Speaker 1: LinkedIn News. I really don't like when people say I
Speaker 1: am an aspiring blank like people put it in their
Speaker 1: bios all the time, aspiring copywriter, expiring executive, aspire. Maybe
Speaker 1: you already are the thing.
Speaker 2: I say I'm an aspiring pastries.
Speaker 1: You already are because you already used. You are because
Speaker 1: think about it. You already go home, and you already cook,
Speaker 1: and you already bake, and you already test it out.
Speaker 1: The only difference between you and them is that they
Speaker 1: have a restaurant. You don't have it yet.
Speaker 3: From LinkedIn News and I heard podcasts, this is Let's
Speaker 3: Talk Offline, a show about what it takes to thrive
Speaker 3: in the early years of your career without sacrificing your values,
Speaker 3: sanity or sleep.
Speaker 2: I'm Giana Prudenti and I'm.
Speaker 1: Jamaie Jackson Gadson. Recently, guys, I've been thinking a lot
Speaker 1: about personal branding and more importantly, how everyone has a
Speaker 1: personal brand. Yes, even you. I know it's super cringey
Speaker 1: and it's kind of uncomfortable, but the reality is there
Speaker 1: is something that someone is saying about you in some
Speaker 1: room that you are not in Now. The great thing
Speaker 1: is you can learn how to own that perception and
Speaker 1: hopefully use it to your advantage. And crafting a personal
Speaker 1: brand or narrative around your career and who you are
Speaker 1: can also help lead to different connections, awesome opportunities, and
Speaker 1: hopefully some money in the process.
Speaker 3: So a few years ago, I had literally no idea
Speaker 3: what a personal brand even was. I was like, where
Speaker 3: do I even be in and what does it even
Speaker 3: mean to have a personal brand. Luckily, I've learned a
Speaker 3: thing or two since then, So don't worry. We're going
Speaker 3: to break down how to think of yourself as a
Speaker 3: brand and how to communicate who you are to the world.
Speaker 1: Personal branding the branding of the personals, Gianna. I am
Speaker 1: super excited for today's episode where we're going to be
Speaker 1: talking all about personal branding. But I know some of
Speaker 1: the listeners are probably like, what even is a personal
Speaker 1: brand and why is it even important? So I know
Speaker 1: you can google what a personal brand is, but I
Speaker 1: want to share with you my definition. So, a personal
Speaker 1: brand is like a unique combination of your skills, your experiences,
Speaker 1: your values, and your personality traits that not only defines you,
Speaker 1: but it also helps differentiate you from other people. This
Speaker 1: is not only how you present yourself to the world,
Speaker 1: but also how the world receives you. And I think
Speaker 1: it's really important to remember that your personal brand can
Speaker 1: encompass both your personal and your professional lives, which obviously
Speaker 1: has some differentiation, but there's a lot of similarity. So
Speaker 1: why is a personal brand important now?
Speaker 4: For me?
Speaker 1: I think that once you really have an idea of
Speaker 1: what your personal brand is, it helps unlock new opportunities.
Speaker 1: I mean this can be both financial opportunities, social opportunities,
Speaker 1: what have you. Because once people kind of know who
Speaker 1: who you are, what you're about, and when you come
Speaker 1: into a room what you stand on, they can actually
Speaker 1: start to figure out is an alignment with this person's
Speaker 1: brand or not. Jona, what do you think I've.
Speaker 3: Kind of thought about my personal brand like a reputation.
Speaker 3: I think that's been like the easiest way for me
Speaker 3: to understand what can seem like a very abstract idea.
