things. More recently, over the past couple years, it's been like, okay, you want to do this, but realistically, can you do this? Actually I'm very good about managing my time. I calendar, everything which maybe doesn't seem as free-spirited, but I calendar everything so that I can do all of the things my free spirit wants to do, but it's still managed. Yeah, so sometimes I can feel overwhelmed with the amount of things that I need to do. I have also adopted the mindset where it's like, okay, this can wait until tomorrow, especially when it comes to work. I definitely create a lot of time for self-care and so a lot of the extra activities that I do outside of work I look at as being self-care. I also kind of look at my work as I need to ensure that I have balance in that. I'm not spending like 12 hours a day at the office, which sometimes it happens. And sometimes there's just things that need to get done. And I'm always more than willing to do them. But I also look at it where it's like, okay, there's no deadline, necessarily around this or the deadline is a little bit further out, the work will still be here tomorrow, I still need to have a life outside of work in order to still come to work and be happy and productive as possible.

Paul Meunier 

You've accomplished so much, and I can't hardly imagine what you're going to accomplish down the road. So thank you for sharing a little bit of your background, letting us know how you got to be where you're at today and some of the lessons you've taken and the traits you've received from your parents. That's a wonderful background. We do have to take a short break. When we come back, I'd like to learn more about your specific role and youth work and what you think about all that. So we'll be right back after this short break.

Jade Schleif 

No matter how you support our young people, The Professional Youth Worker, powered by YIPA, has your training and learning needs covered. Visit training.yipa.org. That's training.yipa.org to see for yourself. And then join the 1000s of youth workers around the globe who learn from our easy-to-access exceptional trainings. From our blogs to our podcast, The Professional Youth Worker is your go-to resource for tools to help you keep going, keep learning, and keep growing. Members enjoy free unlimited access to live online and on demand trainings, and a preferred discount pricing for our one-of-a-kind certificate course. Annual memberships are ridiculously affordable for individuals and organizations. Visit training.yipa.org today to learn more. That's training.yipa.org.

Paul Meunier 

And we're back with Samantha from Guam. RIght before the break I was talking about I'd like to get into a little bit more about your specifics with working with young people. What positioned you best to all of a sudden take on an executive director role at a mentoring program when that isn't something you really had done much of?

Samantha Taitano 

I know, it kind of seems like a crazy sort of transition into. I guess to take it back a little bit, when I first started working with kids is actually in high school. I grew up swimming. And then in high school, I eventually started teaching swimming. After high school, I was in college, I didn't do too much youth work while in college. But after college, I joined the Peace Corps. And when I was in the Peace Corps, I was a community development volunteer. So I was based in a school. I had started a youth organization while I was in South Africa for out of school youth and in school youth. It was really to help them figure out what their next steps were going to be. And I feel like when I reflect back on the work that I did in South Africa, it kind of really truly led me into what I'm doing right now. When I came back to Guam, like I mentioned, it was supposed to just be as a short stint here, attend a couple weddings, hang out with my family because I'd been gone for two and a half years. And I eventually got the marketing job. Once I sort of got settled into that, I guess that desire to want to make an impact in the community came back up. And so I had done some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity, tied back into the carpentry stuff. But here actually our buildings, because we have a lot of typhoons and earthquakes, are all concrete. The only thing you can really do volunteer-wise with Habitat for Humanity here is to help with fundraisers. And although I did assist with that, and it was really great, I wanted to do a little bit more. Something more hands on. So that's when I found Big Brothers Big Sisters of Guam. I was like, oh great, like a mentoring program. And when I first thought about it, I was like, ah, I'm gonna hang out with a kid like, what if the kid doesn't like me? You just have this like reservations of like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna be like a mentor. But I was I was kind of like, you know, no, the kid's gonna like me, like, my Little is gonna like me. And so I was matched with a Little. We still have a good relationship. Um, she's relocated off island, but we still kind of message each other, the great things about technology. But then, while I was a mentor, I just saw like the job announcement for the executive director position and I had known someone who is working here and they're like, oh, like there's an announcement like if you guys know about anybody who's interested, and why not? The most they can do is say no. Then it's like that process of like putting your resume together. When you're doing that, putting your resume together, kind of building my confidence. I can do this. Yeah, there's little things that I've been doing throughout my life that lead me to be a great leader at an organization. And so I applied, they interviewed me. And then I guess, I like to think I interview very, very well. So I'm here. Yeah, now I'm here. I started in 2018. It's been a great, great journey.

Paul Meunier 

Sounds like it has been. I know, you've done some really good things there to make sure that more young people are getting access to services there. And I'd like to talk about that a little bit. But do you feel like you're getting that gratification from giving back more to being generous to versus just being you were in marketing, so are you getting that altruistic satisfaction out of your work now?

Samantha Taitano 

Definitely. I mean, I don't get to directly work with youth as often, as I did before I first started with the organization. I would kind of go out to the community side, usually try to go out once a week, but sort of with the amount of work that I've created for myself, I don't get to do it as often. But I do get to share like the successes, that those that are on the ground get to share. I have weekly meetings with all of our teams to share a little bit about what projects I've been doing. Even though I'm not out there every week spending time with the kids, just knowing the impact and being able to support the team that we have here. And the work that they do. It feels good, feels good to help people.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, it's meaningful work. What you're doing is impacting young people all over Guam. And the impact that your teammates are having with them is changing your community and making the world a little better place. So kudos to you for moving into that direction and doing some meaningful work. Somebody with your skills, and your dedication is definitely needed in this field to help advance and make it move forward. Of all your things you do as an executive director is there one thing you like more than others?

