One of the many things we love about St Francis is that so many amazing people live in this relatively small community. Dune Daisies are particularly fortunate to have not only an absolutely lovely neighbour, but an exceptionally talented advertising agency director living just down the road. I bet you have noticed the beautiful pictures on our equally fabulous website! Well, Gail Petrie is the creative eye behind all of this creativity and we thought you might be interested to find out more about this local daisy blooming in our dunes.

DD: Gail, we have received many compliments for the pictures on our website and we have you to thank for them. What we really love about your pictures is that they show how well you know St Francis. Can you tell us about your history with this village?

Gail: I first came here on holiday with friends in 1981. I had such a wonderful experience that I went home and told my mom how much I loved it. She promptly organised a holiday for us, was smitten and right there and then put an offer in on our house. We moved in a year later and since then it has become the house where our family gathers. For all of us, it is a place of healing and laughter, very close to our hearts To this day, it is still the place where all the family and friends come every December.

DD: How has St Francis changed since you first started coming here in 1981?

Gail: When we first came here, we would have to drive to PE if we needed something as the only shop was the convenience store at the petrol station. All the roads were gravel and sand. But, the hotel was amazing – I wish we still had it! The community and all the holidaymakers would always get together there and everyone had a blast.

For me, the saddest thing now is how much the beach has changed in St Francis Bay. When we first started coming here there were Hobie Cats everywhere and Hobie Beach was busy. We could walk to the river mouth at high tide with about 20m of beach.

DD: When and why did you decide to move to St Francis permanently?

Gail: I moved here permanently after my divorce two and a half years ago. St Francis has always been a place of healing and peace for me, it was my getaway. I had often heard that you shouldn’t live or work in a place that you need to have a holiday from. This helped me decide that St Francis might be a good place to base myself, surrounded by nature. I also knew that my boys love coming here and that they can’t stay away for long, especially when they need some time out.

Gail Petrie Life Coaching

GAP Advertising

  • Creative Campaigns. Marketing Strategies. Design. Publishing. Event Management and Photography.
  • Website: http://www.gap-advertising.co.za
  • Email: gail@gap-advertising.co.za
Gail and Devon

Devon (25)is a computer scientist and is following his passion and working for the South African Radio Observatory (Meerkat Telescope and SKA project). He’s based in Cape Town.

Brandon and Gail

Brandon (27) is a commercial fixed-wing and helicopter pilot and runs his own solar company (Lovemore Crescent is lit up thanks to Brandon).

“One of Gail’s most special moments was climbing into a plane built by my son and husband and flying over sunset rock.” GAIL

DD: What challenges have you faced working remotely or by relocating?

Gail: When I arrived here I was thrown into one of the busiest periods of my career. My biggest challenge has been making sure that I find time for me and my dog Scamp. Taking her out for a walk and spending enough time outdoors, so I try to make this a priority.

Regarding my work situation, I can’t pop into all the events I am organising, so I have to be selective in deciding when to make the trip. Other than that, it’s been amazing. If someone had told me ten years ago that I could work remotely, I would have done it then!

DD: You are a lady of many talents, you have an advertising agency, are a professional photographer and also a life coach. How have all these things played out in your life?

Gail: When I was twenty, I moved from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg on a modelling contract. After a few years, my work as an art director got the attention of the Edgars group and I ended up working for them. It was seven of the most wonderful years of my career; we worked hard, played hard, and I learned so much.

When I got married, I didn’t want to leave my kids at a creche, so went out on my own. One of the companies I had done freelance work for waited for this to happen and then scheduled a meeting with me on the first day my company opened. At the meeting, I was awarded a multi-million rand account. Not bad for the first day of business. I ended up working for them for the next ten years. Honestly, I was fortunate in that I landed many wonderful and high-profile clients, including some of the top private schools in Johannesburg. It all just fell into place. And this was in addition to L’Oreal where I was the agency for 15 years. One particularly fun project we worked on during that time was the launch of the Golden Scissor Award which became the world’s most significant ethnic haircare award. Work has been consistent over the years and I have built wonderful relationships with my clients.

During that time, I always had this feeling that I wanted to study Psychology. I got to the point where I started looking for courses that I could do in the evening, but I kept putting it off as I was so busy and was still raising my two boys. Eventually, about twelve years ago, I did an ontological life coaching course. It was life-changing and at one point I thought about giving up the agency to do life coaching. A part of the course involved doing biometric and aptitude tests. The feedback from this was that I would be most successful if I could find something that balanced my creative side with my emotional and empathetic side. This struck a chord in me and kept on going around in my head. Perhaps I didn’t have to give up on my creative side. So, I kept the agency and when I started looking at life coaching, I went at it from a creative perspective. I tried to approach my workshops creatively. How could I do the one-on-one sessions more imaginatively than just sitting and chatting? That’s when the ‘Who am I’ and the ‘Choosing Me’ workshops were born. They are based loosely on my life and the lessons that I’ve learned over the years. It’s been incredible still being able to do these things from St Francis.

