The GiGi Meier Podcast

Sometimes you're just living your life. Managing the responsibilities, buried under the weight of everything adulthood demands. And somewhere underneath all of it, quietly and without fanfare, you lose touch with the girl you used to be. The one who existed before the barnacles started attaching.

The jobs. The marriages. The divorces. The failures. The endless accumulation of experiences that shape us in ways we don't always notice while they're happening.

So one afternoon, I got in the car and drove through forty years of my own history in four hours. And by the time I pulled into my driveway, dried tears on my cheeks, I understood something I hadn't before. Those earlier versions of ourselves don't disappear. They're still there, buried underneath everything that came after. Waiting.

In this episode, I walk through what that drive revealed, why most of us never go back on purpose, and what happens when you finally do.

Key Takeaways: ✨ Why scheduling a deliberate audit of your past is the first step to reconnecting with the version of yourself buried underneath the barnacles, and how to do it even if you no longer live where you grew up

✨ How to ask the questions nobody ever asked her, get the honest answers onto the page, and turn what feels like grief into useful, actionable information

✨ How to reacquaint yourself with her by giving back one small, specific thing that life quietly took, because she doesn't need you to become her again, she just needs you to remember her

You don't have to excavate every wound or relitigate every chapter. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is go back far enough to collect the parts of yourself worth bringing forward.

✨ Rewrite. Reclaim. Reinvent. ✨

Because the girl you were before the barnacles still has something to say. And it turns out, you need to hear it.

It’s Monday morning and somehow we kick things off with makeup, short sassy hair, and a Selena Gomez bag before we even mention writing. Miss Tia, Sienna's daughter, pops into the comments, Sienna shares how much she loved her surprise gift, and we spiral into a nostalgic beauty debate—Bobbi Brown, Mary Kay, Avon, and the eternal Sephora vs. Mecca brand wars.Eventually we get back to writing. Sienna is deep in Queen of Smoke, drafting extra chapters to stay ahead of editor notes, while GiGi is wrestling with the chaos that is Facebook Ads Manager and trying to figure out Meta ads through a maze of profiles, pages, and tutorials. Between two writing sprints we talk about forgetting our own characters, rebellious plotting habits, and the ongoing battle to keep a story straight while writing the next chapter.Timestamps for March 9:00:00 Intro00:26 Hair chat, makeup leftovers, and the short sassy cut update02:12 Miss Tia jumps in + thank-you chat about her gift08:34 Sienna’s working on Queen of Smoke + drafting ahead for Jess09:39 GiGi’s Meta ads spiral begins + Facebook profile/page/group confusion17:05 Writing Sprint #137:40 Trying to remember where we left off in our writing and spicy knife play41:46 Writing Sprint #21:05:23 Closing thoughtsCome join us and make your writing goals happen too:📅 Monday – Instagram📅 Wednesday – Substack📅 Friday – TikTok⏰ 7AM CST (USA) 🇺🇸 / 8PM AWST (Australia) 🇦🇺

Sienna’s in chapter-fixing mode, trying to stay ahead of edits because she knows Queen of Smoke is going to need more pages and writing her son's resume. GiGi’s planning to take Meta and BookBub ads classes later in the day and hyping a debut author's book trailer. Timestamps for March 6:00:00 Intro03:06 Sienna on Queen of Smoke edits + needing more chapters ready08:14 GiGi’s plan: write first while fuzzy, then take Meta and BookBub ads classes15:48 Interviewing D.A. Murray and hyping her amazing book trailer and interactive website18:25 Writing Sprint #138:37 Flirty comment section today45:11 Writing Sprint #21:05:36 Closing thoughts Come join us and make your writing goals happen too:📅 Monday – Instagram📅 Wednesday – Substack📅 Friday – TikTok⏰ 6AM CST (USA) 🇺🇸 / 8PM AWST (Australia) 🇦🇺

I had the pleasure of sitting down with sci-fi dystopian author D.A. for a fascinating conversation about her novel Dominion: Ascension and the powerful themes behind it.

D.A. shared how the story explores power dynamics in a modern dystopian world where technology, authority, and control intersect. At the heart of the book is a deeper question about human freedom. We talked about how every person should have the ability to choose their own path in life and how true humanity lies in having the freedom to decide what matters most to us, rather than being confined by systems that claim to know what is best for society.

We also discussed her incredible cinematic book trailer and how she has built a vibrant online community through her Writers in Tech series and by connecting with readers across Instagram and TikTok. One of her favorite things to do is ask strangers what they are reading because she is endlessly curious about people, their choices, and the stories that shape them. As an avid reader herself, she also loves sharing book recommendations with her growing audience.

It was an insightful discussion about storytelling, technology, human nature, and the choices that shape our lives.

On the March 5th episode, we discussed:0:00 Intro and welcome0:46 Dominion: Ascension overview and book trailer6:10 Writing Ascension during the pandemic and the premise18:40 Women in power, empathy, and the corrupting force of control29:03 The real themes: humanity, citizenship, sacrifice, and moral complexity31:49 Her unconventional life path: global career, zigzag growth, entrepreneurship, and freedom41:17 Navigating power, race, gender, and identity in corporate America46:34 Failure, success, and what writing this book taught her about herself53:10 Using AI in trailers, character content, and author experiences58:58 Where to find D.A. online and where to buy Dominion: Ascension59:47 If she could wave a wand, where would she be in a yearLet’s Go Live! is my Instagram weekly series featuring interviews with indie and traditionally published authors, editors, bookstagrammers, and book bloggers from around the globe.​

Sometimes nothing is wrong. Everything looks good on paper. The house. The job. The partner. The kids. The calendar full of social events. You worked hard for this life. You built it intentionally. You stabilized it.

