GAIL’S STORY
Where Real Life Inspires Reel Life — and Real Grit Builds Real Change.
I didn’t build Real Grit Company™ from a boardroom. I built it from real life — the kind that takes your breath, your sleep, and sometimes your sense of self.
I’ve been a firefighter, an EMT, a Search & Rescue responder, a 911 police dispatcher, and a set medic for film and television.
I’ve held hands in moments that change people forever.
I’ve seen courage in the quiet places.
I’ve watched people break — and watched them rebuild.
And I carried all of that home with me.
But my greatest role is being a mom to a son with special needs — a young man with a fierce spirit, a gentle heart, and a story that deserves a world built with compassion, strength, and inclusion.
He is my why.
He is my ground.
He is my reminder that real grit isn’t loud — it’s lived.
Real Grit wasn’t created to be “just another brand.”
It was created to honor the ones who showed up anyway — the ones who had to become stronger than what tried to break them.
People like me.
People like you.
People who weren’t handed an easy road, but who built their strength on the way.
This brand carries the weight of lived experience, the resilience of every call I ever ran, and the legacy I want to leave for my son:
a world where grit is earned, not assumed…
where purpose is forged in truth…
and where identity is built from who you became when it mattered.
Real Grit Company™ is my story —
but it’s also yours.
And together, we are just getting started.
— Gail Metzner
Founder, Real Grit Company™