Samantha Taitano 

It kind of goes back to the fact that I don't get to do it as often. But I love going out to the different community sites that we have, the outreaches the events, those are some of my favorite things to do. And then also, I do enjoy talking about our programs. I do a lot of interviews. So I do really enjoy talking about our programs, because it also makes you remember all of the amazing things that our organization is doing and that the team is doing. When I reflect back on sort of what the year has been and all of the activities we've done. We're always amazed because we're like, how did we cram all of that in to that amount of time. It is never a dull moment here. It is always just boots on the ground, going from here to there, preparing for the next activity, conducting the next activity. So everything here is a lot of fun.

Paul Meunier 

You have so many skills and different interests and things that you could probably be very good at. But yet somehow you ended up working with young people. Do you know where your passion for helping young people came from and how it evolved into doing what you're doing right now?

Samantha Taitano 

I definitely think that my passion for working with young people stems from the time that I spent in South Africa. specifically working with young people was the most amount of time that I was on the ground, just doing really grassroots work. I was going into a foreign country where we spent a couple months learning the language but you know, you don't necessarily understand and you're like trying to build a connection with the community. And so some of the things that I remember, is just sitting underneath of this Jacaranda tree, which is like has beautiful purple flowers, and just kind of like staying there. Like I think it was like every Wednesday after school, hey, like we're gonna finding all of the youth to like meet up, start talking right? The first couple of times, some of the little kids are like looking over being like, Huh, what's she doing and then eventually, we got such a good group of people coming out regularly. They were really the driving force around what the organization started doing. They had ideas about what their community needs, what the youth in their community needs, I was just there to be like, okay, like, well, let's do it then. And sort of help find ways to make things happen. And so it's just very inspiring because young people are very knowledgeable. And they're very aware of what's going around them. And they still have this like, very great outlook on life, no matter what their situation is. I was working in a village that had dirt roads, and the kids hand washed their uniforms every day because maybe they only had one or two uniforms. But that didn't change the energy or the outlook on life, there's still so much hope. And so being able to support a young person to continue to work towards their dreams or to provide different ideas about what their future can be, it makes a huge impact. Actually, I still message one of the little girls who was in fifth grade in South Africa, and the last thing she was messaging me about was relationship advice. And I was like, wow, like things have changed. You know, it's, we've built this connection, and to still be able to, you know, you, thank you technology, thank you social media, but to still be able to connect with people, watch them develop and grow. And to continue to be a mentor towards this young person. It's a wonderful feeling just watching the kids develop and grow and blossom. It's just a wonderful thing.

Paul Meunier 

It's amazing the power of relationships, and it's so cool that she still stays in contact with you. I know since you've taken over as the executive director of Mañe'lu that you have grown the number of your team pretty substantially so that more young people can access the services you have. Can you talk about some of the growth you've had there, and how you've gone about achieving that?

Samantha Taitano 

I started here in 2018, and we had a team of less than 10 people. And we were operating probably on about three grants. Today, in 2022, we have a team of about 26 people, and we're actually looking to onboard additional staff in the coming month. And really, that's been through a lot of grant writing. So I do a majority of the grant writing here although I am trying to develop leaders and writers in the organization, so I kind of bring those who are interested and then also those who are kind of in leadership positions within the organization, into the grant writing process. And just trying trying to mentor them so that if they ever do become interested, or if I decide to do something else, that there will be people who have at least a good idea about what they'll want to do. One of the first things I also did, and this was something that the board wanted to do was we disaffiliated from Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America, and localized our program to Mañe'lu. And that was really to ensure that we were customizing our program to make the most change in our community. But then also to recognize that we had grown beyond a one-to-one mentoring program. We also do a lot of family support services. So through the mentoring those before me also saw that although we have these mentors for young people, we also need to support the families so that when they go back home, they're going back home to a good foundation as well. So...

Paul Meunier 

That's an impressive growth spurt. And the expansion of services is really something remarkable. You understand all the technical stuff of it, you work with the budgets, you rank, the grants, all that kind of stuff, but you ever just slow down and think about the impact that you're having on your community?

Samantha Taitano 

I do. It's still kind of is a little bit of the technical stuff, but we just had one of our grant reports due. As I was preparing the report, I was just like, wow, looking back on the different things that we do.Whenever it comes to reporting time, of course it can be a bit like oh, reports. But it also just gives us that opportunity to be like wow, look at what we've done. Look at the impact that we've been able to make. You don't necessarily look at the numbers every single day and say, oh, like we've assisted this many people or, you know, these are how our demographics are changing. Moving towards being a very data driven organization, we capture a lot of data, and we analyze it and we need to make sure that any workshop or program are doing is really making change. And so it's a great way to be like, oh, okay, these are the ways that we're impacting the community. And it's just really nice.

Paul Meunier 

I don't know what your future holds in store for you. I think you're going to branch out into so many things in your lifetime. But I sure hope that you keep some sort of focus on helping our young people because I do know that you have what it takes to make a big difference, and really have a strong impact on these young people, their families, and your communities. So thank you for doing all the work you do. And thank you for being a guest on the podcast.

Samantha Taitano 

Thank you so much for having me.

Paul Meunier 

We end every episode by asking our guests what words of inspiration or wisdom would you like to leave with our listeners?

Samantha Taitano 

Tagging into, you know, what we were just last talking about is just, you know, slow down, but make time for things. But what you're doing, I said earlier, the work is always going to be there. Make sure you're taking care of yourself in order to be 100% when you're out there, working with kids, families, it really starts with you. You taking care of yourself is showing the kids, your families. It's instilling really great things for themselves.

Paul Meunier 

If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org That's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.