We built the solution we needed, but didn’t have.
When life fractures, through illness, loss, caregiving, or career upheaval women have no cohesive system to rely on. Change can happen fast and yet finding help is often arduous.
We scrape together support through Google searches, group texts, and well-meaning but scattered referrals. It’s fragmented, expensive, inefficient, and exhausting.
According to Pew Research, 72% of women in the United States do not feel that they have an adequate support system. And we were tired of it.
So we built Sam.
Sam is the support infrastructure women should have always had.
Our mission is to support women.
It’s that simple.
Why Sam?
Sam is an acronym for ‘semper ad meliora’ — always towards better. That is our ethos.
Our brand is inspired by the mythology of the Birth of Venus: a moment of emergence, not as a finished figure, but as one in motion, arriving into herself.
What we believe inPossibility — We believe in what’s next for you — even if you can’t see it yet. Whether it’s a new direction, a fresh start, or simply breathing room.
It’s Personal — No bots. No scripts. Just a dedicated Experts and Navigators who learns your story, listens deeply, and builds a personalized plan to move you forward.
Lived Experience —Our Experts and Navigators have walked this path. They’ve faced the same turning points, so they get it. You’re supported by women who’ve been there — and are here to help you through.
We Show Up — We will always give you the best of us. If you’re not happy with the support you receive on Sam, you will get a refund. No questions asked.
High Standards — We’re borderline obsessive about who we bring onto Sam. Every Expert and Navigator is rigorously vetted and someone we’d trust ourselves. You get premium, no-nonsense support.
Our Team
Abby Nydam
Abby Nydam is the Founder and CEO of Sam, a first-of-its-kind platform offering curated expert guidance, practical tools, and community support for women navigating life transitions—from caregiving and divorce to job loss, illness, and child loss. Inspired by personal experiences and the quiet burnout she witnessed in the women around her, Abby created Sam to fill the systemic gaps in care and support that women too often face. Her mission is bold: to build the global infrastructure for women’s support—starting in the United States.
A global strategist and engagement architect, Abby began her career in New York’s high-end luxury marketing industry, where she saw firsthand the power of brand, aspiration, and narrative. At the other end of the spectrum, Abby has developed and designed products and services for women and families living on less than $2 a day. Her experience has since spanned working in more than 35 countries, evolving into a career at the intersection of social innovation, behavioral insights, and public policy. She has advised global brands and institutions including UNICEF, Meta, Unilever, Tiffany & Co., the World Bank, and Pepsi. Abby served in the White House Domestic Policy Council under President Biden and Ambassador Susan Rice, focusing on social justice and economic policy. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she led modernization efforts for the WIC program, driving reforms to better serve women and children in need.
Her expertise lies in data driven, human-centered systems design, public sector innovation, and transforming deep human insight into practical and emotional solutions
Founder and CEO
Alice Yeh
Alice Yeh is an end-to-end operator and builder who specializes in turning ambiguity into scalable results. With over 19 years of experience across J.P. Morgan, Google, and high-growth startups, Alice thrives at the intersection of strategy and execution. She has spent her career building the systems, products, and teams that allow ideas to become reality, particularly in resource-constrained environments where ownership is paramount.
Having navigated three layoffs, multiple career pivots, and life across Hong Kong, London, Singapore, and the US, Alice leads with a unique blend of resilience and global perspective. She is a BSE graduate of Princeton and holds an MBA from Wharton and an MA in International Studies from the Lauder Institute. Outside the office, she brings that same spirit of intentionality to her life as a certified Yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner.
Head of Strategy and Growth 
Head of Marketing and CommunicationsLiz Feibusch
Liz is a brand and product marketing leader with more than 15 years of experience scaling B2B and B2C brands. Most recently, she ran product marketing, consumer insights, and brand tracking at Shipt (a same-day delivery subsidiary of Target), where she led a team in launching 20+ features to customers and shoppers to drive brand awareness, subscription growth, and engagement. Her career also includes running integrated marketing and public relations for companies such as Whole Foods Market, Sierra Nevada, Eastman Chemical, and Sherwin-Williams.
An NYU and USF MBA alum, Liz also serves as Vice Chair of the Tiburon Heritage & Arts Commission, championing the local arts within Marin. In her free time, she loves baking and reading with her two young children, as well as volunteering at their school.
A Letter from Abby
I built Sam because I saw what happens when women are left to carry everything alone.
Throughout my career I have moved between worlds. I began in New York City, where I learned how power works, how culture is made, and how women are expected to perform in systems not designed for them. I then spent a decade building products and services for communities in more than thirty-five countries, often in the harshest environments on earth. I watched women hold up local markets, families, and futures, all at once. Later, at the White House, I saw how fragile our own social safety nets are in the United States and how absent they are when it comes to supporting women.
Everywhere I went, one truth remained: women are the backbone of every community, yet we offer them little structure to lean on. We praise their resilience while starving them of support.
Sam exists to change that. It is a first-of-its-kind platform designed to be the support system women have always deserved. We bring together Expert guidance, practical tools, and a community of care so that when life becomes complex, women have somewhere to turn. Sam is built on earned wisdom — the kind that only comes from navigating life’s hardest moments and choosing to keep going.
The idea of Sam challenges a centuries-old expectation that women can and should do it all without help. We reject that. Our work is to create the global infrastructure for women’s support. Because women are not asking for a handout. They are asking for a foundation strong enough to stand on.
That is what we are building. And we are just getting started.
Welcome,
Abby
Founder/CEO of Sam
Our Advisors
Samantha Saperstein
Sam Saperstein is commerce and community, personified: a builder who has spent her career imagining and executing what’s possible for women in work, business, and financial life.
