We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Gallaun. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.
Gina, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
I had done this really cool and adventurous thing of quitting my job, going on a world trip, interviewing women around the world on what courage had looked like in their lives and published a 30 day journal with real courage stories and journaling prompts from women around the world. I felt inspired writing their stories and had so much fun creating the journal – but when it came to naming the business I was publishing the journals through, I felt stuck!
I had a note with possible ideas on my phone. None of them felt right and I deleted them one by one. I invited a few people to brainstorm names with me over cocktails. Rachael asked the question that set me off in the right direction: “This journal is about courage. When you think back to your childhood, what courage moments come to you?”
With this question floating in the air, a childhood memory came to me from a vacation in France. As I remembered the fragrance of the pine trees, images came back to me of my Dad returning from the local boulangerie with two baguettes jutting out of his backpack. Slowly chewing the fresh buttered bread topped with a sweet layer of smooth, brown Nutella, I watched the stunning ocean waves on the nearby beach. The curls of the Atlantic Ocean piled 10 feet tall before crashing on the shore near our campsite on the west coast of France. My dad and I loved to swim in the ocean together on our family summer vacations, but these intimidating giants blocked our plans.
Every day the ambulance came to help someone who had tried to get over the crest but ended up with a broken arm after being tumbled by the forceful water and thrown on the beach. However, a few people somehow made it beyond the long surf without ending up in an ambulance. I saw them floating and swimming in the calm part of the sea. Dad asked the locals how they made it to the other side of the breakers. The secret was to dive straight into the trough and swim right through the wave. Dad tested the concept and succeeded.
My first memory of facing my fear and consciously deciding to be brave happened right here when Dad asked, “Would you like to go swimming with me?” Honestly, no. From my 12-year old perspective, these waves looked like monsters. At the possibility of getting caught by a breaker and thrown down to the ground, fear grabbed me and tightened my chest. But I loved swimming in the ocean with my dad! He had found a way through the surf to the other side, and he was inviting me along. I took Dad’s hand and said yes.
He carefully observed the rhythm of the swelling waves for the right moment and shouted, “Run!” My heart was running as fast as my pounding feet, and I dove head first into the belly of the towering wave. I popped out on the other side totally okay. Dad and I charged three more waves until we made it to the swim-friendly part of the ocean. We took a deep breath and laughed, flipping onto our backs to float with our toes playfully poking out of the water. My muscles relaxed. Eyes closed, I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin and the support of the gentle swell beneath me. I listened to the singing seagulls. We had made it to the other side.
Thinking about this memory, I felt inspired! I wanted this courage memory to inspire the name for a business that was supposed to inspire women to take small steps of courage in their everyday lives. There was only one problem – I still couldn’t think of an actual name. I called my Dad to ask for the name of the town we stayed at, but the name didn’t sound right for a business. I looked up French words for “wave”, “dive”, etc., but none of them felt like a match for the business.
Finally I sat down with Angela who had successfully published a fitness journal years before. I told her my story and she said “What about ‘Waves & Words’”? I knew then and there that that was my business name. I loved how it captured both my childhood courage story of diving through the waves and the words I used to tell inspiring stories from women across the globe and the words my readers used to journal about courage in their own life.
My big take-away from all of this is – invite people into your business naming process! Alone, I felt stuck. It was Rachael’s question and then Angela’s suggestion that led me to a business name I love!
Gina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Originally from Germany, I spent the last decade of my life in Europe’s leading startup hub, Estonia, building “money without borders” at Wise. I was part of the early team that turned a now world-renowned Estonian startup into a global multi-million-dollar business. After many thrilling years building innovative FinTech, I decided the bravest thing to do would be to quit my job and go on a world trip that eventually guided me to plant roots and start a family in Colorado.
On this trip, I interviewed women from around the world on what courage looked like in their everyday lives. That was for my own benefit. My brain easily goes to a place of worry, so I have made a conscious effort to surround myself with people who don’t make fear-based decisions.
From interviewing these women, I learned that for some of these women being courageous meant:
– Canceling a wedding
– Learning how to climb a mountain even though they were always the worst kid at sports
– Just taking a day off and resting in a busy session
– Drawing a healthy boundary with their family
I found their real life courage stories so inspiring that I wanted to share them with others. I also asked these women to each come up with journaling prompts to offer to women that read their stories.
I turned these real everyday life courage stories from around the world into a 30 day courage journal where you read a real story of a women somewhere in the world living version of courage and then you have a journaling space to think through what this story could give you with the help of that woman’s journaling prompts.
What I feel most proud of are the messages I have received from women who have worked through the book and how it changed their life’s trajectory! I just got off the phone with a 62-year old lady who, after reading the mountain story on Day 1 of the book, thought about the journaling prompt that came with it: “What fear is holding you back from experiencing bliss in your life?” She said to herself “I would love to experience the bliss of playing the piano but feel too old to learn it”. Then she asked herself “What if I am not too old?”, to which she responded “Then I would learn how to play the piano!”. She is now taking piano lessons and loving her experience of becoming a piano player. It’s inspiring to hear people make courageous decisions that set their lives on a different trajectory!
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Simon Sinek’s “Infinite Game”. It’s about the idea that business is never a finite game. There are no clear rules on when the game of business is over and who the winner is. Business is an infinite game where the rules change and the objective is not to win, it’s to keep playing towards your mission. It made me think that the most important thing about my journal is not how many copies I sell this month. It’s that it’s totally possible that in 200 years from now, a woman will find a copy, read a story from a woman on the other side of the world being courageous and it will speak to her and change the reader’s perspective to whatever courage as a woman looks like in 200 years.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The first book signing I ever did in my entire life. The first hour, nobody showed up. The few customers that came by the store the book signing was happening were not interested in the book. I stood there with my books, feeling like the kid whose birthday party nobody showed up to. I thought “Nobody cares about what I did here” and “What I did was stupid”. When my husband called me to ask how it was going, I almost cried. I hung up on him fast so people in the store wouldn’t see me cry. I would have loved to grab my things and run away. And then, an hour later, everyone showed up at once. Not only people I knew and had invited, but also people who had heard about a book filled with courage stories from all over the world. Who wanted to buy it because they face hard situations and needed courage to navigate them. All of this to say – creating something and putting it out there is freaking scary and takes lots of courage! Cheers to anybody who created ANYTHING this year and put it out there even if it felt scary – no matter if it’s a business, a podcast, a career switch, a new product or a blog post! Well done, you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wavesandwords.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wavesandwordsinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wavesandwords/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/waves-and-words/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@WavesAndWords
- Other: For any CanvasRebel wanting to dive into a 30 day courage adventure with inspiring stories from women across the world and journaling prompts, get the book through wavesandwords.org for 10% with the discount coupon REBEL.