Welcome to “What My Dad Taught Me”

Stories from a Girl Dad

The conversation that changed everything happened in a college dorm room in 1979.

I was pledging my sorority, and we were sharing stories about our families. One by one, my sorority sisters talked about their mothers with warmth and admiration. And one by one, they dismissed their fathers with eye rolls and shrugs.

I stayed silent. Not because I had nothing to say, but because everything I had to say was about my dad.

Life circumstances meant I was raised primarily by my father, and the relationship I wanted to share - one filled with presence, emotional support, and genuine connection - felt like it would create a disconnect I couldn’t afford. I wanted to belong.

But that silence stayed with me.

Years later, watching Natalie Cole perform her Grammy-winning duet with her late father, I called my own dad to tell him how much I loved him. How grateful I was for the love I’d always felt from him. How much I appreciated having him in my life.

And I realized: There’s an entire dimension of fatherhood that culture barely acknowledges.

So I launched Glad About Dads - inviting people to capture their personal reflections about their fathers and male role models who actually showed up. The anthology we created challenged the cultural narrative that positioned dads as secondary parents, weekend visitors, or emotionally unavailable providers.

That was over two decades ago. The inquiry never stopped.

Now I’m building Soul Masculinity - a platform exploring what life looks like when men lead with emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and authentic connection. When they model flexibility over rigidity. Presence over performance. Capability over armor.

This Substack is where those lessons live.

Twice a month, I’ll share stories from my father’s life and how they show up in mine. Not as nostalgia, but as lived wisdom about what happens when masculinity evolves beyond cultural scripts. When a man gives his child permission to be fully human - and in doing so, reveals what’s possible for everyone.

Some stories will be about risk-taking and reinvention. Others about emotional presence and connection. All of them about what a Girl Dad actually does: he doesn’t tell you how to live. He lives in a way that makes you believe anything is possible.

So welcome. I’m glad you’re here. Let’s discover together what evolving masculinity looks like from this Girl Dad’s vantage point - one story at a time.

Wholeheartedly,
Donna Marie

P.S. Want to explore more about Soul Masculinity? Start here.