Written By: Maya Perry
“I’m a workaholic and it’s easy to be one because I love what I do.”
GiGi Diaz is a midday queen whose brand is simply described as The Conscious Influencer. GiGi explains, “Essentially my brand has always been one of community outreach and positive influence on all that I touch.” GiGi Diaz received the nickname GiGi since she moved from Cuba. “A friend in middle school started calling me that and I hated it but it stuck. Once I got into TV, which was my first 10 years in communications, people already knew me as GiGi and I figured, if I can’t drop this nickname I’m going to make it work for me! So I kept it and used it on air, opened a business with it, my dance studio GiGi’s Academy which was actually just named Top 3 Dance Studios in Hialeah.”
She describes her first media experience, “My very first experience in radio was when I was about 16 years old. I was a columnist for a newspaper called En Contacto News, which was distributed in South Florida and I would often go to radio stations to interview the artists since they were already there. Their agents would have me come do the interview on location. I connected with Victor Suave who was the producer of a show called “Escencia de los 80” which translates to Escence of the 80’s. He interviewed me because he saw my hustle at such a young age and taught me a bit of how the board works and what radio is all about. From there I came across Radio Disney while performing with my GiGi’s Academy dancers at a Marlins game on Family Sundays. The PD was there and saw me MCing for the set my dancers were putting on stage and offered me a job in promotions.
Within a few months I was On Air for Radio Disney Miami. Right before Radio Disney Miami closed down I was offered a morning position with SBS where I worked for a while before moving to iHeartRadio. Fast forward to today, it’s like coming full circle since I currently work on 939MIA which is “variety from the 80’s, 90’s and today.”
GiGi’s hard work and persistence has helped her to elevate in this business.
When asked what she would tell her younger self, she states, “I would tell my younger self to stay focused and definitely work hard, BUT to stop and smell the roses once in a while, to be more in the moment. This is something that took me years to learn to do. Follow your heart, work hard, keep your integrity and don’t sacrifice who you are for a position or a title. In the end, when you rest your head at night it’s not the titles, the money or the fame that get to sleep soundly, it’s your peace of mind.”