How to Be a Voice That Moves The World - Transforming Lives Through Emotional Storytelling

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Welcome to today's episode.

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Today, we are talking about passion and purpose-driven marketing.

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What does that really mean and what are some really great examples of success in that area?

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And we have a great guest who's going to share some fantastic things that she's done over the years in this area.

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Our guest is Genevieve Peturro.

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She is a author, a TEDx speaker, and she is going to share with us some of the best passion and purpose-driven marketing she's done.

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Welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much, Eric.

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So why don't we start out, give us a couple minutes of context about who you are, what you've done?

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There's some really impressive stuff in there.

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In your own words, please.

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Sure, sure.

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Since I was a little girl, I'd watch Mary Tyler Moore on TV playing Mary Richard, the woman who climbed the corporate ladder in TV in the 70s, and it was so exciting to me that she was this independent, single woman living in a big city and having the adventures and just making it a man's world.

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So that's what I wanted, not the traditional Italian family life that my parents wanted for me.

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I was on that track and for 12 years that's what I did.

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I climbed that corporate ladder and I did everything Mary did, and I was single and bought my own place.

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And one day in that crazy busy workaholic life, in a quiet moment, I heard a voice in me ask me if this is the next 30 years of your life, is this enough?

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And, eric, that stopped me cold.

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I didn't even see it coming, but I did realize, literally in moments, that I would be alone in 30 years, work to the bone to make money.

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But what else would I have?

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So I coincidentally remembered this news report I saw of police and social workers taking children out of a home where they were being hurt.

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I called the police and all this was running through my mind because I was thinking children, maybe I could somehow find some children to care for.

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And I asked if I could come in at night after I worked and maybe read stories, because I knew these were emergency shelters and I was welcomed in.

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So I went in and I was reading stories to these beautiful little children who were so traumatized and afraid and had been brought in by emergency, police and social workers and didn't know the next step, the next place for them.

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And over time I just grew so attached to that ritual of sitting on the floor in my business suit with these different group every time reading stories, and then I would leave and I didn't know how or where they were sleeping until I followed into their, their what they called the bedroom, together, two or three on futons and cots and in the same clothes that were ill-fitting and soiled, and you know they were wormy and just went right through me and did all wrong.

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I remember my mom in our bedtime was loving and fun and facts and stories and laughing and pajamas.

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And here I'm looking at these children in the same clothes they've been wearing for I don't know how long, and what I asked when I was leaving was can I bring pajamas next time?

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And the staff said that'd be great.

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Nobody thinks pajamas.

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But that somehow came out and I remember now, 24 years later, that I thought to myself gee, that was a strange thing to come out of my mouth.

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But I brought pajamas.

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I brought so many so nobody would be left out.

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There were little kids at the time and I started handing them out after the next reading session and all the children took them quietly they were always so quiet.

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I went into that room with a caregiver and then there was a little girl and I tried to give her pajamas and she just kept backing away.

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She was just so afraid of me and I didn't know why, but she just kept backing away and shaking her head.

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No, and I tried and tried gently same reaction.

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She was just backing away.

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But she watched me from the corner and I saw her and I gave the other kids the pajamas and when she was still standing there with one of the attendants, I went over with those pink pajamas I had for her.

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They were pink because I pulled them out.

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She had pink and her purple top.

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I kneeled down and I tried again to gently coax her into taking them and I explained pajamas were something she could keep for tomorrow.

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She could wear them all day.

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Nobody would make her give them back to me.

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They were all for her, they were brand new.

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I said don't you want your pajamas?

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And she leaned in and she whispered what are pajamas?

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And, eric, that was it.

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I just couldn't believe what she said.

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I tried to explain them without letting her see how shocked and upset I was, and she took them and, as I was leaving, I turned and she had opened the door for me to see that she was wearing them.

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And that was it.

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I was done with the life I had for so long and I just wanted to, besides, take them all home.

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I just wanted to hug them and hold them and reassure them that they are cared for, and that was the beginning of what I called pajama program.

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After soul searching and a tough time, the small comforts of life and just not really appreciate that a lot of people don't have the basics, something that makes life full pajamas and a good night of sleep.

