We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hilary Griffin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hilary, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I grew up in small town Oklahoma as a bi-racial girl who was an only child of parents with a broken marriage. I was fairly young when anger, hate, and confusion became normal to me. That environment at home and at school made me put on a metaphorical mask every day. If I talked, dressed, performed, etc. a certain way that meant I was safe and accepted.
I wore my invisible mask through my grade school, teenage and college years. I struggled with my mental health throughout high school all the way through my mid-twenties until I hit a breaking point.
In March of 2013, I was beaten and tased by a police officer while out celebrating a friend’s birthday. Thankfully, the charge that was brought against me was thrown out in court. I didn’t deserve what happened to me that night. I asked the officer questions to understand what was going on in the situation involving people I was with and trying to tell him that I needed my car keys from who he was detaining. He lost control of his emotions while cameras and people all around witnessed him assaulting me. This experience was the traumatic event that left me completely undone… within a month after the incident I was rapidly losing weight, mentally struggling more than ever before, dealing with night terrors and hallucinations. By July of 2013 I had been to multiple ER visits, 3 EOD orders for psychiatric hospitalizations, multiple medications, counseling sessions and complete exhaustion from PTSD, anxiety & severe depression. I had reached the end of myself and didn’t have much hope.
It was hard to cope the way I was used to… I couldn’t just hide behind a mask anymore. Everyone around me saw the manic episodes and/or knew what I had gone through. They were finally hearing me and seeing me… the real me, but it was heartbreakingly under the most unimaginable circumstances.
My approach to healing was getting involved in church, keeping up with counseling, being on the best-fit medication for my specific needs, and treating this like a restart to my life. Through digging into the spiritual side of my faith, I experienced what I can only call a radical healing. It was as if my mind had finally been made up, I wanted to live a full, purpose-driven life because I made it through all of that plus sexual abuse, suicide attempts, and childhood bullying for a reason. God still wanted me here and I became obsessed with knowing why.
By 2015 I was completely off all of my mental health medication, involved in my community, serving on staff at my church and pregnant with our first daughter. I wasn’t wearing a mask anymore but old habits or better yet, old patterns of self preservation were still lingering. I wasn’t performing for anyone but I was behind the scenes a lot. I feel like this dynamic of my personality made me very empathetic to those who maybe felt overlooked or misunderstood. And those were the very people that I had in mind while creating content as the church’s Social Media Coordinator.
And then it happened… I was sitting in a church staff meeting when a guest card was being shared with everyone at the table. “I saw a post on social media and came to church today. I gave my life to Jesus!” I sat there in awe. I was overwhelmed by the power of social media content. That one person’s life could be changed in the same way that mine was because of a post they saw on social media. The people who were lost, broken & disconnected were seen, heard & invited by my content. My mask was fully melting away & theirs was, too.
Now it’s 2025, I am still married to my husband who was there for it all. We have two beautiful daughters that I raise to have radical faith and strong mental health awareness. I am a Meta Certified Marketing Strategist, Communication Enthusiast & the Founder of The Social Way, A Content Production House + Social Media Studio. I have been creating content for over 10 years with the intention of making people feel seen, served & supported.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a Meta Certified Marketing Strategist, Communication Enthusiast, Influencer Advisor, Founder of The Social Way, A Content Production House + Social Media Studio and Creator of Oklahoma Social Club, a lifestyle brand and local community hub offering merch and meetups for Oklahoma-based influencers and content creators.
I have been dedicated to creating content for over 10 years with the mission of making people feel seen, served & supported.
At The Social Way, I coach creators, advise on influencer marketing campaigns, and consult with brands and business owners looking to grow their influence, impact, and income through content. Whether I’m building strategy behind the scenes or producing scroll-stopping content with my clients, I approach everything through the lens of story-infused communication.
Oklahoma Social Club was born from a desire to celebrate and connect trailblazing locals. The creators and storytellers making waves from right here in the middle of the map. Through signature apparel and intentional in-person gatherings, we create space for community, creativity, and collaboration among Oklahoma’s rising voices.
And when I close my founder’s laptop, I’m showing up online as a family content creator. I share everyday life as a wife and girl mom, documenting our Oklahoma adventures, travels beyond, and the simple, memory-making moments in between. My content is rooted in faith, personal growth, and relatability curated for modern moms on the move.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, the three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are: radical faith, empathetic curiosity, and intentional communication.