Over a 13-year tenure at JPMorganChase, Sam served in senior leadership roles and most proudly as the founding Global Head of Women on the Move, the firm’s platform dedicated to fueling women’s ambition in career, business, and financial health. With the support of CEO Jamie Dimon and an extraordinary team, she launched Women on the Move in 2018 and helped it reach hundreds of thousands of employees, consumers, business owners, clients, partners, and community members, including through the firm’s flagship Women’s Leadership Day. Earlier at JPMorganChase, she served as Chief Marketing Officer for Commercial Banking and led strategy for Chase Card Services.
Today, Sam is an investor, business advisor, and speaker and writer on women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, partnering with founders and operators who are building durable companies with real stakes and real impact. Earlier in her career, she held senior product roles at MasterCard, served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, and began as a business reporter at Dow Jones Newswires.
Sam holds an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from The Wharton School and a B.A. in History from Brown University. She understands women’s lives in full: as a mother, wife, daughter, friend, and colleague, carrying the overlapping responsibilities that shape so much of modern life.
As an Advisor to Sam, she supports the company’s next stage of growth, advising on product development, marketing, and content.
Catarina Schwab
Catarina Schwab is the Founder of Cata·lyst, a consulting firm focused on catalyzing positive impact for our world. Over Catarina's almost 30-year career, she has held investing, operating and entrepreneurial roles in a variety of sectors including investment banking, venture capital, technology, retail, nonprofit, and impact investing. Prior to launching Cata·lyst, she was the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of NPX, which transformed the way nonprofits are funded by linking capital with impact.
Catarina serves on the Marin Academy Board of Trustees, Exeter Alumni Association Board, Princeton Women's Network of Northern California Board, NPX Charitable Board, buildOn Global Board, and was the 1992 Class President for Phillips Exeter Academy.
Catarina and her husband live in San Francisco with their two children and their first family dog.
Catarina will advise Sam on strategy, fundraising and the operations needed for an early-stage, mission-driven, female founded start-up.
Joanna Mikulski
Joanna is a former White House advisor and executive with over 15 years of strategic leadership experience at the intersection of government, business, and philanthropy. She is an expert in the future of work, the impact of AI on the labor market, equitable innovation, and talent development for growing industries.
At the White House Domestic Policy Council, Joanna led strategic initiatives to expand access to good jobs and careers created by multi-billion-dollar investments through in infrastructure development, semiconductor manufacturing, and clean energy. Her efforts contributed to over 500 commitments from Fortune 500 companies, unions, colleges and universities, foundations, and other stakeholders to train 10,000s of workers, invest millions in equitable workforce development, and diversify recruitment and hiring. She championed policies to help women manage caregiving responsibilities and strengthen the care workforce.
Before joining the White House, Joanna served as the chief federal policy officer for the national nonprofit America Achieves and led global campaigns to improve maternal health and nutrition, advance women's and children's rights, and strengthen democracy. She began her career at the U.S. Department of Labor and the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Joanna is a collaborative partnership builder, skilled strategist and project manager, and inclusive team leader. Her writing has been featured in CNN.com, The Hill, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Notre Dame Magazine, and Next City. She has lived and worked in four countries and collaborated with partners in many more. She enjoys hiking, playing soccer, and reading novels.
Ellen Friedman
Ellen Friedman is the secret sauce behind many of today’s most iconic brands. A leader in branding, merchandising, and, importantly, how women shop their values: what they choose, what they trust, and what they reach for when they want to look and feel better. She is a fierce champion for women, in and out of the office.
Ellen has been shaping RPG’s work for more than two decades, working alongside the CEO to set direction and bring ambitious brand worlds into the places women actually experience and shop. Her imprint can be felt in iconic names including Burt’s Bees, Benefit Cosmetics, Sephora, and Surratt Beauty, where the experience is not just seen, but felt, and the decision to choose becomes effortless.
Her career spans beauty, fragrance, fashion, jewelry, eyewear, and spirits, across both mass and prestige. She has led major launches and retail programs totaling more than $250M, and she understands the quiet architecture of confidence: the visual language, the atmosphere, and the details that help women own their worth and move through the world differently.
At Sam, Ellen will advise on channel strategy, creative, and brand presence, helping ensure Sam shows up with power and values wherever women meet us.
Ellen has served on the Board of Cosmetic Executive Women for more than 20 years and is deeply committed to women’s community and care through her 15+ year leadership with AWARE NYC and her long-standing volunteer work with DOROT. She holds a B.A. from Boston University.
Outside of work, Ellen is an aunt, a twin, a daughter, a friend, and a partner. She spends her free time traveling the globe with her family.
FAQs
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Sam is strictly pay-per-session. 1-on-1 sessions start at $50 for up to 60 minutes. There are absolutely no monthly subscription fees, hidden costs, or long-term packages. You only pay for the exact support you need, when you need it
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No. Sam is not therapy, crisis counseling, or medical care. We provide practical, action-oriented strategy and guidance from vetted specialists to help you navigate specific real-world hurdles (like eldercare logistics, career transitions, or financial counseling) and determine your concrete next steps.
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Every session is designed to be highly practical. You won't just vent; you will leave every single session with a clear, documented summary of your concrete next steps and actionable output provided by your Expert
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Absolutely. Your privacy and trust are everything to us. Conversations with your Navigator, Experts, and within the community are safe, secure, and confidential.
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Using your Sam gift card is simple:
Create your account on wearesam.co.
Choose your Support Session from over 300 one-on-one sessions with our 75+ trusted Experts.
At checkout, enter your gift card code to apply your balance toward the session
If you need help redeeming your gift card or have any questions, just email us at hello@towardbetter.me — we’re here to support you.
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We match you based on your preferences—age, culture, life stage, and personal needs. Our goal is to connect you with someone who understands where you’re coming from and can support where you’re going.