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So I think that's awesome and you've really, since that moment, done a remarkable job of scaling this program.

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You've done everything from TED Talks on this topic to going on Oprah, going on tons of other TV shows and radio programs, getting donations.

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Talk a little bit about how you've scaled this, because I was in awe of the impact from how you've scaled this.

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I didn't know what I was doing and I just went on my emotion.

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But it was very hard because it made me very vulnerable and, being in the corporate world, I shielded myself from anything emotional.

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And that speaks a great deal to the marketing that I naturally, you know, focused on because I couldn't really tell anybody what I was doing.

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I had a mortgage, I had a good job.

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People in my world expected me to go far as I did.

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I thought being a workaholic in the TV business was the greatest thing ever until this and it just became.

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We can talk about the marketing when you ask me this to explain how I think it helped, had helped open chapters around the US and spread the word.

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And as executive director for the first 20 years, I balanced figuring it out every step of the way with embracing everybody who wanted to contribute in any way possible, because I really didn't know anything about the nonprofit world or anything about growing something from ground zero.

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And then people were asking you know how did you do it?

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Because people wanted to also make changes in their lives and realized what I realized that they had put their real desire in the back burner for either money or for continuing a family dream or somebody else's ideas.

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So it was one step at a time, lots of falls, but I think the marketing happened.

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I won't say by mistake, but we can talk about it.

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The impact has been huge.

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From what I read online, you helped over seven and a half million kids with pajamas and books for bedtime stories and the impact of that is massive right.

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Yeah, I can hardly believe it even when you say it, and it was an incredible 20 years as executive director and founder.

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And then, four years ago, I wanted to share what I say is my purpose.

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Part two share our story to more people to inspire them, Because, especially in COVID, people started to say you know what?

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I want to make a change.

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My life is not fulfilling and I wanted to speak and write my book so that I could be of service and I could be a cheerleader and support people and be honest by telling them the mistakes I made and helping them not make the mistakes and opening their eyes to things and also sharing that it's the most rewarding life ever when you're true to your heart.

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So four years ago, one of our presidents of our board, Jamie, took over and she's doing a great job and now, as you know and anyone will know, it's extended to more of what bedtime means and the rituals that these children don't have.

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So it's grown and being embraced because it's.

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Do any of us get enough sleep?

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That's important for everyone.

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Imagine for these kids.

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Yeah, it's interesting because a story that's very related to this is for many years for work, I traveled to India and that was the first time that I had seen mass poverty, and it's a sad thing to witness and one of the companies that I work with they're actually sponsored an orphanage, because in India there's a lot of people who have children that just literally can't afford anything to take care of them.

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They can't afford the school, they can't afford their clothes, they can't afford food for them, they definitely can't afford anything to take care of them.

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They can't afford the school, they can't afford their clothes, they can't afford food for them, they definitely can't afford pajamas, they can barely afford a good place for them to sleep.

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And so when I saw things like that throughout my life I've traveled around the world, I've been to 63 countries and I realized how good we have it here in the US.

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In a lot of cases not in every case, but when you think about the vast size of the US and then more broadly, the world just a lot of people don't have the basic things they need to even get a good night's sleep.

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That's what sort of made the story hit home for me is that we take for granted a lot of these things and I don't think that there's enough passion, purpose-driven groups out there trying to help the ones that don't have even the basics pajamas and so I see a lot of companies saying, oh, we have a purpose-built product and we have mission-driven company, and I don't think a lot of software companies that say that really are having the same sort of impact.

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Some are more inspirational than others, but I would say, on a spectrum, what you've done with the Pajamas Project and helping millions and millions of kids have a better life and a better experience of getting the rest you need to be a functioning person is really high impact.

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So I'm curious how were you able to do that over the years to scale that from the first giving out pajamas in the first room to helping millions of people?

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What was the key to scaling that?

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I think it is marketing, but it was specifically something I learned because I was desperate.

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As I mentioned, I didn't want to tell anyone what I was doing, because I didn't know what I was doing and I knew I would be scrutinized and I knew people would look at me like I had six heads and I didn't know how to phrase it.

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Whenever I phrased I'm going to I don't want to do this work anymore on TV and forget all the work that's come before to get me to this place.

