Husbands, Hustle, and Hashtags: Meet Daryl McCullough and George Griffin
In a city known for its power couples, few blend personal and professional success quite like Daryl McCullough and George Griffin. Married partners and marketing veterans, Daryl and George have built careers at the highest levels of communications and social media – and now, they’re building something even bigger together.
Daryl, a veteran of traditional PR who spent decades shaping the reputations of household names from Pampers to Old Spice as CEO of Citizen Relations, brings his strategic marketing experience to the partnership. Meanwhile, George brings a complementary spark to the partnership: a savvy social strategist who’s worked behind the scenes of Hollywood’s most recognizable names, he’s made a career of connecting brands with the right influencers at the right moment.
Together, they represent a unique fusion of old-school polish and digital-native instinct. In my interview with this bear power couple, Daryl and George open up about what it means to run a business as a married couple, how they navigate life and work under the same roof, and why trust, timing, and a shared sense of humor are the keys to it all.
Robin: Welcome both! Let’s start out by you introducing yourselves to our readers.
George: I live in LA, where I was born and raised, which I know is rare! My husband and I own our own business, McGriffin Media, where I serve as a partner and lead the social media marketing and celebrity & influencer relationships. I love all things pop culture. I’m obsessed with music, shopping, fashion, memes, and our two dogs – Ferdinand and Prince. I love to hang with my friends, chat, and watch Bravo, Drag Race, anything reality TV. Diversity is important to me. Although I think bears are handsome, I don’t want to be the guy who only hangs out with bears, so I have friends from all different communities. Inclusion is important!
Daryl: George and I have a cute home in Sherman Oaks. I’ve lived in greater LA since moving here from Pennsylvania to go to USC for graduate school where I did my Communications Management M.A. at Annenberg. I started in Silver Lake, then moved to Los Feliz, before settling in the San Fernando Valley, which is a great place to raise a family with my husband, George, and our two dogs. I have worked in marketing communications throughout my entire career, and we launched our company three years ago. And we have been going strong ever since.
How long have you been married, and how long have you been together before that?
George: We’ve been together for 8 years and married for almost four. We had postponed our marriage ceremony twice during the COVID lockdown, and then we decided to elope and get married in Hawaii. It was a great decision!
What’s the story of how you met?
Daryl: We met in this old-fashioned way called “Facebook.” It’s a funny story. We had over 240 friends in common and were showing up in each other’s “People You May Know” feed. I clicked on his profile and later slid into his DMs. We chatted via Messenger and phone for a few months. It took three months for us to realize we lived around the corner from each other! It’s funny because if we had met on any of the modern dating apps or sites, we might have seen we were 0.1 miles away and met more quickly under other circumstances.
Who proposed to who and how did it happen – something romantic or something super simple?
George: We had proposed to each other every day for more than a year – we joked in our vows that we proposed 569 times. It was a love language of our own, finding a different time and place each day to propose to one another. So tender.
You’re not only married, but you also run a business together, when did that start and what made you decide to go into business together?
George: It was about 4 years ago. I was doing my social media consulting for celebrities from the dining room table, and Daryl was at work in the office. Sometimes he’d help me brainstorm ideas for my clients, and I would do the same for his.
Daryl: I was consulting on an interesting consumer client and thought to myself, ‘Wow, George’s clients would be great for this campaign.’ And then it dawned on us that marketing communications and celebrity influencer work go great together. It was right under our noses the whole time!
What are both of your professional backgrounds?
Daryl: I have over 30 years of experience working in marketing and PR. I had been the CEO and Global Chair of Citizen Relations, and later, the head of communications for my holding company, Plus Co. – formerly BlueFocus/Vision7 International. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided I loved working from home and should leave that role to start consulting. After 30 years of rigorous work as CEO and traveling the world, away from home for more than half the year – I was a bit burned out and certainly didn’t want to be away for longer.
George: I didn’t want him to travel so much either! Ironically, my social media and celebrity work can be managed from my iPhone, so I could conceivably work anywhere, too, but I’m a homebody and love our home. For my career, I’ve done a little bit of everything, including acting since childhood. However, I also began working in PR for a friend’s company in Venice and handling Hollywood product seeding and gifting for celebrities. It led me to meet some of my first clients – some of whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with for almost 10 years.
And now you’ve combined to make this super powerhouse! Tell us more about your business, who are some of your clients?