1. Radical Faith
Faith is what’s carried me through both my personal and professional breakthroughs. I’ve invested deeply into my spiritual life, not just praying when things felt hard, but studying the history and truth of what I believe as a follower of Jesus. It’s not performative, it’s personal. My faith grounds me in purpose, gives me resilience, and helps me lead others with conviction and compassion.
If you’re early in your faith journey, my encouragement is to just start. Start by reading the Bible, not for rules, but for rich history and stories. Get curious about why it’s lasted so long. Ask people you trust why they believe in Jesus. And then don’t stop there. Faith without action is dead. You don’t have to have it all figured out to put movement behind your belief. Whether or not you share my faith, I’d say this to anyone: if you believe there’s something greater ahead of you, what are you doing today to walk toward it?
2. Empathetic Curiosity
I live and lead with a lens of empathy and curiosity. I want to understand people, not to challenge them or prove them wrong, but to make space for multiple truths to exist based on our lived experiences. I always say, I dip my curiosity in empathy. That means I can hold my own perspective while also honoring someone else’s, even if we don’t agree.
If you want to develop empathetic curiosity, start by paying attention to how you perceive others. Ask yourself, am I trying to be right, or am I trying to understand? There’s a big difference. I believe curiosity without empathy can become a weapon, but curiosity with empathy builds bridges. It makes you more enjoyable to work with, deepens your relationships, reduces conflict, and strengthens your emotional intelligence. You develop it by listening, really listening, without rushing to respond.
3. Intentional Communication
My faith and empathy have set me up to see people, but communication is what helps me connect with them. That’s true in life, business, content creation, motherhood, everything. I’ve invested a lot of time into understanding how people think, how they speak, and what they actually mean beyond their words. I created a tool based on the “Seven Frequencies of Communication” by Erwin McManus, where I expanded the concept into something practical for my clients and community. It helps people not just talk better, but connect better, because communication is so much more than what is said.
If you’re just getting started, here’s a simple exercise: audit your communication daily. Reflect on how you spoke to others, how they responded, and whether the way you communicated matched your intention. When you can spot those gaps, the space between what you meant and how it landed, that’s where your growth lives.
If you want a deeper dive, message me on Instagram (@hilary.griffin) and I’ll send you the guide I created. I believe communication is the foundation of everything. Great parenting, great leadership, great storytelling, and great marketing all begin with it. If we taught more people to be healthy communicators instead of just good speakers, we’d transform classrooms, workplaces, and communities.
These three values, radical faith, empathetic curiosity, and intentional communication, show up in my business and personal life every single day. They’ve shaped who I am and how I serve.
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?
I believe it’s best to go all in on what you’ve been divinely designed to be strong in. I don’t think we’re meant to be all things to all people. You were uniquely called and created to be exactly who you are today. Your experiences — the good and the hard — along with your story and skills, are part of you for a purpose. So I say, double down on you. Don’t try to be somebody you’re not.
Something I often say to clients and friends is, “lead in your lane.” When we jump around trying to be great at everything, we get distracted, our focus gets diluted, and we miss out on the full potential of what’s possible when we stay rooted in what we’re actually strong in. A lot of people end up burned out because they followed a path that didn’t fit them, just because someone else said they should. Burnout is often waiting at the end of misalignment. Even things like anxiety or depression can be connected to that sense of being out of sync with who you really are.
So yes, double down on your strengths, but first, you need to know what they are. For me, that clarity comes from my faith. I know who I am. I’m an overcomer, a daughter of God, and I believe I’ve been divinely called, designed, and created for such a time as this. My story and my skill set are assigned to specific people. And if I abandon that assignment, I won’t experience all that life has for me.
There was a season when I believed I wasn’t meant to be the leader I felt called to be. I thought I always needed a business partner to be successful, or a friend or family member to co-sign my ideas. I was outsourcing the very things I’m best at because I was stuck in self-doubt. But eventually, I realized that the only person who truly knows what’s best for me — besides God — is me. So I decided to go all in. I started trusting what God said about me, and on the other side of that trust, I’ve experienced my greatest breakthroughs and biggest blessings.
We’re not called to just sit in our lane. You’ve heard the phrase “stay in your lane,” but I’d say don’t just stay — lead. Lead in your lane. Because when you do, you’re not just moving forward for yourself. You’re blazing a trail. And the people who are coming up behind you, with stories that may sound a little like yours, or who are developing skills you’ve already mastered, they’re going to be seen, served, and supported because you chose to lead.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hilarygriffin.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/hilary.griffin
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/hilaryanngriffin
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-griffin
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@hilary.griffin
Image Credits
Jaylea Thompson