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I want to give kids pajamas because this is what happened to me.

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I want to give kids pajamas because this is what happened to me and I couldn't find a way to move myself forward.

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I didn't know what to do and I didn't have anyone to help me and I didn't take a chance on being vulnerable.

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But once, when I had nothing left, I spread out the story.

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I met this little girl and I told the story that I just told you, eric, and I started to cry and I didn't realize how much emotion we react to and how much we keep inside us.

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That is a barrier to connecting, because once I started to tell the story because I didn't have any other marketing I realized how powerful the sort of channeling of that story, that little girl, was to many people who heard me tell the story Not only moved me, but there was something in so many people that was also being moved.

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Now I've thought about it.

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People have suggested things, but there must have been some kind of a hole in me and a hole in all of us to not be able to imagine or maybe to feel like she did alone.

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Maybe we all have had that peace in us that feels alone or lonely, or not seen or afraid.

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And she had it so in such a raw place, had it so in such a raw place and when I told that story, I think my emotions and my tears dropped, that that curtain that we have between us and people responded oh my gosh, that is not acceptable.

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Oh my God, how many of these children are there?

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What can we do?

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We're not building a rocket here.

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We can fix this, we can contribute to this, and it was just hard times.

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It's been a love story because the world is driven by emotion and we don't rely on it.

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We are a little more now, I think, since COVID we are trying to live true to ourselves and I'm trying to be out there saying be a voice that moves the world, use your voice, use your heart, listen to the heart voice.

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And I did that.

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I did that in the picture that I used and I did that in describing the scenes and talking about that little girl.

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And even when I speak, oftentimes I cry because it's still raw.

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And that's what led people from all over to connect, to call, to say can we help?

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We're in Idaho, we're in New Jersey, we're in California, what can we do?

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This is not acceptable.

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We want to help those children, love those children.

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So the power of that emotion led a lot of people to want to donate and participate, and it also led a lot of the people who supported you, like everyone from Ted to Oprah to all the other media outlets, to let you come on and tell your story, and I assume that just even added more to the flywheel of more people donating and more people getting involved, right.

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Yes, it led the marketing.

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I didn't plan it, but it definitely led the marketing first.

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It definitely led the movement.

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It definitely led to express really that they got it, that they felt it too.

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It's an amazing our hearts and sharing our hearts is an amazing vehicle for bringing us together.

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It's just beautiful foundation and then I think that enabled I've seen some direct-to-consumer companies that build their entire marketing strategy just off of an endorsement by Oprah.

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But you've gotten so many of those types of endorsements over the years from major media outlets to help tell the story and amplify the impact of it.

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I saw the one story where you took an entire truck of pajamas to was it the Houston Dome?

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Yes, during Hurricane Katrina yes, 11,000 pairs of pajamas.

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Yeah, pairs of pajamas yeah, and so just one initiative after another, like that of having impact when it's most needed, over a long time, I think, just being committed Like it didn't happen overnight, you didn't just get seven and a half million pajamas delivered overnight, you just did initiative after initiative, like that right.

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In the Hurricane Katrina.

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It's the emotion, it's the reason and it's the picture we all saw.

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What would it look like?

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We all saw these people out of a home.

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We all saw the children boarding buses to who knows where.

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They didn't even know where they were going.

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They were just hoping it would be safe.

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We saw it and it pierced right through us and you just start to think about these children being afraid and not having pajamas.

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You piece it all together and it's just heartbreaking and you just can't help but want to put your arms around these people in some way, and I've always felt that the pajamas did that.

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It was like a hug.

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It was not the material, it was what it represented.

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And so this has almost been like a 24-year-long marketing campaign to help children.

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With this and I think this is what you talk about in your book is passion, purpose and moxie in this 24-year crusade.

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Talk a little bit about that.

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I'd love to hear a little bit about that crusade.

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Talk a little bit about that.

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I'd love to hear a little bit about that.

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It's sharing stories.

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Over the years I've heard so many people donors, children who've grown up, caregivers, who worked at the shelters sharing their stories, everything from the first comment when I asked can I bring some pajamas?

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And she said to that'd be great.

