I’ve often alluded to my "non-traditional" family and upbringing, and today I am finally sharing the story of how I was raised not by my biological mom and dad, but by other incredible humans who are not related to me by blood.

It's really my "different" upbringing that's shaped me and my approach to everything I do.

Here at GCPR, we value different, diverse, and going against the grain.

I believe that in order to make a change, we must do differently, think differently, and act differently than the current status quo.

That's why we are constantly trying to go against the grain, whether it’s by revealing the price of our signature PR Starter Pack program at the BEGINNING of our PR Masterclass or doing pre-black Friday sales to separate ourselves from the noise, or offering transformative live PR workshops every single month at a price point that’s less than 1/2 of what other coaching programs cost.

It's also why PR programs are unlike anyone else's since I have never worked at a PR or marketing agency.

Maybe it's our different approach and journey to PR that's resulted in why we've been blessed with such a diverse small business community unlike any other.

Because at the end of the day, I really believe that your life and your business are a reflection of YOU.

Your values, your perspectives, your ability to shift limiting beliefs and re-write narratives that are no longer serving you.

It's your story (not your products or services) that draws people into your world and builds that bridge of connection.

When my biological father passed away when I was 3 years old, I was blessed to inherit a Taiwanese god dad--a family friend, who, even though he didn't have kids of his own, supported me like I was his daughter.

Dan is the kindest, most generous, and pure-hearted man who has always allowed me to "choose differently" and "be different" while I forged an untraditional career path.

To this day, he still wears his worn-out New Balance shoes and 20-year-old shirts with holes in them because he doesn't care about material items or what other people think.

Most inspiring is his constant pursuit of learning.

Just 2 weeks ago when I visited him in California, we took a walk on the beach, and even though he is a NASA engineer, he still picked up rocks in the sand (like a little kid), asking questions about where they came from and how the caves up ahead came into formation.

Here we are with my "mom" Pam (more on that below) and my husband 2 weeks ago in California:

Dan, my god dad, never judged me for quitting my stable job as a U.S. Diplomat to start "something of my own", and always cheered me on as I took risks, struggled to figure it out, and pursue a less stable career path.

I remember sitting in my room in his house crying at night, thinking that I might have made the wrong choice in giving up my Government pension and stable career while barely managing to get by on unemployment, wondering what the universe had in store for me. My ego was bruised, and I felt lost, but I knew I couldn't keep going down the stable path that was making me miserable inside.

Looking back, I am grateful for his support, non-judgment, and creating a space for me to "figure it out" as my entire life was a big pile of mess.

Dan even let my friends live in his house for years while they were experiencing financial trouble, and never charged them a penny.

Needless to say, from Dan I learned about acceptance, being true to yourself even if the future looks uncertain, and not being afraid to do the "unpopular" things that might not look good on your LinkedIn profile for a few years while you figure it out.

Now I want to talk about my Black mom, Pam.

At age 11, in 6th grade, I met my best friend and "sister" Jessica (see photo below), who is Pam's daughter.

When my biological mother and I were kicked out of our house by my ex-step father in 8th grade during their bitter divorce, I had to move to China at the last minute for 9th grade and go to boarding school for a year. During that difficult time, Jessica read all of my tear-drenched letters and AOL instant messages about how I missed hanging out with her and my life in the U.S., which I was uprooted from without advanced notice.

After 1 year in an oppressive boarding school in China that seemed like an eternity, Jessica, her sisters, and her Mom, Pam, invited me to move in with them. In many ways, they saved my life.

I finished the rest of my high school years with them, and it opened my eyes to so many things, including what it was like to be Black in America and family dynamics that were different than my own.

I call Pam my "mom", even though we share no blood nor visual resemblance, and from her, I learned about courage.

You see, she was raised in an abusive household in the 70's in the projects of Washington D.C., where she was told by school counselors that, as a Black woman, she would be no more than a housekeeper for "rich folks" at best.

She rejected that story and got herself into a top medical school while nursing her newborn baby while graduating at the top of her class, against all the odds.

She went on to raise 4 brilliant and beautiful daughters, including my best friend/sister Jessica, and did it as a single parent. All of her daughters went to ivy league schools, and 2 of them have advanced degrees from Harvard. Through her extraordinary courage in overcoming unspeakable struggles, she forged a new reality for her children and rewrote her story.

I remember spending Sunday mornings in front of the TV taking Jessica's sister's braids out for hours and going to the Black church in LA to hear Pam sing in the choir. I remember the curious look on everyone's faces as we would sit together during service, and Pam introducing me as her 5th daughter, who I really feel like I am to this day.

From being a perceived "outsider" who was accepted as a member of Pam and Jessica's family, I learned about courage, love, and belonging even if it looked "different" from the traditional definition.

Here's me and Jessica in 1999 and 2019. (The glow-up is REAL!)

Needless to say, the holidays always have an interesting and different feeling for me for obvious reasons, and the idea of "where I grew up" is understandably a loaded question.

As we end the year, I want to leave you with this:

--> They say that your life is determined by the quality of the questions you ask, so instead of asking, "in which ways do I not belong, or don't feel accepted, or good enough?" I challenge you to ask better questions that can make you feel connected and expanded.

Questions that tap deeper into yourself instead of being influenced by outside factors, such as: "How can my story invite someone else into my world and make them feel seen?"

By reframing a question, everything changes.

For example, I don't see myself as an unwanted child, an outsider, or someone who never truly belonged to a family.

Instead, I use my "different" upbringing and experiences as a way to belong anywhere and everywhere, and by doing so, I invite others to feel like they belong too, as a result of my sharing my journey.

So as we head into the 2 weeks remaining of this year, ask yourself: "How can I use my story, challenges, and vulnerabilities as a way to connect, elevate, and inspire, instead of keeping my small, stuck, and stagnant?"

This is a transformational question every member in our PR Starter Pack has asked to get featured and go bigger with their message, and I invite you to do the same.

I can't wait to meet our members on our value packed monthly PR workshop coaching calls and this month for our quarterly call with a VIP journalist who will give members actual feedback on their angles and pitch. It's really the community and connection in knowing you're not alone in this scary journey of getting PR for your business that binds us.

So, no matter where you are, what you're doing, or what you're struggling with right now, know that we see you, we feel you, and we are here for you.

We are all connected in more ways than we know.

Cheers to the story of YOU becoming more of YOU,

Gloria

PS: I love getting DMs from our members like this!

PSS: If you're already in the PR Starter Pack, you'll get an email to submit questions and join me on our transformative calls every month. We'll chat about the state of media, insights from the industry, workshop end-of-year stories to pitch, what we've learned about PR in 2022 and so much more. Stay tuned for more updates to the amazing program and I can't wait to see you on the inside!

I have a Black mom, Taiwanese dad, 4 Black sisters, and no, I'm not adopted