Speaking of Samantics: Empowering SLP Graduate Students Through Experience and Authenticity
Samantha Walker, M.S. '19, Used Transparency to Establish a Brand with More Than 52,000 Social Media Followers
The saying “experience is the best teacher,” rings true for Samantha Walker, M.S., Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Class of 2019 in the School of Health Sciences and Practice. She uses her experience as the foundation on which she has built a brand with more than 52,000 Instagram followers. Inspired by her own journey of becoming a speech-language pathologist, Walker created Speaking of Samantics, a platform dedicated to helping members of the SLP community. From the application process, to finding a job after graduation and everything in between, Walker shares stories about the highs and lows speech-language pathologists encounter throughout their educational and professional endeavors.
Applying to graduate school is stressful. With what she describes as a “less than ideal” undergraduate GPA and GRE score, Walker knew she had to rely heavily on her experience in early intervention, as well as her personal essay, to market herself to potential SLP master’s programs. In her application essay, she wrote about her mom who had been placed in a medically induced coma in 2015 after complications from kidney stones. Speech-language pathologists played a major role in her mom’s physical and mental recovery. “The speech pathologist was the one person who could walk into the room and not raise my mom’s blood pressure. She wasn’t treated like just another patient.” Walker was an undergraduate SLP student at Brooklyn College at the time and vowed to become a more compassionate SLP if given the chance. That chance was awarded after she was accepted into the SLP program at New York Medical College (NYMC).
As an NYMC student, Walker began searching for a creative outlet. She started designing SLP themed t-shirts, not expecting it to lead to much. Once the t-shirts started gaining popularity, she added stickers to her e-commerce site. The stickers were a hit too, so she added more apparel that included atypical, yet relatable, SLP-inspired phrases that resonated with the graduate student population. The reception from students opened Walker’s eyes to a niche market. “Most Instagram pages for speech-language pathologists are for licensed speech-language pathologists. Why are we not helping our graduate students get through school? It’s a hard two years,” she said. Walker then decided to share her own grad school experiences on her website and the feedback was overwhelming.
Transparency is a pillar of Walker’s brand. When it came to establishing its identity in the early stages, she figured honesty was the best policy. She recalled thinking, “I have an opportunity to reach a lot of people. Why don’t I just be myself?” She said if at least one person is impacted by her experiences, then she has done her job correctly. “I am trying to reach the people who do not feel seen,” she said. Walker’s reach expanded beyond her wildest dreams and finally on May 20, 2020, Speaking of Samantics officially launched.
Now, with 52,600 followers on Instagram, Walker is fully committed to her audience. “I feel like my job on social media is to give students the confidence to become the speech-language pathologists they want to be,” she said. “After starting Speaking of Samantics, I have received hundreds of messages from grad students saying I gave them the confidence to apply with a lower GPA,” said Walker.
In three years, Speaking of Samantics became a hub for SLP graduate students from all over the country that includes merchandise, blogs and a podcast hosted by Walker. One feature on Speakingofsamantics.com that Walker is particularly proud of is the SLP Praxis exam prep course she offers. The course is a game-based model, hosted by Walker every Tuesday from September through May, where people who are preparing for the Praxis exam can join virtually and participate in trivia games with questions they can expect to see on the exam. “I wanted to help students who have a hard time studying for tests in the traditional sense,” she said. Walker has curated a lighthearted environment during these test preparations, allowing students to be at ease during an otherwise stressful time in their lives.
Current NYMC SLP students have benefitted tremendously from Walker’s sessions. “My friends and I are grateful for Sam's SLP Test Prep game and worksheets. She utilizes design and memes in a way that makes facts stick," said Parapar Madha, SLP Class of 2024.
Walker hopes to take her test prep to the next level and bring it to campuses around the country. She recently hosted her first “Knowledge Bowl” at the New Mexico Speech-Language Hearing Association 2022 Fall Convention. First-place finishers of the trivia contest win a fully paid Praxis exam.
Speaking of Samantics is now a full-time job for Walker. She is, however, in the very early stages of opening her own SLP practice in New York, along with three other NYMC SLP program alumni.
Her advice to current SLP graduate students would be the same message she gave to hundreds of aspiring speech-language pathologists who reached out to her over the last three years, “stay true to yourself.”