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Nobody thinks of pajamas from that story to people telling me that they remember so many people never came back, who would volunteer at the shelter and things, and how glad she was that we came back repeatedly and that it broke my heart to think that other people couldn't go back and we could and I was so grateful that we could and parents who wanted to donate because they said we're giving our children that love that these children are missing.

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So we want to extend our family to some of these children because we know what it means to our children to have us sitting at the bed and to have them giggle and to have them pick a pair of pajamas.

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So we can't imagine what it's like.

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So the stories and the sharing and people who were adopted just sharing their stories about being afraid.

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Rosie Perez came to one of our dinners and she told about being in an orphanage and she shared a very personal story.

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She had written a book and that's why I say it's a love story?

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Because we were sharing stories and I would have never imagined that, my having to result just tell the story because I had nothing else said, no prior experience, fundraising or starting something that was going to grow, and it just blurted out.

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Please, you have to understand.

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I met this little girl and told the story.

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Who knew how connective, magical wand that could be?

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What advice could you give to others who want to do passion, purpose-driven marketing?

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What have you learned over the last 24 years of doing this that you would pass on to people who would like to do something like this?

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Tell your story, tell it, make it.

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If you're vulnerable, it's okay, because that's where we connect.

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We connect when we're raw, we connect when we reach out, we connect when we share and so many of us have stories.

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That's the reason we're doing a lot of things we're doing and if we just try to put in numbers of what we can do and put together a business plan that has to do with the growth and the finances and how much we need to raise, share the reason this touched you.

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You don't need everybody as your customer, you don't need everybody as your donor.

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You need your people.

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Meet the people that will resonate, and it never dawned on me that as many people would resonate, but they did and they will.

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And that's what I tell people.

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I mentor, I coach, I speak.

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Find your people who feel here your story.

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That makes a lot of sense.

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Being a parent, I think most parents would do anything for their kids, and so it makes sense to me that when you told this sort of story, it really connected with a lot of people, because they would not only do anything for their kid, but if other children are in need, they would help them too.

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So I think you hit home for a lot of people, and one of the ways I think, just from what you've shared and what I've read about it, that you were able to really scale this is you were able to get a lot of people to help you, to donate, to be a part of the cause, and I think that a lot of organizations do try to incorporate programs like this.

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Like, as an example, I worked for one organization and they wanted to do an environmental thing, so they, in addition to selling their products, part of the marketing was, oh, we'll plant a hundred thousand trees, which I thought was a great environmental thing, but perhaps on the spectrum is not as emotional as helping children.

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That's much more emotional.

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It's something that people can get much more passionate about Although people were really passionate about trees when I did that campaign and so I would just say or ask do you think that getting people to come on the journey was a big way that you were able to get to scale?

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It like partnering with people who don't earn so that you could do larger scale things and have more impact in terms of the number of children?

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I think that everybody finds something in their heart that's calling them.

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Everybody does and it's just like I said, just find your people.

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Not everybody is your customer, as they say in sale, and all we need is to find enough people who feel the way we feel about what we want to change, what we want to be a voice to move the world about.

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So I think it's great when I see throngs of people helping to clean the oceans and helping to plant trees and helping animals and helping seniors.

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It's just, it's incredible how much heart there is and everybody has their own family stories and has their own experiences stories and has our own experiences.

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And we see it with all the illnesses that have support to find cures because it touched people.

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So just finding the people it touches is a big part of the success and how to grow.

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Find those people you're touching and the only way to do it is to be vulnerable and to share and talk about it I think that's great advice.

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So it's not too late for people to help.

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Even though this pajama project's been going for 24 years, people can still get involved.

00:24:55.243 --> 00:24:57.589
Right, there's still kids out there who need help, is that right?

00:24:58.070 --> 00:25:08.871
yeah, yeah, let me give you pajamaprogramorg, and if you need me to make an introduction or you need anything more from me, my website is jennaviefpitturocom.

00:25:10.154 --> 00:25:15.277
All right, I'm going to link to both of those in the show notes so people can go there and learn more.

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Also, check out your books to learn more about passion and purpose-driven marketing.

00:25:22.358 --> 00:25:26.440
We appreciate you sharing your stories today and being on the show.

00:25:27.425 --> 00:25:28.179
Thank you so much, Eric.