Meet Gigi Hodges

We were lucky to catch up with Gigi Hodges recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gigi, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I grew up without my mother. She and my father had a very strained marriage and so they were on again off again. She left him for the last time when I was about six years old. It was a very hard time for my sister and I who was 10 at the time. I cried for her for many years but as I got older, I realized that she was gone and so I was determined to just move on with my life. I guess I was a fighter and didn’t know it!

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?

In 2013, I decided to try my hand at writing stageplays even though my English professor told me I would never be a writer. My husband and I formed our theater company which was D&R Productions. The name changed recently to Hodges & Hodges Productions. I have to date, six original pieces that I am very proud of!

I retired from the workforce in 2018. Since that time I have been pursuing my acting, writing and directing career and in 2022, I wrote my first book, Hello Mom? It’s Gigi-A Daughter’s Quest for Truth. The book was a huge accomplishment for me as I dealt with the issues I had regarding the way I felt about my mother all my life and how her absence affected me. It led me to uncover the truth about “why” she left (which was contrary to what I had been told) but also to a place of forgiveness 33 years after her death. I’m proud of that.

Currently, I am making a little noise in Canada as I am a part of a theatre company called Kaleo Productions out of Toronto under the direction of Dr. Elaine Brown-Spencer. It is a wonderful experience!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I would say first and foremost, resiliency, compassion, dedication and commitment. I really had to fight through a lot of mental and emotional trauma concerning my mother. The push was constant even when I wanted to give up something inside of me made me push even harder.

Because of how I grew up, it made me sensitive to others. I don’t like to see people hurting. It’s my strength and weakness!

I’m proud of the fact that if I put my hand to something, you can best believe I won’t stop till it’s done! It is important to me to be a woman of my word!

I believe in striving for excellence! I always tell anyone working for me or wanting advice to “commit to the commitment.”

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I just had my 69th birthday so I have lived a little while. Life has not always been a bed of roses but because of my personal relationship with God, I have been able to weather the storms. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I stop, pray and take a step back if necessary! Everyone may not be spiritual so I would suggests having someone in your life that you are comfortable with and talk it out! Take some down time, go on a mini-vacation, read a good book, and most of all, breathe!

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