Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dorothy Wilson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Dorothy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
As a young girl, I watched my mother be battered over and over again. I felt hopeless and helpless to stop my father, who became a raging, violent bully when he drank alcohol. When speaking publicly, I often share that I felt that my hands were tied behind my back and my mouthed taped. I could not help her, but I became determined to break free of the cycle of poverty and abuse for myself, while bringing as many women forward as possible with me. This drive and passion to see others living their best life has guided my life’s work and ministry.
My purpose is to create platforms that help others amplify their message and elevate their brands.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My greatest challenge was to stop seeing myself through the eyes of my past of poverty and domestic violence.
After graduating from high school with honors, I chose the University of Georgia for my Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. I am a graduate of the Knight-Ridder Executive Leadership Program and Leadership Gulf Coast and Leadership Mississippi. I also am a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses, Babson College.
I worked at newspapers in Georgia and South Carolina before relocating to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1997. I accepted Christ as my savior in 1995. The relocation physically and the transformation spiritually have changed the trajectory of my life beyond what I could have ever imagined.
I now am an award-winning publisher who creates platforms to help others amplify your message and elevate their brand. I do this through publishing books, creating magazines and developing creative marketing strategies. I offer 38 years of experience and wisdom in the publishing and marketing fields; own multiple successful businesses, including Gulf Coast Woman and DWilson & Associates publishing service sfor Christian authors; am host and founder of FaithInspiration Network and Living Faith Out Loud Conference; and am co-founder of a top conference for professional women, Success Women’s Conference. Gulf Coast Woman is a regional magazine reaching 64,500 in print and 165,000 monthly online.
My book projects include: New York Times bestseller “Katrina: 8 Hours That Changed the Mississippi Gulf Coast Forever”, “Little Book of Weapons: How To Defeat Your Giants”, and Amazon-bestsellers “Unboxed: 25 Women Share How To Break Free & Soar” and “Live Your Faith Out Loud.”
My success reaches across multiple platforms and levels, and I have been recognized broadly, including as a Top 10 Woman Business Owner by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), SBA Women in Business Champion, one of the Top Most Influential African-Americans in the State of Mississippi and Mental Health Association Humanitarian of the Year.
I am passionate about serving my community, church and growing small businesses and nonprofits, as evidenced by my numerous honors. I have received the Pat Santucci Spirit of the Coast trophy, One Coast Community Leader award, and the Tom Tandler Lifetime Achievement Award for community service.
I have chaired Leadership Gulf Coast and served as president of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce.
I am blessed with a strategic, creative mind and never-give-up mind-set that allows me to push past barriers and leap over hurdles. I am always looking at the bigger picture to see the possibility, not only in ideas and projects, but also in people.
Have you ever had to pivot?
After many successful years in the newspaper industry, I was handed a layoff letter in 2012. How does one reinvent themselves at age 50 after investing 28 years in one direction? How does one survive financially after losing a 6-figure media job in a shrinking industry.
The easy answer for me: another corporate job
The thing I really wanted to? Create my own; never work for someone else again
The thing I didn’t know how to do? Become an entrepreneur
The thing I didn’t have the money to do? Start a magazine
The thing everyone else expected me to do? Go work for a major company in PR/Marketing
The thing I knew I couldn’t do? Compromise my dreams ever again for a paycheck and a job title
I was done with living inside someone else’s box. We all are contained by boxes we didn’t create.
I published a book in 2019 called “Unboxed” to encourage women to break free and soar.
Why?
Women have the tendency – moreso than men – to be boxed in by other’s expectations of us.
By nature, we are nurturers. We want to take care of others.
Yes, we should do that. That’s part of our DNA. BUT, we also must take care of ourselves.
We must push past negative words spoken over us that have boxed us in.
We must understand that we are not the job title or rank we hold.
We must determine in our heart to be all that we were created to do!
Back to that layoff. I turned it into a lay up!
I knew I was made to do more. I had become addicted to the strongest drug available – a big paycheck and benefits.
Guess what? Drugs might make you feel good for a moment but in the end they’re bad for you.
What are you holding unto that’s bad for you?
How are you compromising your values to hold onto a job position? I was laying other people off left and right and going home and crying all night in my bathroom.
Two months after I was laid off, I walked into my destiny.
3 people had told me that a local women’s magazine was for sale.
I set out to locate the owner and kept running into obstacles. She wasn’t part of business circles I ran in. She kept a low profile.
I had seen the magazine before but I had trouble locating a copy. It published every two months and it was at the end of the publishing cycle.
One afternoon, I was driving on a major highway, in traffic, and I heard God speak to me: “Pursue Gulf Coast Woman”.
I wanted to get out of my car right there, in the middle of traffic, and scream: “I have been pursuing it!!!! For 2 weeks now!”
The next day, I walked into the Knight Nonprofit Center, headed to a board meeting.
And there, sitting right in front of me: A fresh stack of Gulf Coast Woman magazines.
My eyes teared up. I knew it was confirmation – even encouragement – of what I heard the day before.
And as they say, the rest is history!
That 24-page stapled magazine published 6 times a year is now a thriving media concern, reaching 165,000 digitally monthly and an estimated 64,500 in print monthly. Revenue has increased 80 percent and I now have a 10 passionate people working alongside me.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
In late 2014, two years after I purchased co-ownership in Gulf Coast Woman, LLC, I was dog tired. Inside my head a voice was screaming: “You’re working much harder than what shows up in your paycheck.” I went to my partner and made a very simple but profound statement: “Go big or go home.” I can see and hear the fear in her. She assumed I was planning to throw in the towel on her. I explained to her that we needed a no-fail growth strategy and we needed to launch if NOW. During that season, I learned a transformational lesson: You will win and win big if you have a God-inspired vision or goal; you develop a system to run that vision; you develop consistent processes to ensure the system works; you hire or contract with the right resources to ensure you are not only effective but efficient; and you set the right timeline for success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gcwmultimedia.com/ https://faithinspirationnetwork.com/ https://www.dwilsonandassociates.com/
- Instagram: Iamgcw/thedorothywilson/faithinspirationnetwork
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GulfCoastWomanMagazine/ https://www.facebook.com/Faithinspirationnetwork/ https://www.facebook.com/dorothy.p.wilson.1/
Image Credits
Photography by Lisa Tilley-Newman