Speaker 3: So it's like what somebody says about you when you're
Speaker 3: not in the room, and whatever you're posting, whatever you're
Speaker 3: putting out there, that message is building equity in your
Speaker 3: name and being at like everything is online now, it's
Speaker 3: literally the message somebody receives when they come across your
Speaker 3: LinkedIn profile, Like when I see Jammay's LinkedIn profile, who
Speaker 3: is she? What is her brand? What is her profile
Speaker 3: telling me? So it's really how somebody sees and discusses
Speaker 3: your work. And when you think about your personal brand
Speaker 3: kind of like a career story, it becomes your unique
Speaker 3: value proposition or your elevator pitch or literally the answer
Speaker 3: to tell me about yourself in an interview, which I
Speaker 3: know we all dread. And here's the thing, Like it
Speaker 3: might sound like I know what I'm talking about, but
Speaker 3: just a year or so ago, the idea of personal
Speaker 3: branding felt so overwhelming to me. I had never really
Speaker 3: heard about it, so I didn't know what it meant.
Speaker 3: And in my role at LinkedIn, I've been given a
Speaker 3: platform to build this brand around my coverage and I've
Speaker 3: been able to build a following through consistent posting largely
Speaker 3: tied to my work. So all my gen Z coverage
Speaker 3: nothing too personal. And a year or so ago, people
Speaker 3: started reaching out to me for speaking engagements and they
Speaker 3: would say, Gianna, you have a really strong personal brand.
Speaker 3: I would love for you to speak on personal branding.
Speaker 2: And I was like, hold up.
Speaker 1: What is my brand?
Speaker 2: It was not.
Speaker 3: I mean it was, but iden know where it was okay,
Speaker 3: So I was like, okay, crap, what is my brand?
Speaker 2: What is it saying? Like what's the message out here?
Speaker 3: And I remember even before that, somebody once asked me
Speaker 3: in an interview like Gianna, who are you? And I
Speaker 3: was like, oh my god, that's like the hardest, like
Speaker 3: the easiest question, but so hard, like I'm a sister,
Speaker 3: I'm a friend, like the most robotic, wacky answer. But
Speaker 3: I hadn't given any thought to my personal brand, so
Speaker 3: I couldn't really articulate that. So people were reaching out
Speaker 3: about personal branding opportunities and I said to myself, it's
Speaker 3: time to figure this out. So I did a lot
Speaker 3: of research, which included a podcast episode that you were
Speaker 3: on with my manager Andrew Seaman has get Hired podcasts
Speaker 3: where you talked about personal branding. And you truly are
Speaker 3: the queen in this space, and you've done such an
Speaker 3: incredible job over your career building that in such a
Speaker 3: way that sets you apart from other people. So I'm
Speaker 3: just like completely in all of that as is, and
Speaker 3: I'm so excited to chat with you today about how
Speaker 3: you've you know, built that brand early on and how
Speaker 3: that shifted throughout your career, because it's something I'm giving
Speaker 3: a lot of thought to now, so I would love
Speaker 3: to know, like, when did you first think of yourself
Speaker 3: as like, Okay, I'm Jimmay a brand.
Speaker 1: I love that question, But first, let me take a
Speaker 1: step back and say thank you. That means a lot
Speaker 1: coming from you. I never really considered myself as a brand,
Speaker 1: and I was at the time just creating, just to create,
Speaker 1: and I really wanted to write about things that I
Speaker 1: was passionate about. I had gone to college, I had
Speaker 1: hung up my dream of being an actor at that time.
Speaker 1: I look at baby, look at me now, even my
Speaker 1: dog is in commercials ha. But so I was working
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, but I really like to write.
Speaker 1: I like to research, and at that point I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to probably do something in the journalism space.
Speaker 1: So senior year, I'm applying, applying, applying, and I'm not
Speaker 1: getting anything back. By then, I was trying to get
Speaker 1: to New York from DC, but I kept hitting this
Speaker 1: wall and I started to get really frustrated. And after
Speaker 1: having one experience with an editor who said that she
Speaker 1: really liked my content, but she already had a black
Speaker 1: girl on her team. I felt really ignited to talk
Speaker 1: about race. And I was looking at people like Terry
Speaker 1: Agans or Robin Gavon or these prominent black women who
Speaker 1: were working at these credible outlets like The Wall Street Journal,
Speaker 1: the Washington Post, and they were talking about fashion, but
Speaker 1: they were talking about it in a way that wasn't
Speaker 1: about the clothes. It was about what was happening in
Speaker 1: the culture. And I said, I want to do that.
