Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe- My Interview With Sam Schultz

Sam Schultz, nephew of DeAnne Stidham- and former LLR employee, spoke up on his personal Facebook page yesterday- causing quite a stir in the LLR following and shaking up the company's critics. This one included. After hundreds of messages and tags in posts, I decided to reach out to Sam for an official interview. We've spoken several times in the past- none of which were "official" interviews- and none of which that I was able to share, but this time, Sam was ready to talk. And I'm flattered he decided to talk to me. Our discussion is included below: Why did you decide to talk to me, Sam? What you were saying resonated with what I was doing. It's kind of like, you know- like minded people- a lot of your articles were what I already knew and resonated with me. Would you say that there is validity to what I've written about LuLaRoe?

Yes. Of course. Why did you wait to go public and what was your thought process- walk me through what transpired between when we first talked and now. There isn't one thing that happened- I just dealt with the same situation everyone was- fear. I have my aunt, and my cousins- family that are consultants- and family in competing companies. It was fear. I grew up in a culture of fear and so what comes with that is acceptance. There's two sides- the consultant that I loved and still do- their families depend on LuLaRoe. I saw husbands quitting their jobs, women putting in blood, sweat and tears- and for me to rock that boat was a rough call. The final reason- your breaking point was what? I was done, not done, but sick of leaders and hundreds and hundreds calling for answers about who they are putting their trust into and hearing stories about my other family members... I just wanted to be done. If I'm going to preach "Be you... you do you", I have to show that I'm not fearful to stand up for who I am. That can also mean losing relationships with some family at certain times. There were rumors flying around that you might be getting involved with other family members' companies- any validity there?

Nothing set in stone. They are my family, and you know- we talk. No contracts or anything. So you're doing your own thing? Yeah. What about officially? Anything you want to say about who your aunt and Mark is? Want to be more clear about who they are dealing with? Anything I would say would just be a low blow. I don't want to stoop to that level. I took a job, I trusted them enough to take a job, but yeah, nothing I want to say about them that the world doesn't already know. Since you published your statement, how do you feel that it has impacted everyone around you? It's what I thought. Everyone that didn't associate with me then, doesn't. And those that do now have my permission to not live in fear, and that was my intention. What do you feel they are afraid of? What are they hiding from?

What I said- how easy it is to get terminated. They use people as poster children to be terminated, how easy to cut someone out of a business with a password change. I've seen other people post about it. You said your culture and the LuLaRoe Culture no longer align. What do you think their culture is preaching now? They are preaching that, but there's a difference between genuine and non-genuine. You can't just be something you aren't. Do you think that LuLaRoe started with the best intentions?

Of course! That's why so many people joined, but I mean I think now with money, power, and fame and everything that comes along with that, they can rule with whatever fist they want. Do you think they are purposely scamming people at this point? No, I don't think it's on purpose, but they do have a tour called Be On Purpose, so I don't know! (laughs) Maybe there's some pun with that tour. I think they are ignorant and didn't know what they were doing when they got into this and they haven't hired the right people- and I'm including myself in that. I'm family, and was I hired totally adequate to do my job, no. I molded into something that was needed, and that's why so many people liked me, I was real. I was just being real and genuine with people and loving. That's my natural personality and I get taken advantage of that. You can see that. You left supposedly on bad terms... Let's be clear. I left on good terms. I quit. Around December 10th- around the coaches retreat. The day of the coaches retreat- I still flew out and put on a game face- knowing I was going to be a consultant. I wanted freedom in my life, and didn't want to be under their thumb anymore. We were growing so quick and I voiced my opinion a lot more than I needed to, and that's why I stayed so long. I should have gotten fired- naturally people got fired for voicing their opinion, and I did my own thing. Why are they spreading a much different and more inappropriate story about how you left then? I quit, Deanne asked me to MC her Christmas party... and then I went to Germany and the last day I was there, on my daughter's birthday, I got a cease and desist where I was fired even though I had given my two weeks and left on good terms and then in the same cease and desist, I was terminated as a consultant. I had been tipped off a few days before by someone in home office that they had a family meeting about me. Supposedly, Deanne found out about a girl I was dating and was mad she didn't know. Why would they make up these stories... tell stories that you were fired because of things like inappropriate messages being sent?

Because that's the easy way to excuse me from the situation. People became threatened by my ideas, and I just know too much and they reacted from the cuff... cut the chicken's head off. That's her personality. When she didn't try to call me about it- or call me... I knew it was going to be lies. I know how she deals with people that fuck up. She calls them out, cuts their balls off, fires them- or gives them another chance. The day before I got the cease and desist, she told me she loved me. People were saying we were going to go on tour and steal their customers... (I interrupted him) That actually came up too- because you made this trailer and were going to take this thing around the country- weren't consultants worried you were encroaching on their "territories" if you will?

