Personal Branding Workshop: How to Tell The World Who You Are

By: Jordan DeTar / December 6, 2019

On Thursday, November 14th, Aspire to Her partnered with female-founded Badassery - a curated community of rising leaders who are helping shape the future of tech and media. Badassery gives professionals from diverse backgrounds a chance to share their story on stage, and connect them with their own crew of badasses along the way.

We were thrilled to partner with Badassery's founder, Danielle Letayf, to bring our audience an evening with ClassPass's Creative Director, Tatiana Kuzmowycz! During the event, Tatiana shared her own career story, which includes over 8 years in brand management at Viacom followed by 4 more years in the creative space building ClassPass’s iconic brand. The workshop focused on how to build your personal brand in a way that is authentic to who you are and where you want to go. Read on for snippets of wisdom from Tatiana!

What’s your personal brand?

Tatiana opened the workshop by dispelling a common misunderstanding about your personal brand: your personal brand is not just your social media account. She emphasized that your brand is your story, it’s who you are at your innermost core and who you want to be. An interesting perspective that she brought is that your personal brand is defined in two ways: your online and your offline self. Your online brand might include your social media profiles, your website, and any articles you’ve published. But it’s your offline brand that really tells the deeper story. This might include your wardrobe, your handwriting, your vocabulary, etc. It’s what makes YOU you. No matter what your brand is, one thing is certain - consistency is critical. As the famously black turtle-necked Steve Jobs once said, “This is a very noisy world. So we have to be very clear about what we want them to know about us.” Okay, so you have to be consistent and clear to stand out amongst the noise. But how do you even know what you want people to know about you?

Discovering who you are and what you stand for

Your personal brand is who you are. But what does that even mean? Tatiana introduced us to Carl Jung’s 12 brand archetypes, and let me tell you, I’m forever changed. #TeamMagician over here.

Carl Jung’s 12 Archetypes

The Everyman: desire to fit in
The Innocent: desire purity
The Explorer: desire to embrace new experiences
The Caregiver: desire to be of service
The Ruler: desire to exclusivity
The Magician: desire to transform the world
The Rebel: desire to rewrite the rules
The Entertainer: desire to have fun
The Seducer: desire to be desired
The Sage: desire knowledge
The Creator: desire to create ahead of need
The Hero: desire to succeed

Once you ground yourself in your archetype, you want to build your brand. Remember, this isn’t about creating some sort of presentation; it’s about being your true, authentic self. To get started, Tatiana asked us to consider what we’re good at. This might require some self reflection, or perhaps you’ll solicit insights from your friends, family, or coworkers. Think about why people come to you, or what your particular areas of interest or expertise is. Are you the go-getter? The thought partner? The innovative thinker? Consider what you do best - that’s a part of your brand.

Once you figure out what you’re good at, you want to consider your “North Star”, or what drives you every day. What are you working toward? How do you want others to see you? Remember that having a brand means that not everyone will love you, but those who do love you will really love you. So who are your people? How do you want to tell them your story?

To practice, you want to write it down. Specifically, you’ll want to think about:

Your brand vision: what do you want to be known for?
Your mission: what do you want to build
Your message: what is the key message you’ll reinforce in all you do
Your personality: are you quirky? Serious? Funny?

Finally, you’ve got to tell the world! You can do this via social media, your conversations with friends, your interactions with strangers, the way you dress, the work you pursue, and so much more. The idea is that once you understand who you are, or what your personal brand is, you’ll notice it’s infused into every part of your life. Your brand will serve as a consistent thread that connects your online and offline self, your at-home and at-work self, your on-a-date and hanging-with-friends self. If you’re truly being you, it shouldn’t be too much effort. Because your personal brand is you, and just being you shouldn’t be too hard.

If I were to summarize Tatiana’s perspective on personal branding in one sentence, it would be - know who you are, embrace it, and then share it with the world.