Entrepreneur Sam Amey honoured with Women Leaders Award 2025 for inspiring journey and visionary leadership.
Entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and founder of Ever After Vitality Centre and S.A.M.Clinics, Sam Amey has been named a winner at the Women Leaders Awards 2025. Held on 12th June, the event celebrates outstanding women making a meaningful and lasting impact across their industries and communities. Sam’s journey was recognised as one of strength, purpose, and transformation.
Sam’s entrepreneurial path began early, starting work at age 14 and juggling three jobs by 16 while completing her GCSEs. She studied beauty therapy at college and, by 17, launched her first mobile beauty business—still treating some of the same loyal clients 25 years on.
Her early success in managing multiple salons was underpinned by a personal story of survival. After becoming a mother at 19, Sam faced domestic abuse and a violent assault that shaped the years that followed. But through it all, she held onto hope—and ultimately, reclaimed her power.
Throughout her adult life, Sam has faced and overcome significant life events—each time rebuilding, reinventing, and emerging stronger with a renewed sense of purpose. Even at her lowest, she has remained committed to uplifting others, consistently giving everything she has and leading by example. Her leadership is rooted in empathy, her drive powered by lived experience, and her mission fuelled by a deep desire to empower those around her.
A turning point came in 2007 when Sam discovered Pole Fitness, something she says changed the course of her life.
“Pole taught me to be proud of my body for what it could do. I rebuilt my relationship with my body and my self-confidence after spending years feeling like my power had been taken from me. It helped me take that power back. And in fact, having that transformation was the beginning of a new life. Everything I’ve done since has had a goal of helping others empower themselves.”
In 2008, she founded Ascent-trix Fitness, a pole fitness school which empowered over 1,000 women across multiple cities, trained more than 30 instructors, and gained national recognition. Sam became one of the UK’s top pole instructors, Assistant to the President of the World Pole Sports Federation, and the organiser of one of the UK’s biggest pole events.
In 2014, she opened Sky High Studio, offering pole, aerial arts, dance, and fitness, serving thousands of clients. A serious health scare in 2016 brought that chapter to a close, but also sparked a new purpose. After recovering, she returned to beauty and wellness, launching Ever After in 2017—now known as Ever After Vitality Centre.
Despite the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, business debt, and personal challenges including divorce, Sam refused to give up. She downsized, restructured, and continued to rebuild—driven by an unshakeable belief in her mission.
A lifelong learner with a relentless thirst for knowledge, Sam holds multiple degree-level and master’s-level qualifications spanning skin health, aesthetics, hormone therapy, wellness, and clinical diagnostics. She is known for her relentless work ethic and curiosity. As she puts it:
“I can’t get enough information—if studying could be a full-time job, that would be my dream! I can’t believe that we only get one short life when there’s so much to learn and so much to do!”
This academic hunger fuels her ever-evolving expertise, and it’s not unusual for her to be working on several professional development projects at once—all while running two businesses, supporting clients, and shaping the future of integrative healthcare.
Today, Sam is expanding her work into the healthcare space with S.A.M.Clinics, currently studying hormone health, functional wellness, and perimenopause and menopause care.
“I’m in the early stages of a project which I aim to have a global impact on our healthcare system and improve the lives of millions. Not a small task, but I’m so ready and driven to make an impact. I can see a clear vision and know I’ve found my purpose. I hope winning this award will help by giving me a boost with finding the right platforms and connections to help.”
Sam is also writing a book about her personal “why,” with plans to release further titles combining her expertise in skin and hormone health with real-life empowerment.
Remarkably, Sam achieves all this while remaining a devoted, hands-on single mother. She prioritises time with her two children, staying actively involved in their lives and hobbies. She’s on the committee for her daughter’s competitive cheerleading club, travels regularly to cheer competitions, and supports her son at parkour events—proving that leadership begins at home.
This award marks not just a recognition of Sam’s past work but a powerful platform for what comes next.
