Long before I ever held a leadership title, I was standing on a mountain top in Australia, staring out at a horizon that felt impossibly far away and strangely familiar at the same time.
I didn’t have a plan.
I didn’t have a safety net.
I didn’t even have language for what I wanted.
What I had was a feeling. A knowing. A quiet, persistent voice that said, there is more for you than this.
That voice would become the most important leader I ever followed.
Before Leadership, There Is Identity
We’re taught to measure success by outcomes. Titles. Money. External validation. But leadership doesn’t begin when someone hands you responsibility. It begins the moment you decide to take responsibility for who you are becoming.
The truth is, I didn’t set out to be a “leader.” I set out to be honest with myself.
I followed curiosity before credentials. I followed creative pull before conventional wisdom. And I followed my values long before I ever articulated what they were.
That decision changed everything.
From the Mountain Top to Hollywood
Leaving Australia for Hollywood wasn’t a strategic career move. It was an act of faith. I was young, naïve, and wildly committed to the idea that life could be more than predictable.
Hollywood wasn’t glamorous. It was humbling.
There were closed doors, empty rooms, and long stretches of wondering if I had misunderstood my own calling. But I learned something essential in those years: rejection doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path. Often, it means you’re early.
Dreams don’t arrive fully formed. They arrive as fragments. You build them as you go.
🎶 Music Taught Me How to Lead Before Business Ever Did
Music wasn’t just an art form for me. It was an education.
I wrote, recorded, and released eight albums. I toured in a van. I slept on floors. I performed night after night, learning how to read a room, hold an audience, and tell a story that made people feel less alone.
I worked with world-class musicians and artists who showed me what discipline, humility, and mastery actually look like. Creativity, I learned, isn’t chaos. It’s commitment.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was learning leadership in its purest form:
• Showing up when no one is watching
• Taking responsibility for your craft
• Holding space for others
• Building trust without authority
Those lessons would follow me everywhere.
The Pivot That Looked Like a Risk and Felt Like Home
When I transitioned from music into technology and corporate leadership, many people were confused. Some were skeptical. A few were openly dismissive.
But here’s what they couldn’t see: I wasn’t abandoning my identity. I was expanding it.
The same instincts that guided me on stage guided me in boardrooms. Pattern recognition. Emotional intelligence. Storytelling. Vision. The ability to connect dots and people.
I went on to lead complex programs at Fortune 500 companies. I worked alongside extraordinary leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. And once again, I learned that the best leaders aren’t the loudest in the room. They’re the most aligned.
💫 Alignment Is the Real Power
Every major shift in my life came down to one thing: alignment.
When your inner world and outer actions are in sync, momentum follows. When they aren’t, no amount of success feels satisfying.
Leadership rooted in alignment looks different. It’s less about control and more about clarity. Less about proving and more about building. Less about image and more about impact.
And alignment begins with intention.
✍️ Write It Down. Name It. Build Toward It.
One of the most powerful things you can do is write down who you want to be before the world tells you who you should become.
Not your job title.
Not your income goal.
Your identity.
What values will guide you?
What kind of leader do you want to be when things get hard?
What story are you ready to outgrow?
From there, you create a plan. Then a body of work. Then a brand that signals truth rather than trend.
Your brand is not a logo. It’s your reputation in motion.
⭐️ You Are Allowed to Become More Than One Thing
The biggest myth about leadership is that it requires consistency of role. What it actually requires is consistency of self.
You are allowed to evolve.
You are allowed to pivot.
You are allowed to dream bigger than other people can imagine for you.
If I can go from a mountain top to Hollywood, from touring vans to boardrooms, from artist to executive to entrepreneur, so can you.
Not by copying my path.
But by trusting your own.
Leadership begins the moment you choose who you’re going to be and commit to becoming them, one aligned step at a time.
That choice changes everything. ✨
xo,
Gilli
