Anita Smith is an educator, author, keynote speaker, consultant, traveler, storyteller, and lifelong believer in the power of human connection.
But those titles only tell part of the story.
Anita's work has been shaped by real life — its unexpected turns, challenges, relationships, conversations, laughter, losses, questions, faith, and the moments that make us stop and think.
Life doesn't always unfold according to plan. Sometimes it scatters us. And sometimes those scattered pieces help us discover what matters most.
Her Story
It Started Long Before Live Tenaciously.
Anita spent more than thirty years as an educator, including teaching world languages. But education was never simply about curriculum for her.
It was about people. Students. Families. Culture. Conversation. Curiosity. Connection.
Her career gave her the opportunity to encourage young people to see beyond the world immediately around them — to experience other people, cultures, ideas, and perspectives.
Many of the principles now found in Live Tenaciously were already present throughout those years in the classroom.
Listen.
Ask questions.
Stay curious.
Build relationships.
Step outside your comfort zone.
Learn from people who are different from you.
Keep moving forward.
The World as Classroom
Sometimes the Best Classroom Doesn't Have Walls.
Anita's curiosity about the world didn't stay inside a classroom. Over the years, she traveled extensively and led international student experiences across Spain, Morocco, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, and Peru.
These weren't simply trips. They were invitations to step into unfamiliar places, build unexpected connections, and discover that people — despite their differences — share far more than divides them.
One moment captures the spirit of it all: Anita climbed Machu Picchu while eight months pregnant. Not because it was easy. Because it was the next step.
She also led international travel during some of the most uncertain moments in recent history — including the onset of the Iraq War — navigating the unexpected with steadiness, care, and a deep commitment to the people in her charge.
The lesson was never adventure for adventure's sake. It was this: life frequently asks us to move forward before we feel completely prepared. And we are more capable than we realize — especially when we don't go alone.
The Writing
The Stories Were Already There.
Anita's writing didn't begin as an attempt to build a brand. It began through reflection — through therapeutic journaling about life happenings, family, relationships, faith, challenges, questions, loss, humor, community, and the unexpected moments that make you stop and say, "Hmm..."
Students, families, friends, and people around Anita kept encouraging her to share those stories. Eventually, those reflections became books.
Scattered: Life Happenings and Things That Make You Go Hmm...
Still Scattered: Amplifying Life Mano a Mano
Scattered Directions: Getting from Point A to B
Scattered: A Sharpened Purpose – Every Arrow Trembles Before It Flies
Anita is also a contributing author to The Art of Connection: 365 Days of Resilience.
The Scattered books aren't about pretending life can be neatly organized. They acknowledge something much more human: sometimes life IS scattered. The question becomes what we do next.
From Scattered to Connection
We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone.
A recurring truth became increasingly clear throughout Anita's stories and experiences: human beings need one another.
Isolation makes life's challenges heavier. Conversation creates understanding. Community creates strength. Walking alongside someone can change both people.
This philosophy became Amplifying Life Mano a Mano — hand to hand, person to person, side by side. It represents people having real conversations, breaking down barriers, learning from one another, and moving forward together.
Faith is also an authentic part of Anita's story. Her Christian faith shapes her belief in service, community, hope, and the profound value of walking alongside others — not as a requirement for connection, but as the foundation from which her own commitment to it flows.
And Then, Live Tenaciously
Reflection Was Never Meant to Be the Final Destination.
Amplifying Life Mano a Mano helped define the importance of connection and walking together. Live Tenaciously asks what happens next.
What do we do with what we've learned? How do we move from reflection to intention? From intention to action? From feeling scattered to finding direction? From standing alone to moving together?
Live Tenaciously is not a rejection of Anita's earlier work. It is its evolution. It takes the reflection, conversation, faith, resilience, and community behind the books and puts them into motion.
Purpose in Motion. Together.
What I Believe
A Few Things I Believe.
Life was never meant to be lived alone.
Connection isn't weakness. It is part of being human.
Intention matters.
It is easy to drift through life. Living intentionally means choosing how we want to show up.
Resilience doesn't mean doing everything yourself.
Sometimes resilience means having the courage to reach out, listen, ask for help, or walk beside someone else.
Conversations can change things.
Especially the difficult ones. Listening and curiosity can create understanding where assumptions once created distance.
Faith can give us firm ground.
My faith is an important part of how I understand hope, service, community, and purpose.
You don't need the entire map.
Sometimes you simply need enough courage to take the next step.
Today
Today, Anita Is Putting Purpose in Motion.
Today, Anita brings these experiences together through keynote speaking, organizational and community conversations, consulting, writing, workshops, and educational experiences — with future podcast conversations on the horizon.
Her work serves conferences, professional associations, organizations, leadership groups, schools and educators, nonprofits, community organizations, women's groups, retreats, and faith-based organizations.
The emphasis is never on performance or polish. It is on bringing people together and helping them move from reflection toward meaningful action.
An Invitation
Maybe You're Somewhere in the Middle, Too.
You may not have everything figured out. You may be beginning something, ending something, rebuilding, questioning, searching for direction, feeling scattered, ready for change, or simply wondering what comes next.
That's okay. You don't need every answer before you take a step forward.
Anita's role is not to stand above people and tell them exactly how to live. Her approach is to walk alongside people, ask meaningful questions, encourage honest conversation, and help create space for the next step to become clearer.
"I'm here to walk with you — because purpose is already in motion, and we move forward together."
Let's Put Purpose in Motion.
Whether you're looking for a keynote speaker, exploring Anita's books, beginning a meaningful conversation, or simply discovering Live Tenaciously — you're invited to take the next step.