Up Close with Sam Earleywine: The Former Rugby Pro Ready to Tackle Anything

When Sam Earleywine suddenly lost her job in pharmaceuticals, she did the natural thing and called her dad for advice. 

Dads have a way of cutting right to the chase.

“He said, ‘Did you like that job?” Sam recalls. “I said, ‘Not really.’ He said, ‘Go find a job you love.’”

Sam thought back to her high school job working at a lawn care company, mowing grass and pulling weeds. She loved it. 

So after earning big money in pharmaceuticals, she took a crew position at a Colorado landscaping company mowing grass, then spent a decade working her way up to management, eventually overseeing a portfolio packed with big clients.

Now, she’s the Northern Virginia branch manager at Level Green Landscaping, proving two things: hard work pays off, and listen to your dad.

Lessons from the Field

Sam played professional rugby for the Glendale Raptors in Colorado for nearly five years after a USA Rugby coach watched her tackle a player on a men’s team during a college scrimmage and recruited her. 

Growing up in Iowa, her main sport was softball and her skills earned her a scholarship at Wayne State College in Nebraska.

Lessons learned on the field translate well to her role as a leader on the job, she says.

She played varsity softball as an eighth grader and was team captain by her freshman year. 

“That rubbed some people the wrong way,” she says. “But I was never a follower. I’m not a very vocal leader. I’m not bossy. I lead by example. I do what’s asked of me and people follow along.

“I’m never going to ask you to do something that I haven’t done myself,” she says. “I started at the bottom, with a push mower and a weed eater in my hand.”

Fearless on the rugby field, it takes a lot to knock her down. 

But when a broken rib sidelined her, and was taking a long time to heal, she had to make a decision. 

“I decided to be an adult and go all in on my career.”

Wearing Many Hats

As a branch manager Sam deals with everything from multi-million dollar contracts and workman’s comp issues to hiring the office cleaning service. 

But when she talks about the rewards of this work, she talks a lot about people. 

“When all my guys come back safe, that’s a good day,” she says. “And when we get a positive email or call from a customer, that’s a good day. I make sure I email our whole branch when that happens. People expect us to be perfect — that’s what they’re paying for, so when you get a call, it’s usually because they want something more from us.” A great compliment feeds her soul for a week.

A landscaper at heart, she still gets satisfaction from the basic stuff. 

“I love driving by a property where I planted trees a few years ago and those trees are bigger and still growing,” she says. “I love seeing that 3-gallon shrub I planted seven years ago is now part of the property’s corner marquee sign.”

Raising Salem

Sam and her wife, Brittany, a preschool teacher, have an 18-month-old daughter, Salem. 

They soon realized parenting would be easier if they were closer to family, which prompted their move from Colorado to the mid-Atlantic where Brittany‘s family lives.

She and Brittany met on a St. Patrick’s Day, two rare non-drinkers at a bar on the Irish holiday. Four years later they were married — on St. Patrick’s Day. 

When Salem was born, “That was a life changer, for sure,” Sam says. 

She was walking by 9 months and now, at 18 months, surprises and delights them every day.

“The other day she said, ‘octopus,‘ and we were like, where did she learn that? It’s so cool to see her learning things we didn’t teach her.”

Make a list of things Sam loves and you end up with fishing, trips to the beach, a sidewalk with a clean edge, the Denver Broncos, (she’s learning to love the Baltimore Ravens) and she’s a huge fan of military history, devouring books, movies, documentaries and podcasts. She was thrilled to volunteer on a landscaping project recently at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC.

Finding Her Right Place

It was a big change to move across the country and leave a landscaping career she invested a decade in to start a new chapter at Level Green.

Was it the right move? Company owners Bill Hardy and Doug Delano soon showed her it was.

“Both Bill and Doug checked in with me several times my first month, taking me out to lunch, seeing if I needed anything, making sure that what they advertised to me was really happening,” Sam says. “That’s unheard of at a company this size. They could be doing anything — or nothing if they wanted to. I found that incredible.”

The sense of care, compassion and family at the company touched her, she says. 

“I’m at the right place.”

Want to Join the Team?

Sam is just one of the dedicated team members we have here at Level Green Landscaping. And we’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.

Are you ready to work for a strong, supportive company where even the owners have your back?