DD: Can you tell us more about your workshops and life coaching?

Gail: When I was in Joburg, my life coaching workshops were with ten people. But at the moment, I am just offering one-on-one coaching with an eye on moving back to groups later. It’s basically looking at the lens we look at life through, how the things that have happened to us in life have impacted us. How we move forward and what we have learned from our experiences. And finally, making the changes necessary to live your dream life.

DD: And how are you living this?

Gail: A lot of people think that because you are a life coach, you must have it all figured out and have all the tools. But for me, it’s about continuous learning. The need to learn on a deeper level to experience things. I often think that some of the things that I’ve been through in my life have been there to teach me how to help other people in those situations. 

I have found it very interesting how at different stages of your life, different people show up in the coaching. For example, after my divorce, I found I was coaching people that were in bad relationships, following that I found myself working with those battling with balancing work and life. After that, people struggling with the empty nest syndrome and then I went through a period where most of my clients had experienced a lot of trauma. That’s really how I concluded that the things we experience are all lessons.

DD: What life lessons have you learned from each of these directions?

Gail: The biggest life lesson I have learnt is to allow what is, to be. If you fight things, you bring fear into them and that never has a good outcome. Also, to get up each morning grateful for all that you have.

DD: How about as a mother?

Gail:  I am so fortunate and have been blessed with having two incredible people in my life, my sons. They have taught me so much about resilience and kindness, they bring an abundance of unconditional love into my life.

My gran used to say, ‘this too shall pass.’ The lesson I learnt from that is that, it will pass. But, what lessons have we learned when it has passed?

If we don’t learn from our mistakes we keep inviting the same stories back in – the same hamster wheel spinning around. That’s how we build resilience.

DD: What has your experience been as self-employed? Would you give any words of advice to businesses starting out?

Gail: For me, it was always about following your passion, that’s something I have tried to teach my boys as well. If you don’t follow your passion, you cannot possibly find what you are looking for. And I think in my case, that is why everything fell into place because I was always doing this. It was the same with photography. I had studied it as part of my training as a graphic designer and loved it. So, when I was working for L’Oreal at one of the Golden Scissor Award events, the photographer didn’t show up and luckily, I had my camera with me. I ended up taking the photos and L’Oreal was so blown away by my work that they asked me to take over the photography for future events. Again, it just happened that I was thrown into that side of my career. Something that was always my passion became a business and I tried never to lose that passion even in the business side of it.

DD: Looking forward, how would you like to focus your energies?

Gail: I am currently working on a life coaching book that I believe is quite unique. My goal is to have it published by the end of the year. The agency keeps ticking over, but that’s also taken an incredible shift. It used to be all retail, but now I am focusing on education and pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceuticals in particular have been fascinating because I have learned so much about diabetes and what people go through. At one of the events we put together a program where doctors were actually walking in patients shoes using AI. We are trying to bring empathy and observation back into the pharmaceutical world as it’s something that’s often missing.

Dune Daisy readers, we have this wonderful person in our community, so utilise our local talent. If you would like to learn more about yourself and begin a journey of self-discovery, contact Gail about her “Who am I?” workshop. Read on to find out more and check out her website: http://gailpetriecoaching.co.za

Know your Daisy, Gail:

  • Born in Bloemfontein and grew up on a dairy farm in the Free State.
  • Her happiest memories are connected to the farm and her two kids.
  • Gail is an animal lover and has Scampi, a golden cocker spaniel (her sidekick), two cats and a very chatty parrot named Scruffy (often to be heard saying ‘goodbye’ in the background when Gail is on a call).
  • Her favourite food is homemade pasta and making pizza with her boys.

“We see the world not as it is, but as we are.”

Albert Einstein

So, who am I?

The “Who am I” program is a coaching journey for discovering who you are and living your dream life.

A powerful practical approach for understanding how you function, learn and change.

Who am I?

How do I view the world?

By taking an honest and detailed look at the story you have been writing about your life, at both the good and bad decisions, strengths, wishes and dreams, and regrets, you will open the door to understanding “Who am I?”

Discover the lens you view the world through and the story you are writing. Are you living into limiting beliefs? Acknowledge what has worked for you and feels right, as well as things that haven’t gone as well and leave you with heaviness and sadness.

This is a  journey to discovery of self.