And yet something feels undeniably off.

There’s no dramatic betrayal. No catastrophic failure. No obvious unraveling. Just a low, humming restlessness that creeps in during your morning commute or whispers while you’re chopping vegetables at the kitchen counter. You achieved what you once prayed for, and somehow you still feel unsettled.

And that realization feels both terrifying and frustrating.

In this episode, I unpack what it actually means to outgrow a life you carefully constructed. Why stability can quietly turn into stagnation, how developmental psychology explains the “plateau effect,” and how to expand without detonating everything you’ve built.

Key Takeaways:

✨ Why your first job isn’t to panic or push harder, but to conduct a structural audit of what you are actively maintaining and ask yourself whether you would consciously build it the same way again

✨ How to recognize expansion pressure as a natural developmental phase, conduct a controlled mental experiment with alternate possibilities, and gather nervous system data instead of suppressing or romanticizing your restlessness

✨ How to introduce calibrated vertical growth into your existing life by renegotiating autonomy, deepening intellectual challenge, or protecting creative space, so you evolve through integration rather than destruction

You don’t need chaos to feel alive. You don’t need a crisis to justify change. And you don’t need to abandon your life to expand it. Sometimes the plateau isn’t proof that you chose wrong, it’s proof you mastered this level.

✨ Rewrite. Reclaim. Reinvent. ✨Because the summit was never the end of your story, it was the foundation for your next ascent.

Sometimes you’re just living your life. Running errands. Thinking about dinner. And then out of nowhere, you see a face you haven’t seen in years. A name you haven’t said out loud in forever. Someone who knew a version of you that almost feels like a different lifetime.

And suddenly…boom.

It feels like someone tossed a landmine into your peaceful little campsite and blew everything up. Your nervous system spikes. Your stomach drops. Old memories surface. And you’re left wondering why something that “shouldn’t matter anymore” just rattled you so deeply.

In this episode, I unpack what really happens when the past unexpectedly walks back into the room. Why your body reacts before your brain can catch up, and how to turn that emotional ambush into a breakthrough instead of a setback.

Here are the three steps to navigate it with clarity:

Key Takeaways:

✨ Why your first job isn’t to fix the feeling but to sit with it and call in your circle of influence for support instead of suppressing it

✨ How to let logic prevail by treating your emotional reaction as data, not drama  and asking curious questions instead of critical ones

✨ How to convert that data into action by identifying what the moment revealed about your expectations, comparisons, and next aligned move

Sometimes an unexpected encounter is a Kairos moment. A purposeful interruption that reveals where you’ve grown, where you’re still raw, and where you’re being invited to pivot.

✨ Rewrite. Reclaim. Reinvent. ✨Because you’re not here to relive the ghosts from your past,  you’re here to learn from them.

January slipped away because life happened all at once. Snowstorms. Sick kids. Exploding schedules. Work deadlines. Broken appliances. The kind of real-life mess that doesn’t care about your new planner or fresh goals. One minute you’re setting intentions with a clean calendar, and the next you’re staring at February, wondering how thirty days disappeared in a blur.

And somewhere in that blur, the goals you felt so strongly about are languishing in some app or journal waiting to be implemented. But instead of scraping the whole year because it didn’t start out Pinterest-worthy, let’s restart with a more forgiving approach filled with mercy and grace for yourself.

Here are the three steps to get you back on track.

Key Takeaways:✨ How to “reopen the closed door” edit your goals so they match who you are today, not who you thought you’d be in January✨ Why redefining progress makes momentum sustainable, even on tired, frustrating, real-life days✨ How eliminating decision-making through habit stacking and time containers keeps you moving without relying on motivation

You don’t need a perfect month to prove you’re capable. You need clarity, smaller wins, and a place in your life where your goals quietly live and grow.

✨ Rewrite. Reclaim. Reinvent. ✨Because January is over, but this next month is still yours to shape.

Where the h*ll have we been?

New York is not just a city. It is a symbol. It is the place the world glamorizes as the center of ambition, reinvention, and “the dream finally happening.” From Broadway lights to skyscraper skylines, it sells the fantasy that your life starts when you get there. But when you actually stand in New York, you realize something deeper: the city does not create dream chasers. It reveals them.

This episode was born from my winter trip to NYC with my daughter, watching her step into a dream she has been building toward—photo shoots, agency visits, and the quiet confidence of someone who belongs in the rooms she worked for. And it made me think about every woman listening from small towns, rural places, suburbs, or anywhere in the world where New York feels like a faraway promise. Because you do not need to live in NYC to live with NYC energy. You need what New York represents: hope you can see, motion you can sustain, and a personal “skyline” that expands you right where you are.

Key Takeaways:

✨ Why New York is not where dreams happen—it is where dream chasers get revealed

✨ How to stop treating your dream like a someday thought and make it visible in your real life

✨ “Build your torch”: the one physical symbol that keeps your dream from becoming optional

✨ “Maximize your commute”: how New Yorkers turn dead time into life-building momentum

✨ Practical commute ideas for drivers, train riders, and anyone who works from home

✨ “Create your skyline”: the ritual that makes your life feel awake, expanded, and in motion

✨ How to bring Big Apple energy home without needing a big city, big break, or perfect schedule

You do not need Manhattan to become the woman you keep picturing. You need daily visibility, daily movement, and a ritual that reshapes your identity from the inside out. When you build a torch, turn your commute into a bridge, and create your own skyline, your life stops feeling like a waiting room and starts feeling like something you are actively.

✨ Rewrite. Reclaim. Reinvent. ✨

Because New York City isn’t always where dreams come true. Sometimes, they are true because of you, right where you are.