Speaker 1: So I started my own blog because I was like, well,
Speaker 1: if nobody else is going to give me a chance,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do it myself. And so I started
Speaker 1: The Blonde Misfit because I'm blonde, because I'm a natural blonde.
Speaker 1: You guys don't ask no questions, okay, And so I
Speaker 1: was writing essentially about what it felt like to be
Speaker 1: a misfit, an outsider looking into an industry that would
Speaker 1: not let me in. And that was the initial steps
Speaker 1: of building community. Because really, I started the blog thinking
Speaker 1: I'm only going to use this until I get my
Speaker 1: foot in the door at Conde Nas or Hearst or whatever.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 1: I had no intention of keeping this blog up. But
Speaker 1: what ended up happening was when I finally did get
Speaker 1: to New York and I finally did get the job
Speaker 1: right working at a fashion magazine. Everybody was like, wait,
Speaker 1: you're just going to abandon us. You're not gonna keep
Speaker 1: talking to us and telling us like how it is now,
Speaker 1: and I was like, you know what, yeah. So then
Speaker 1: the blog continue to take shape and I was style
Speaker 1: sharing different stories about my life in New York and
Speaker 1: making friends. When I first started to get on speaking
Speaker 1: panels and it's really beautiful. I will just say that
Speaker 1: the beauty of age is wisdom and getting to look
Speaker 1: back and seeing over my life. How this started off
Speaker 1: because you know, I started off with the blog because
Speaker 1: I was a writer. But then what ended up happening
Speaker 1: was then as the blog continued to pick up, other
Speaker 1: websites wanted to profile me. So now I was getting
Speaker 1: my name out there through press features. Then I started
Speaker 1: getting invited to people's podcasts, and I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: you want to hear me talk? Like I know you
Speaker 1: guys probably would not believe this, but I never thought
Speaker 1: people wanted to hear me or see me. I was
Speaker 1: just behind a computer screen. And then people were like,
Speaker 1: oh wait, this girl actually kind of can talk and
Speaker 1: she can do some things. And then I started getting
Speaker 1: invited to speak on panels, and then I started getting
Speaker 1: invited to host panels, and so I just see all
Speaker 1: of that to say that that day that I started
Speaker 1: my blog, I never would have imagined that it would
Speaker 1: turn into what it is today. But as time went on,
Speaker 1: I had to learn that, yeah, I want to see
Speaker 1: myself as a brand. I want myself to have brand colors,
Speaker 1: I want myself to have a mission savement. I saw
Speaker 1: myself as a Coca Cola or as a McDonald's, the
Speaker 1: same way that you know that arch of McDonald's. I
Speaker 1: wanted you to see the logo of my brand or
Speaker 1: see the name and be like, oh, yeah, I know
Speaker 1: what that is. And I just kind of put myself
Speaker 1: in that mentality by just showing up. It was really
Speaker 1: kind of fun because I got to capitalize on the
Speaker 1: height of the blogging era and really putting myself out
Speaker 1: there perfecting it, putting out what I like to call
Speaker 1: them minimal viable product and just perfecting over time. So
Speaker 1: it really was never a thing where I thought I'm
Speaker 1: a brand, but over time I was like, I can
Speaker 1: monetize this and I can also build new things. So
Speaker 1: this is really why I say your personal brand can
Speaker 1: start one way, but over the course of your career,
Speaker 1: you're going to constantly evolve and evolve and evolve.
Speaker 3: I think that is something that is really refreshing and reassuring,
Speaker 3: because first off, I didn't realize you started the blah
Speaker 3: misfit like what ten plus years ago. Yeah, that's where's
Speaker 3: coming up this year? Oh ten years that's like insane.
