Alumni Interview: Five Things That Matter with Samantha Watson '96

It started with a pain in Sam’s knee during her senior year of high school—nothing that raised alarms at first. But, the discomfort followed her into college, persistent but unexplained. It wasn’t until the middle of her senior year in college at Brandeis that doctors finally found the cause: bone cancer. Because Sam, at the time, didn't know enough about cancer, the moment she got diagnosed didn't bring fear, but instead relief – Finally after years of running tests, there was an answer. Sam wanted to finish out college, but she hadn't realized how much of a toll the chemo was going to take on her body. She made the difficult decision to take a year-long leave from school, but she was supported every step of the way by her college community, her family, and especially her mother, a nurse whose quiet strength had shaped Sam’s life in ways she would come to understand more deeply over time.

Years earlier, Sam’s mom, Cynthia, had made the decision to move Sam from Manhattan to Vermont just a week before the 10th grade started—swapping skyscrapers for Green Mountains, and city streets for a small, supportive school in Manchester. At the time, Sam hated the idea of moving away from her friends. Now, as an adult, she has realized that her mother didn't do it to her, but for her. Cynthia worked as a nurse in Vermont, and her boyfriend at the time also lived in Vermont. So, Sam and her mom would come up to Vermont to visit him often. But, Sam was only 15 years old - she was scared about the move, and especially moving away from her friends. After transferring to Burr and Burton Seminary (now Burr and Burton Academy) as a sophomore from Manhattan, she quickly found a community that welcomed her with open arms. Encouraged by inspiring mentors and countless opportunities, Sam stepped into leadership roles, studied abroad in Spain, and discovered the confidence to pursue big dreams. She learned essential skills that would later guide her in life.

In 2003, after two cancer diagnoses and several years of treatment, Sam created an organization called The SAMFund to support other young adults who were struggling financially because of cancer. It became a lifeline for thousands—helping pay for essentials like rent, fertility treatments, and student loans. Over two decades, Sam led the organization from the ground up, leaning on her creativity, vulnerability, and the wisdom of those around her. She built a team of supporters, created programs that changed lives, and even helped push federal legislation to relieve the student loan burden for cancer patients in treatment. Through it all, she learned that true leadership means knowing what you don’t know and being brave enough to ask for help.

Now, decades later, Sam has returned—this time with her own family—seeking that same sense of support and belonging. As she steps into her new role at Burr and Burton Academy, the school that helped shape her, she’s driven by experience, resilience, and the desire to build a community for others, just like the one that once embraced her.

About a year after my last treatment, I received a bill in the mail for almost $275,000. Very thankfully, my mom (who was an oncology nurse) fought the bill for two years and won. It was clear to me that without her, my story would have unfolded very differently. A big part of the reason why I created The SAMFund to focus on financial challenges was that, at that time (in the early 2000s), no other organizations were addressing it. To be honest, I wasn’t equipped to do anything else, professionally, since I had little in the way of job skills or work history. Finding a way to raise money to help young adults pay their bills seemed pretty straightforward to me and was a concrete way for me to pay it forward, since I was so fortunate to have my family and so many others supporting me in every way during and after my treatment.

I started at Burr and Burton (Seminary, at the time) in 1993, at the beginning of my sophomore year, after moving to Vermont from Manhattan that August. It was daunting to step into a brand new place, but what I found was an incredibly welcoming community. The school was much smaller then – 75 in my graduating class – and there were opportunities to pursue anything and everything I was interested in. I played tennis, performed in shows, served on Student Council, traveled to Spain, and was a Senior Leader. These experiences provided the room, as well as the confidence, to explore new interests and develop new skills. 

Two of my mentors were John Sanders (music) and Peter St. John (Spanish). Both of them encouraged me to aim high and supported me in my goals. With Mr. Sanders, I participated in all-state and New England music festivals, accompanied shows on the piano (super fun), and tried jazz band (less successful), and performed in every musical there was. My favorite, hands down, was playing the role of Anita in West Side Story. “Profe” St. John somehow convinced me to study abroad in Spain during my first year at Burr and Burton - I celebrated my 16th birthday there - and it was one the best experiences of my high school career. I left Vermont speaking some Spanish and came back fluent after three weeks. I’m still in touch with my host family; my husband and I stayed with them after we got married! It was because of Profe that I went on to become a Spanish major in college, spent the summer of 1998 in Spain, and am still fluent.

