How a Woman’s Powerful Personal Brand Can Open Doors and Break Through Glass Ceilings
My fear of self-promotion and personal branding developed early on in life. As a child, I remember my mom telling me to, “never brag .” In fact, when someone would walk up to one of us kids and comment on how cute we were, she would always reply by saying, “don’t say that, it will go to their heads.” She may have been half-joking, but this comment made an impact on me and stuck out in my mind as a worldview in which I adopted. I learned years later that this way of thinking was not only wrong, but a self-defeating hindrance to my goals and own career trajectory.
I spent years of my young adult life being stifled by this negative way of thinking. Thankfully, I would one day learn that an ability to celebrate my good qualities and to take ownership of my expertise in a particular subject is defined as personal branding. This particular branding is a leadership skill that we all need if we are to grow and sustain in business.
Unfortunately, this skill is something that so many women struggle with and oftentimes lack. This is unfortunate because there are so many positive benefits of having a powerful personal brand. Personal branding can open many doors. It also conveys to others that you are willing to advocate for yourself. As women, it’s important to remember that if we don’t advocate on our own behalf, no one else will do it for us.
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak on the topic of personal branding and how this concept pertains to women. I did this at the All About Business Women Consortium. The audience consisted of women entrepreneurs who were at varying levels of growth in their professional lives. The opportunity provided me a chance to share my experience with developing my personal brand.
My personal branding grew out of a nagging dissatisfaction that I had with my career at a particular time in my life. It all started when I graduated with a degree in journalism and minor in political science in 2005 . I had the high hopes of using my degree right away. I wanted to be a journalist, something that I had aspired to be for as long as I can remember. I loved to write and it was my dream to work for a big newspaper.
As a new college graduate, I spent months of pounding the pavement in search of the ideal position. I found out that jobs in writing were hard to come by. The industry was extremely competitive and newspapers were being phased out to make way for a brave new digital era. As a result, I took my first “real” job as a Sales Executive. With my excellent communication skills and talent for persuasion, I excelled to the top of my career in sales. But, no matter how many lucrative deals I brokered or sales awards I won, I never felt like that career choice was what I was born to do. The most frustrating part about it was that I was not using all of my God-given talents to do it.
Although I blamed many things in my life on a career choice that left me unfulfilled, I now realize that my problems didn’t stem from bad bosses or terrible companies. The problem, as well as the subsequent solution began with me. I now know that I was not branding myself as the professional that I wanted to be. Because of this, I was stuck in a box. I realized that if I wanted to get the position that I was destined for, I had to brand myself in the best light for that role.
After this light bulb moment, I did just that. I started by volunteering for extra projects at the global chemical manufacturer that I worked for at the time. These volunteer opportunities were outside of the scope of my sales responsibilities. They provided me with great exposure and a chance to learn new things. One day, I got up the nerve to point out my department’s low morale to my boss. As a result, I developed an awards and recognition program with her blessing. This was something that was desperately needed at the time.
I also interviewed and wrote articles about company stakeholders and submitted them to be published in the organization’s newsletter. Before I knew it, I was developing, writing and managing the company’s blog. After the blog took off, I was selected to sit on a 12 member global communications committee where I oversaw key projects and initiatives, while rubbing elbows with the V.P. of Marketing and Director of Supply Chain. I was soon promoted to a position that the company created just for me. As a digital strategist, I was able to do what I loved most of all, which was writing.
The position also allowed me to learn social media and digital strategy at a time when the industry was just heating up. In fact, I loved what I was doing so much, that I left corporate America and started my own company to do the very same thing through Competitive Edge.
I am a true testament that a self-promoting woman who can brand herself in a graceful and authentic way will end up winning at business and in life. If you are stuck and not sure how to brand yourself, the below presentation can help you to identify who you are as a professional. It will also show you how to promote yourself in a way that not only opens doors, but helps you to break through those pesky glass ceilings.
