Meet Gina Loring

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Loring. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.

Hi Gina, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Great question! To be an artist, I think you need a certain amount of resilience because there are so many ups and downs. When I first started out, I was super naive, but experience has given me a more realistic, grounded perspective. I’ve learned to figure things out myself, expand my skillset, and be proactive as opposed to waiting for others. It’s very liberating not to put your hopes in the hands of folks who may or may not keep lofty promises, open doors or move the needle for you. It’s wonderful when someone is generous of spirit and genuinely helpful — but ultimately our trajectory is never as important to anyone else as it is to us. Keeping that in mind definitely has helped me become more resilient. I’m a naturally tenacious person, and I get back up when I feel knocked down. It sounds cliché, but I believe there is a divine plan and I never want to look back on my life and feel like I didn’t try my best to follow it. At the same time, you can’t control everything — you have to let things flow, so it’s a balance. I think resilience is about believing in yourself, keeping things in perspective, and remembering that after the storm, there’s a rainbow, so stay the course.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
If you really want the tea, we might need a few hours and a glass of wine lol. My journey has not been easy, but it’s been rich in so many ways. Poetry is both professional and personal for me, and like a life line for navigating challenging waters. Growing up with a single mom who struggled with mental health, meeting my father and brother later in life and then losing them both, being a multi-diasporic person finding my footing in my diverse cultural heritage, being a full time artist for several years and touring alone internationally — all could have their own chapter in the memoir I may write one day. It’s been a lot, and I’m so thankful for the healthy self- expression that poetry and music have been for me.

In terms of my professional endeavors, as a poet, vocalist, activist, teaching artist, and workshop facilitator, I do a lot of poetry readings and workshops at colleges and universities, festivals, and special events. I often do keynotes and performances for women’s history month, Black history month, national poetry month, multicultural events, and everything in between. I also offer coaching for both creative and academic writing and I tutor students from all walks of life. I’ve been an adjunct professor in the LA community college district for ten years now and recently got my doctorate degree in education, so I have a foot in the world of academia, but I’ll always be an artist at heart. For inquiries, feel free to reach out via my website ginaloring.com.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
This is an awesome question. What comes to mind is faith, resourcefulness, and a connection to ancestral lineage, both biological and creative (I’ll explain). First, being resourceful is an invaluable quality because it generates ideas, tools, skills, and relationships. I think people tend to give up too easily. To quote Kris Jenner (you read that right lol) “if you get a no, you’re talking to the wrong person.” I truly believe where there is a will, there’s a way, and with focus, effort, and brainstorming, there are doors waiting to open. This goes back to my earlier point about learning to do things on your own as opposed to waiting for help (there are youtube tutorials for everything). People are more likely to hop on a bandwagon that is already in motion. Use your resources, your connections, your talents, your ideas and your skills wisely, and you can accomplish far more than you think. My advice is to map it out — create a game plan for your goals so you’re not just shooting arrows in the wind. Then, ask for guidance – find mentors who are where you’d like to be, and ask what worked for them.

Next, connection to ancestral lineage is a powerful tool. There have been times in my life that felt like one up hill climb after another, but when I think of what my ancestors endured, it puts everything into perspective. My great-great grandparents had the unimaginable courage to escape enslavement through the underground railroad. Knowing that level of courage and resilience lives in my genetic cellular memory makes me proud beyond measure and gives me the fortitude to forge on no matter what I may be going through. Similarly, learning about the hardships and triumphs of literary/creative ancestors (ie not biological) like Zora Neale Hurston, Billie Holiday, James Baldwin and Jimi Hendrix to name a few, offers immense inspiration. Feeling jaded? Read Billie Holiday’s autobiography and it will stop you in your tracks. Knowing the tremendous hardships others have experienced cultivates gratitude and humility, qualities that will serve you wherever you are in life.

Last but not least, faith is the foundation for everything else. When I’m feeling discouraged, I stop and ask myself, where is your faith? I tell myself, “either you believe in God, or you don’t. Either you believe there is a divine plan for your life, or you don’t. Either you believe the universe supports your success, or you don’t. Either you believe your ancestors and angels are guiding and protecting you or you don’t.” I DO believe all of those things, and the reminder to rest in that is what helps me move forward. Whether you consider yourself to be a spiritual person or not, take a moment to be still, go within, and anchor yourself in something beyond the clutter and chaos of life. Having peace in your heart clears your head and aligns you with your purpose. I think that’s one of the differences between people who have meaningful, fulfilling careers and those who don’t.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
You know that expression jack of all trades, master of none? In my opinion, it’s better to lean into your strengths, hone your skills, and master your natural talents. That’s not to say you shouldn’t learn or explore outside of that arena, but I do think there’s something to be said for focusing on specific skills so they can reach their fullest potential. What do you love to do and have always gravitated towards? Do that. Take classes and workshops and trainings in that. Nurture and practice it to the best of your ability, and give yourself the gift of revealing your own greatness. That said, I still say through social media tutorials you can learn how to do all kinds of things, so don’t limit yourself — feel free to expand your tool kit, but only after you’ve mastered your true calling.

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Image Credits
Head shot by Karol “Bfly” Pabon.

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