Creating any business out of nothing is a ton of work, and about half of new nonprofits fail in the first year. One of the things I did right was that I knew how much I didn’t know. I had a compelling story and was willing to work hard, but I knew close to nothing about starting a nonprofit. So I surrounded myself with really smart people who had more experience than I did, asked a lot of questions, and was eager to learn.

The first thing I did was find an attorney, because the IRS was not something I wanted to mess with. He and his firm stayed with me for twenty years and never charged me a penny; over time, he became a trusted mentor and friend. After that, I leaned on the most creative people I knew to develop a brand (though I am not sure I even recognized it as that at the time): my stepdad created our first logo, my friend from college built our first website, and Bill Muench and Brian Gawlik shot our first promotional video. Shortly after, I created my first Board of Trustees, calling on friends and family members with expertise in specific areas and the willingness and time to help me. They were incredible – dedicated, generous, and equally passionate about the work we were doing – and we built The SAMFund together.

One of the biggest challenges of every nonprofit is fundraising, especially in the early years before you’ve actually accomplished anything. What you’re really doing, at that stage, is asking people to take a leap of faith with you. I remember creating our first mailing list – I emailed everyone I could think of, and asked them to share the names and addresses of anyone they could think of who might be interested in what I was doing and wouldn’t be offended if I sent them a letter. The SAMFund was grassroots to its core. 

The work we did over two decades was as meaningful to me as it was to the young adults we helped; creating The SAMFund helped me find my voice and my community at a time when I felt disconnected and different from everyone around me. There are so many stories that stand out to me, though. 

Infertility is one of the most common challenges faced by young adult cancer survivors. In addition to the astronomical costs of fertility preservation, the bills associated with actually starting a family – through IVF, adoption, or other nontraditional means – can be in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. We created a separate category of SAMFund grants just for this purpose, and to date, almost 50 young adult survivors have become parents as a result. These “SAMFund babies” were, hands down, one of the best parts of our work. Nothing beats getting a birth announcement in the mail or finding out that someone could start their family because of the support we provided.

On a less emotional but equally meaningful note, one of the highlights of my career to date was around legislative advocacy. For about a year, I worked in partnership with another cancer organization, bringing advocates and SAMFund grant recipients to Washington, DC to meet with representatives and their staffers. The burden of paying student loans is not unique to cancer survivors, but we knew that in the face of medical and so many other bills, student loans were often the first to be ignored. We saw too many young adult survivors struggle later when those loans went into default. Ultimately, we successfully passed legislation to provide an automatic 6-month deferment on outstanding federal student loans to anyone undergoing active cancer treatment. 

Do your research. If someone is already doing something similar to what you want to do, join them and support their work. There is (usually) room for creativity and new ideas. It is not always necessary to start a nonprofit.

It’s okay to not know. Surround yourself with smart people, ask lots of questions, and stay open-minded. Don’t give in to “founder’s syndrome” - the inability to change course or do something a different way. Being passionate and driven is one thing; having tunnel vision is another, and is rarely helpful.

If I had it to do over again, the one thing I would do differently is that I would start small and scale up. When I created The SAMFund, I wanted to provide support to young adults across the country, with any cancer diagnosis, for a wide variety of financial needs. I thought it was good to cast a wide net, but I did not realize that it would mean receiving far more applications than we could possibly fund. In hindsight, I would have started locally, developed a solid program, and then scaled up. There’s always room for growth. 

Bonus:  What is your best piece of advice? 

The best advice I’ve ever been given, and it was from my mom, is that we’re never truly stuck. Make thoughtful and well-informed decisions, but know you can always make a change. This has served me well both personally and professionally. Leaving a job that no longer feels like the right fit, making a move to a new place, surrounding yourself with the people who bring something positive to your life – you always have a choice.

Also, find your people and hold on tight to them. Although I’ve moved quite a bit, I have close friends from high school, college, my first job, The SAMFund, even kindergarten! It takes effort, but is easier now than ever to stay connected to the people most important to you. Do it. It will always be worth it.