As Shantha mentioned in her article she was the guest speaker at All About Business (www.aabnetworking.com) last evening and shared a wealth of information regarding social media strategies and most importantly on Branding yourself and your business. She spoke on the importance of improving yourself by reading relevant books, how to be authentic, observe what others are doing in your industry, etc. We all were able to walk away with some takeaways to help improve our businesses. I encourage you to follow this young lady and to call her for a consultation if you want to take your buisness to that next level.
Thanks so much Chanda! It was a pleasure speaking to the group.
Well done you for showing everyone just how successful you can be and how branding as worked for you. I’m not sure if I brand myself, there are some things which I associate with my blog – family friendly, floral, etc. All the F’s I guess to match my name 🙂
Thanks Fiona! As long as you’re authentic and true to yourself, you can achieve powerful branding for yourself.
I am also feeling that way – I always make sure to “brag” about things. It’s hard sometimes because you really want to talk about what you’re excited about but sometimes it might come off as bragging. Hard to know really what to do sometimes!
The best thing to do is follow the golden rule and listen more than you talk when communicating with others. When I do this, I find that I’m branding myself in a positive light without even trying. 🙂
I agree–I was taught not to brag but sometimes you really need to publicize and be proud of your accomplishments. Building a brand is difficult…you need to find a balancing act to not put people off yet impress them. Clearly I haven’t figured out the recipe for success yet!
Amanda
http://www.queenofthelandoftwigsnberries.com
Thanks Amanda! I think that it’s a never ending learning process.
Branding is definitely a weird thing to get used to when you’ve been taught not to brag your whole life. I still have trouble doing it!
I think that we all do Liz :).
I was always told not to brag as well. Being assertive, especially on social media, has been difficult because of this but I’m starting to break through!
Awesome Cassie!
What a great post, definitely opens my mind up. I think communication is really important but only if both parties are open to listening. Thanks for the post, quite insightful.
Welcome Michelle!
I can totally relate to how you were feeling! I guess I’m still kind of finding my way out of it, but it is so encouraging to read your story and see how you were able to work through it and ROCK your brand 🙂
I’m glad this was an encouragement to you Ashley!
My mom and aunts always remind me as well to keep my feet grounded no matter what happens. That same comment also got stuck to my head. It’s great how your career and brand flourished. You are so blessed! More power!
Thanks so much Rochkirstin!
What a great post! I agree that personal branding is so important. Good for you going after what you wanted and more importantly needed to be professionally and personally satisfied with your choices. I think if you surround yourself with other positive strong women that it is okay to brag as they are sharing in your happiness and successes. Wishing you much continued success!
Thanks so much Kathleen!
I love to see women be successful off their own brand that they worked hard to build. Being true to yourself is crucial to be successful.
Great post. Sometimes it’s difficult to walk the fine line between self promotion and bragging. Branding yourself is so important — interesting to read your take on it.
Love this post! Branding is extremely important and sometimes we totally forget that especially when it comes to our blogs.
What a great post that brightened my day! Well done for showing and sharing how branding also works for you!
This is an awesome post for women indeed that are moving head in the business world. Branding is truly important. It has never been something I have ever been good at but am learning it is important in the business world in order to move forward. Thanks so much for sharing.
what a powerful and encouraging post! i love this one!
xo,
Sandy
Sandy a la Mode
I totally understand where you come from. You want to share your story but you don’t want to feel like you are bragging.
I absolutely love this post, and am sooo proud of you. So many people get sucked into the negativity trap, not even realizing that they are their own worst enemies!
I’ve a very hard time branding my blog! I am still learning.. and your post is very informative.
I started my blog way back in 2007 and I branded myself a mommy blogger. When I tried changing it, the thing is, it was difficult. Whenever I am introduced in speaking engagements, even if its not about being a mommy blogger, I am introduced as such. Not that I am ashamed of being a mom, but I wanted to start another branding for myself for another blog that I am working on.