Yeah, leaders. And then they were posting it and reposting it. As soon as the leaders saw I was a threat to their territory, they went running to the head honcho and got scared of what I was capable of. That's funny because just in this last week's webinar, DeAnne was saying about how she used to drive 10 hours into Utah, then go to Vegas and host parties for 2 or 3 days- then go home after selling everything, and advised people if your area is oversaturated, to go into other areas and you're telling me that they were threatened by you doing this? Yeah! Duh! I was going to go on tour with my cousin. She still went on tour. Their decision was based on fear. I've seen it my whole life. It's a shamed culture- of fear and if you do this, there's disciplinary actions... it's fear. Ok, so you said what you had to say on facebook and then you talked about your band. Can you please tell me why you talk about your band after you just called out your aunt? Can we clarify this for those that think this was just a publicity stunt to... Because I'm a promoter at heart! Everything I do, I promote what I'm involved in. I recruited thousands of people into this thing called LuLaRoe including family members. I'm a promoter. If you align with me, because I'm not here with LuLaRoe anymore, check out what I'm doing now. Ok... but there was no intention to slander your family to gain any sort of publicity for yourself? It was just while I'm here, I'm just going to let you know this is what I'm doing now? YEAH! (Laughs) I didn't even know I would get everyone's ear like this, to be honest. The only reason I posted is because I have friends who are struggling with their decision to stay with LuLaRoe and every time they try and speak up, they get told to shut up. Ok, so now that you are not with LuLaRoe- here's your opportunity. What's your band up to? What's on the pipelines? Now what? We're (the band) all about love and serving others. That's what I believe, that's how I was at LuLaRoe, that's how I've been my whole life, and that's how I am now. When you lose yourself in the service of others, you find the greatest joy within yourself. That's what our band is up to- losing ourselves in the service of others and if that means protecting or standing up for what we believe, or spreading awareness if it's clean water, or permission to stand up for who you are- that's who WE are. Just promoters of love. Cool, I dig that. We have a line in one of our songs- "If it changes your life, let it"- we have a team called Team Let It. All we are is promoting authenticity and love for yourself. And then go and love other people. I believe in that. If you can in a couple sentences, and you were going to talk to the LuLaRoe readers- what was the reason for your post? What permission are you giving them? It comes back to why I left. I LEFT. I'm giving them permission to be free. And freedom means not fear. Freedom means speaking how you feel. Freedom means running a business how you feel. Freedom means being able to love without conditions. Freedom and love is the opposite of anxiousness and hate. Oppression. Which I believe isn't promoted over there, but if they want to construe that they saved a down and out nephew and brought him back to life- a single guy, then let's just throw him under the bus for (inaudible) it didn't surprise me. None of it surprised me. It hurt, absolutely. It was my family that watched it happen and did nothing about it. I am the first to really speak up about this. I believe there are people that align with Deanne and Mark and their culture and that's fine. And that's fine. Awesome. Your vibe attracts your tribe. My message to the world is I was just... what drove me to post was... it was not fair what Deanne did to me, and what she does to other people. I gave her the opportunity to do me right, and she chose not to. And so I'm not trying to do her wrong, I just took the opportunity to let people know what happened to me. It's my story and I'm sticking to it, you know? I have one more question. If I sent you a MommyGyver shirt, would you wear it? (laughs) Would you wear mine? Fuck yes!!! (laughs) Yeah... I would wear yours. Awesome. Now we can be homies. (end interview)

All in all, every time I've spoken with Sam, he's always been friendly and warm to me. The message he's given me has remained constant. He's about love and music, and life. Earlier, I had interviewed him off the record, and even then, Sam never treated me as an outsider to his world even though he wishes no harm on anyone- no matter how wronged he feels he was. No matter how much I criticize that world. I think the really important thing here is that Sam didn't really know how important what he was saying was. He can talk about his conflict with the way the company operates freely- he feels safe enough to do so- and how that translates to the consultants is the same. If I can, and if Sam can, you can. I liked something he said a lot. Your vibe attracts your tribe. There's a reason in my opinion, that LuLaRoe is so full of drama. And I think is starts from within the walls of the home office. Family meetings about other family members? Somewhere, I think the plan is to take the Stidhams into competition with the Kardashians for the most dysfunctional family in the U.S. I'm proud of Sam that he finally felt free enough to put his foot down and speak up for all the people that he often told me called him worried for their "businesses" and their family's futures. If you 'align' with him or not, you can't ever say that he didn't have courage to speak up about what he's seen. I look forward to hearing more of his message. If you can appreciate his music or not, at the very least, appreciate that the message is genuine. Maybe it's the promoter in me, but I thought it would be neat to share with those of you not in the know some of what Sam and his band, Culture Crew have been up to. Here's a link to the above video on Facebook: "You Are" featuring Biz Markie Itunes: HERE Spotify: HERE Instagram: @weareculturecrew LINK TO SAM'S ORIGINAL FACEBOOK POST: HERE