Gloria Salisha-Lynn Williams is a sweet soul—a shy soul. The youngest of four, Gloria is the quiet one amongst her outspoken, fun-loving sisters. They affectionately deemed her as the family’s “functioning mute” during her younger years never knowing that this title would stick, both internally and externally, and indirectly become inspiration for her appropriately titled album, UnMute Me.
Gloria Williams was born and raised in the city of Norfolk, VA. She attended college at Virginia Tech, where she majored in Accounting and Informations Systems with the goal of finding a financially satisfying, stable career. Gloria Williams is no fan of complacency and desired upward mobility. When she found that relevant job opportunities were not readily available, she later obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from Old Dominion University. Gloria is currently pursing her second Master’s degree… in Divinity, from Virginia Union University.
This is a great match for her new journey–as an evangelist.
The step into ministry took Gloria Williams by surprise–Gloria, and everybody else! Speaking in front of the congregation of Grace Fellowship Worship Center was not her goal on the Sunday that Gloria shared a vision with three church leaders, but… She Did It!–She preached for the first time in January of 2012. Two days later, she was licensed as a minister. A minister! This soft-spoken, timid young-woman of “under-30” had no clue what life had planned in store for her after that blessed day!
Gloria Williams was a child of few words–She grew into an adult whose fear of public speaking caused the recording process for UnMute Me to be a difficult one, initially. Gloria recalls many nights of recording with her producer and musical director, Kavoris Fruster, as the only listener present—The only thing that would come out of her were tears! She was afraid. She was singing lyrics developed by her regarding concepts that she had not fully mastered personally. She was insecure–yet she was singing about love. She was singing about a strong belief in God, yet she didn’t believe in herself! Little did she know that her intimidation of herself was apparent to everyone else as well. During times that others were listening-in to critique and coach her, they advised that Gloria would be better at writing since her low self-esteem was visible in her music. They didn’t feel that she was courageous enough to sing. Gloria knew she could do better. She had to do better! She knew that her ministry was purposed, so she had to face her fears.
Gloria spent the better portion of three years doing just that. She had to face her shyness. She had to face her insecurities. She had to deal with her depression.
Gloria learned to embrace and live the lyrics. She learned to Live Out Loud! What started off as lyrics that she had to “walk in to” developed into “walking” in a way that manifested new melodies and new songs! Gloria began arranging so many new tunes that her musical director eventually had to put a pause on Gloria’s flourishing inspiration so that they could complete the number of songs they already had pending.
She had to mute herself! In order to sing, and to do it boldly, Gloria had to mute her inner feelings and inhibitions to hear what God was telling her to do, to walk with God, and to trust and believe in herself. Once she did that, Gloria began to SING Out Loud!
She then asked God: UnMute Me!
and he did!
It all started with a vision…
It has come to be a ministry and an album focused on passionately pursuing one’s purpose despite lack of love for yourself or from others.
To view the FULL interview from Gloria herself, click HERE
To contact Gloria Williams for booking,
email BookingGloriaWilliams@gmail.com.
GET SOCIAL with Gloria!
amazon.com | cdbaby.com | cduniverse.com | rhapsody.com
COMING NEXT!!!
- Tune in for SUNDAY SCHOOL!
WATCH Gloria’s message and compare how Evangelist Gloria Williams is quite different from the Gloria we are currently discussing! - Check Out My Review of UnMute Me for #MUSICmonday!!! (a popular hash tag that you should start to use when marketing)
Here I’ve provided my review of Gloria’s album, UnMute Me (Salisha-Lynn) along with the initial responses of a few other reviewers.
[…] Fruster is the musical talent and producer responsible for Gloria Williams‘ recently released UnMute Me (Salisha-Lynn). From starting his journey as a child, Mr. […]
[…] what you’ve read in Part I and Part II of Gloria’s story, view Gloria’s message for yourself and tell us what you […]