Staying Sain: From Grief to Growth

How a mother and daughters’ hard times have blossomed into a drive to honor the one they lost and give back to others grieving.  

A Family Affair

After President and CEO of Visit Orlando, Gary Sain died suddenly in 2012 his wife and daughter used their grief to create a way to help others in his memory.

Mother and Daughter team Pam and Olivia Sain know about hard times, but from their experiences they created a brand to help others struggling called Staying Sain. Their purpose is to provide a grief support system during any point in a persons’ coping journey.

“Our main message is all about overcoming our obstacles,” Olivia Sain says.

In addition, the team wrote the book “iBrand: The Next Generation” an idea of Gary’s which includes advice straight from his writings as well as stories and personal accounts from friends and colleagues.

By using his words of wisdom the ladies have found a type of therapy in fulfilling his dream and adding to their unique brand.

“We would meet people who knew Gary and hear stories about the interesting things he did that we were never aware of- like little gifts we received learning about your loved one.” Pamela Sain says.

From there, the newest creation from the mother daughter-duo is LifePlan. A workbook follow-up to iBrand which Pam explains as a personal goal setting diary.

“It talks about your visions and passions, finding your purpose all of these different things that are important to get to the next level of our career and also just following your passions, it’s kind of a road map.” Pamela explains.

Labor of Love

Olivia and Pam explain that the books prompted them to push forward with the Staying Sain message, which is truly a passion for the both of them. They aim to provide a sensible resource for people going through hard times in their lives. Currently Olivia and Pam are working closely to provide empathy training to the workplace. The ladies feel that most people spend more time at work than home and compassion training within HR departments are important for people grieving.

“There’s so many things that happen to us in life and we need to teach the people we work with to be empathetic when you’re going through those situations, we’ve learned that no one talks about that,” Pam says.

The ladies use their generation gap to their advantage, addressing different ages in different ways. Olivia and Pam also concentrate on their personal experience to set them apart during their motivational therapy presentations.

Olivia and Pam have taken their most heartbreaking experience and created a brand they love from it.

Moving forward they are excited to continue to create and help others through their toughest times.

“Our message shows that no matter how bad or how dark a place is; your life can get better. Our current situation is not always permanent.” Olivia says, “Time doesn’t heal all wounds, it’s what we choose to do with that time that helps.”