Vanessa Smithers

Vanessa Smithers is an African Nova Scotian narrative consultant, writer, and speaker with ancestral roots in “The Hill,” a historically Black community in Truro, Nova Scotia. Her storytelling is grounded in a legacy of resistance, reinvention, and remembrance. She nurtures space for people to tell the truth about who they are and writes stories that honor where they’ve been, what they carry, and where they’re going. With a career spanning two decades in education, community leadership, and frontline advocacy, Vanessa consistently held space for people who entrusted her with their truths, trauma, and turning points. In 2017, she pivoted and launched a full-time narrative consultancy supporting creatives, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and professionals ready to move beyond generic bios, mission statements, career documents, and grant applications. She has worked with over 2,800 clients worldwide, 95% of whom are Black, and has built a practice grounded in cultural integrity, trust, and truth-telling. Her client list includes Apple, Spotify, Salesforce, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Government of Canada, Rikers Island, the Toronto District School Board, and many grassroots organizations​. Her work is strategic, bold, and grounded in the belief that story is a tool for clarity, confidence, and vulnerability.  Vanessa believes reinvention is freedom, that there is no singular path to becoming and no one way to be whole. She defines generational wealth as more than material assets: it includes the language we inherit and reclaim, the legacy we build through story, and the audacity to name ourselves on our own terms. Her mission is to help people stand on the stories they’ve been taught to overlook and s​t​and on them with the power they’ve always carried.