By Matthew Ashby | Gems From Friends
There are some people who walk into a room looking like a complete story—style, presence, confidence, intention. But when you sit with them long enough, you realize the real story begins beneath the surface.
Gigi Farier is one of those people.
Stylist. Educator. Fitness champion. Women’s wellness and mindset coach. Host of the solo podcast Wake Up to Wisdom. A woman of Crop Over. A minister of enjoyment. A psychology student. And above all, someone who has learned—sometimes the hard way—how to turn pain into purpose.
For most of her life, Gigi never quite fit in. Not fully. Not comfortably. Not in the ways people expected. And for years, she never understood why.
This is the story of how she finally did.
THE SEASON SHE’S IN NOW
When I ask Gigi what season she’s currently in, she pauses—not to search for the answer, but to pick the right one.
“I’m in my PhD season,” she laughs. “I’m a student again. Life with purpose. Life with intention. Life with enjoyment… and getting those degrees, chile.”
After nearly two decades away from school, she returned to pursue a BSc in Psychology. And the irony? School fits now in ways it never did before.
“It feels aligned,” she says. “Back then, BCC and UWI felt wrong. I didn’t feel like myself. But now? I’m grateful. I understand myself better. I understand learning better. And tech—AI especially—has changed how I take in information.”
But the road back wasn’t smooth. Before getting here, Gigi walked through years of unexplained panic attacks, an identity that felt “different” from the world around her, and a body that often shut down before her mind could make sense of it.
WHEN “DIFFERENT” STARTS TO MAKE SENSE
Her panic attacks began out of nowhere.
Passing out in a cafeteria. Presumed anxiety l attacks out in a nightclub. Feeling overwhelmed by stimuli that didn’t seem to bother anyone else.
“I was told it was social anxiety,” she recalls, “but it didn’t necessarily fit. I was social. I knew everybody. The symptoms weren’t always adding up.”
It would take nearly 20 years—and an honest psychologist —to discover the truth.
“I have wjat loosely referred to as AuDHD. Not the Instagram version. The real thing. It can impact schooling, memory, processing, emotional regulation, everything.”
It was the diagnosis that finally explained her entire life:
Why environments overstimulated her.
Why she masked to an extent to survive certain spaces.
Why her intelligence didn’t always translate neatly into academic success.
Why she felt more at home on stage singing than in a room full of people.
Why she moved between hair, music, writing, content creation, coaching, psychology and fitness with ease—and why others may have struggled to keep up.
“My brain is different,” she says. “But different doesn’t mean less. It actually can mean more. I used to think something was wrong with me. Now I understand better how it’s my superpower.”
And perhaps the biggest revelation?
“Underwhelm is just as bad as overwhelm. My brain was under-stimulated. I needed environments that matched my capacity. Once I understood that… everything changed.”
FROM STYLE TO SETS TO SELF-DISCOVERY
Her professional timeline reads like three lifetimes:
John Frieda Salon: where style met structure.
Capello: where she learned the craft, discipline and humanity of hairstyling.
The W Salon: her first managing role, and a crash course in leadership.
BimRock Magazine: where she found her creative voice in styling and interviewing.
Wardrobe styling for artists.
Content creation.
Blogging.
Music.
Fitness.
Coaching.
Psychology.
Wake Up to Wisdom.
To the average person, it may seem chaotic. To Gigi, it’s coherence.
“It might look like whiplash,” she says, “but within my brain? It’s a very organised system. I’m not scattered. I’m multi-dimensional. My mind needs stimulation, creativity and purpose.”
Growing up in Barbados, that wasn’t always celebrated.
“Being different wasn’t necessarily cool when I was younger. I used to get teased for being “eccentric” but what people referred to as “eccentricity” was just individuality in a place that didn’t allow for it yet.”
THE BODY THAT SAVED HER
Her fitness journey didn’t begin with aesthetics—it began with improving health and her quality of life.
After being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Gigi was faced with two choices: medication or movement.
“Fibro attacks your nervous system. I wasn’t depressed, so I didn’t really want the medication option. I needed oxygen in my muscles, I felt like I needed motion.”
The gym became her sanctuary.
And soon, bodybuilding became her calling.
She entered her first show in 2022. She won. Then the next. And the next.
“Bodybuilding taught me something no other area of my life taught me so quickly: anything you want, Gi you can have. You just have to remember that.”
Her trophies are reminders—not of vanity, but victory. Proof that the body can become a home when the mind has felt homeless.
THE BIRTH OF WAKE UP TO WISDOM
Wake Up to Wisdom didn’t come from branding, strategy or ambition.
It came from heartbreak and healing. “I was in the worst relationship of my life. I stayed longer than I should have and I realized—had I engaged more, had I shared more, had I asked for help—I would have never stayed that long.”
Then came the breast lump.
A cancer scare that stopped her whole world.
“I thought I was going to die. I was 20-something and very scared and confused I lost some very important people I loved to cancer so it really scared me. I made a promise to God: if I lived, I would live up to my potential, I would stop hiding so much.”
In March of 2017, she launched Wake Up to Wisdom.
Her voice.
Her truth.
Her tools.
Her healing.
Her hope.
She never expected it to reach as many people as it did—men, women, strangers in the street, women and men jumping on Kadooment day, women leaving relationships, people battling mental illness, people trying to find themselves.
“Im ashamed to say that I actually didn’t even know women could have ADHD until a friend was explaining her story to me and Social media also introduced me to a greater depth of knowledge which saved me in a sense. Wake Up to Wisdom saved me too it was like solo therapy I’m grateful that it also impacted other people positively.”
WHEN SUPPORT COMES FROM STRANGERS
One of the deepest themes of our conversation was support—and who it actually comes from.
“Most of the people who support me aren’t who I expected,” Gigi says. “And that used to hurt me but support isn’t necessarily determined by proximity - it can also be determined by alignment.”
She coined something she calls The Majority Theory:
“If the majority of people are supporting you, don’t obsess over the minority who aren’t.”
And yet, she’s honest:
“It still hurts when the people you want support from don’t really show up and you have to grieve that and also grow beyond it. Your vision isn’t for everybody.”
HER WISDOM FOR ANYONE WHO FEELS STUCK
Before we wrapped, I shared a message from a listener—a woman frustrated by being overlooked at work, feeling unsupported, and constantly pushed down.
Gigi offered four pillars of wisdom:
1. When the environment no longer matches your capacity, leave.
“You’re not a tree. Move strategically! Quietly if you must but move.”
2. Change your perception of yourself.
“See yourself where you need to be, not where you currently are.”
3. Regulate your nervous system.
She offered a simple box breathing exercise:
In for 4, hold for 4, out for 4.
4. Practice gratitude until abundance finds you.
“Even if all you’re grateful for is a sardine and your big toe.”
Bonus:
“Sometimes you’re at the wrong address with the right credentials.”
CLOSING THE CIRCLE
Toward the end of the episode, Gigi reflects on something profound:
“It’s so much bigger than me. I’m here to serve. I’m here to share. I’m here to help people see themselves.”
From a girl who grew up feeling misunderstood…
To a woman who deeply understands herself…
To someone studying psychology so she can positively impact others…
Gigi isn’t becoming.
She has become.
Different.
Never broken.
And deeply, beautifully necessary.