George: It’s a competitive space, so we don’t like to broadcast our client names. To put it simply, I represent a number of excellent and talented celebrities, either for social media services or as influencers. They range from actors, musicians, models, and reality TV personalities.
It’s also pretty cool that we’re both working actors as well. I’ve been acting since childhood, and I have my SAG card. Daryl is newer to commercial acting but he has been crushing it. People call us every day, saying they have seen us in a specific spot somewhere. We even booked a spot together as the “married couple” for a really beautiful ad campaign for Kodak. Daryl’s also been in ads for NetCredit – which went viral with over 2M on YouTube alone – and spots for Google, Amazon Prime, Disneyland, and many more. Like I said, he is slaying!
Daryl: George is the most supportive husband I could ask for. My deeper background and passion lie in marketing communications. I have had the honor of being part of award-winning work for brands such as XM Radio, Old Spice, Pampers, Sony, and Taco Bell. And George is correct; we don’t like to name names, but we have great clients in a wide variety of areas, including a luxury skincare line, a global streaming service, a local university, a national law firm, and more.
George He’s modest, but he was named “PR Person of the Year” and was behind the “Taco Liberty Bell” campaign, which has been named one of the best PR Stunts of all time! He is iconic.
What’s been the most fun campaign you’ve worked on so far?
George: We love our skin care brand client because it’s truly the best products money can buy, and it’s an absolute joy to get them in the hands, and on the faces, of celebrities. They love the products and genuinely use them, as do I. Some of the celebrity spots McGriffin has created for them have garnered over 1 million views on Instagram.
Daryl: Although I have worked on some of the biggest campaigns in the world throughout my career, I love using my experience to help solve communications challenges for smaller, challenger brands and businesses. I’m a complete geek who loves what I do, so it’s all fun for me.
What’s the biggest challenge of running a business and being a married couple?
George: Oooooh, I’ll take this one! From starting the business during a pandemic to growing a virtual company without office overhead, we spend a lot of time together. That’s a great thing, and we don’t argue as much as one might reasonably think! However, it does inspire different behaviors. For example, I’ll get out of the house every morning for an hour or so to have my iced coffee, catch up on pop culture on social media, and give him a chance to organize his day too. We make it work.
What steps have you taken to separate your home and business life?
Daryl: George nailed it. For a couple who are married, work together, and have two dogs jointly, we are together 24/7, and it’s remarkably easy without any significant issues.
George: The worst issue is sometimes the lack of space. Trying to be on client Zoom calls one after another, and we’re just in the next room. It’s not ideal.
Daryl: It’s a dream not to have office rent as a significant line item for the P&L, though! And our team is virtual too – the best of the best from all over the country.
What advice would you give to individuals considering starting a business with their partner?
Daryl: Ensure you have excellent communication, respect, and honor each other’s strengths.
George: I was always open and eager to learn from him because he’s masterful at marketing, and I’m newer to those strategies. And I know he often says that I teach him every day about social media, Gen X-Y-Z insights, and working with Hollywood celebrities.
Daryl: And texting! Don’t skip that you taught me the importance of nuances in texting, like using multiple exclamation points!!! And that the thumbs up means F-U to young people. He also taught me the importance of a purse! I carry a bag with me everywhere now! Haha
What does the future look like for the business?
Daryl: We are enjoying ourselves and want to continue being highly selective about the types of clients we work with, so we can always keep it fun.
And what does the future look like for yourselves? Any exciting plans on the horizon?
George: We are both sober, so we plan to continue growing spiritually and serving our communities. That’s really important to us.
Daryl: We each have passions that are unique to each other. I have written and published two illustrated children’s books and plan to write more. You can check out the books on my website: www.darylrmccullough.com. “The Story of Tree and Cloud” is a book set in nature to help us at any age understand and process grief, and “Chubby the Bear’s Big Choice” is a book about standing up to bullies and finding one’s voice.
George: And we love doing home improvement projects. We are considering building a small ADU in our backyard, so one of us can have some space to work, work out, or enjoy some peace.
Before we wrap up, where can people find out more about you both and your business?
The best platform for us both is Instagram, so drop us a follow! George – @georgegriff1n Daryl – @daryl_mc or @author_darylmc
You can also check out our websites as well: McGriffinMedia.com & Darylrmccullough.com
As working actors, we are both represented by Zuri Agency and Evolve Talent Management, and our details can be found on any of the major casting websites.
