Sammy Taggett (aka Shoebox Moses) recounts being found in a shoebox in the Philippines, later adopted, and how that origin shaped a deep gratitude that motivates his mission. He explains the nickname "Shoebox Moses," connects it to themes of being found and freeing others, and describes his goal to teach and create educational platforms for orphans so they can find livelihoods. He also notes a recent milestone performing/teaching at the Traffic & Conversion event to over 4,000 people.
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So three years ago now, 2015, like mid-2015, we went back to my orphanage in the Philippines and we found out through a series of, you know, detection work and just like kind of drilling deep into who I am, we found out that I was found in a shoebox in a dumpster. And that's where I started. And I was found and then later adopted out of an orphanage in the Philippines, but I was found in a shoebox. The journey hasn't changed as much as the, as kind of the identity of myself inside the journey. My journey has always been to connect with people, to live a really purpose driven life on a positive tip. Now the difference was I was adopted after being found, which is a huge golden ticket. And I think one of the most beautiful things that my family helped me instill from that lesson or from that story is to be forever full of appreciation and gratitude for being found. And sometimes people don't get that, but I think I have been blessed to understand gratitude on the most insane level. So I live from this intense, huge heart space of gratitude. And that's made the biggest difference for me because what it's allowed me to do was go from being Sammy at first to finding my roots. And then I was actually kind of given this name by my friends and my family. They just started calling me Shoebox Moses because Moses was a homie of mine, biblically, even though I don't even know if I fully understand or believe that story 100%. But he always argued with God. He was found in a basket on the Nile and he freed his people. If there's something that I would love to be able to say I've done, I've shown people how to live a life of spiritual freedom and creative freedom and just be fucking amazing. So Shoebox Moses is just who I've become. The mission to me is to, in the broad sense, to give back and to give back in the way that I know how, which is to teach. And so I know that if I can teach.
Whoever shows up as students, I can teach them a better way to live, whether that means that they can get a different job, they can get a different career, they can follow their path, and they can figure out how to make a living from the space that they're in, like in this case, orphans. And I want to be able to, like, put a platform for education there so they can figure out what they love and how to make a living and not get shoved back into a system that's broken for them because there's infinite wisdom out There they just need to know how to get to it and what to do with it once they get it. And if we can provide that, if I can provide that, then that's the mission. And I'm not fully sure how doing it yet, but I know we're going to do it. At this, which is called traffic and conversion. This was over 4,000 people all seeing who I am and that will all know who I am and all know my mission. And that is the most beautiful thing ever. Because for a long time I didn't know what my mission was. And my mission is to teach and educate and inspire the generation of little little me's everywhere. Maybe it's in the orphanage or maybe it's in a school, or maybe it's my nephews or my niece. But that's what I'm here to do and I've got a platform to do it. And this was the most important thing I could have done by getting the gift of the opportunity to be in front of that many people and just deliver some sick music and vibe for all these people.
It is incredible with a lesson, you know, because this is a big milestone for you.
It is a big milestone. Thank you for saying that, Kyle. Yeah.
So like, how. What have you learned from this experience that you can, you know, so they pass on to others who maybe, you.
Know, maybe the old person will see this or something. What I've always thought this happens to me all the time. This happened at the first big venue I played in Colorado. That was a massive venue. It's happened to me numerous times at big places that I play. If you go freaking big, like if you think huge and you go and you aim for the top of what you're doing, it's so much easier. I swear to God. Even though I know it's like, I don't want to like ask X amount for this or I don't want to say, like, I need all this and I can play in front of, you know, thousands of people and just be worried about that because you can't. And it's so much easier at the top. It is so much easier at the top than it is struggling in the middle. That's the biggest thing I would teach anybody, dude, is.