Speaker 3: So it's grown so much, but what it started out
Speaker 3: as is not what it is today. And you were
Speaker 3: just documenting your journey and a lot of people, a
Speaker 3: lot of gen Zers I speak to, were like, well,
Speaker 3: I don't even know what to post about on LinkedIn
Speaker 3: for example, but it literally is just posting your own journey, right,
Speaker 3: Like that's unique to you. So you were going through
Speaker 3: this time of struggle and you were open and Canada
Speaker 3: about it, and it's snowballed into this big, beautiful thing
Speaker 3: that throughout that time helped you get opportunities, which I
Speaker 3: think is like the biggest thing when it comes to
Speaker 3: personal branding is you just got to start somewhere and
Speaker 3: you know, leverage your own experience when you do and
Speaker 3: then those opportunities will come.
Speaker 2: It's really a long term investment.
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree. And I also think that authenticity is
Speaker 1: the name of the game here because I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: When I first launched my brand, I was trying to
Speaker 1: be the very cookie cutter fashion editor, always on point,
Speaker 1: and I realized and it actually was my boyfriend at
Speaker 1: the time now husband, who was like, this is weird
Speaker 1: because who you are at brunch and who you're putting
Speaker 1: out out here in the streets is two different people.
Speaker 1: And I was like, but I can't be my most
Speaker 1: authentic self out there. He was like, why not. If
Speaker 1: they like you, which they do, you have to be
Speaker 1: truthful and so yeah, when I first started, I did
Speaker 1: not want to open up, but I did not want
Speaker 1: to really tell the truth about a lot of things.
Speaker 1: I wanted to control the narrative. The minute I started
Speaker 1: to make those adjustments and showing people the real me,
Speaker 1: that was really when my world opened up. And honestly,
Speaker 1: the minute I started being more authentic in being more
Speaker 1: of who I am truly, whether you liked it or not,
Speaker 1: it really helped me build community and essentially a network
Speaker 1: of people who look out for me.
Speaker 3: Coming up after the break, we're going to talk about
Speaker 3: what it takes to build your personal brand. Spoiler, all
Speaker 3: it takes is being you.
Speaker 4: That's next.
Speaker 3: So we're back talking about personal branding one on one,
Speaker 3: and as we know, that can be very confusing and
Speaker 3: challenging to figure out when.
Speaker 2: You're early in your career.
Speaker 3: There's still a lot I'm figuring out, even though I
Speaker 3: spent the past few years, you know, trying to learn
Speaker 3: what it takes to build a personal brand. And in
Speaker 3: my coverage I speak to a lot of gen zers
Speaker 3: who are also struggling with this, So I've compiled a
Speaker 3: lot of their questions about how to even begin with
Speaker 3: personal branding to asktimate to day is I'm putting you in.
Speaker 2: The hot seat.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I'm so excited. Are you ready? I'm We're here?
Speaker 1: Maybe we're here.
Speaker 3: I want to start off with first figuring out what
Speaker 3: you want your personal brand to be.
Speaker 1: How do you go about that? And is there an
Speaker 1: exercise we can do totally? So I would say, first
Speaker 1: ask yourself what would you like to be known for?
Speaker 1: You know, if someone was just looking at a piece
Speaker 1: of paper that had one or two sentences about you
Speaker 1: and your unique value proposition, what would you want it
Speaker 1: to say? So, Like, for the purposes of knowing that
Speaker 1: we were going to talk about personal branding today, I
Speaker 1: wrote out what my personal mission statement is. I said,
Speaker 1: I champion diverse voices and empower black and brown artists
Speaker 1: in the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries through authentic storytelling.
Speaker 1: My mission is to show people that your dream life
Speaker 1: is a life worth fighting for your elevator pitch. So
Speaker 1: when it comes to personal branding, you want to figure
Speaker 1: out what you want people to know you for. But
Speaker 1: how to do that is really key here. So I
Speaker 1: listed out three things that I think everyone can do.
Speaker 1: So the first thing I wrote is that you should
Speaker 1: identify your strengths and your passions. There's this really great
Speaker 1: term called your zone of genius, which are things that
Speaker 1: you are really really great at that also come easy
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I always think we ought to be operating in our
Speaker 1: zone of genius. Right, So if something comes easy to
Speaker 1: you and it's natural, and you also happen to be
Speaker 1: good at it, maybe that's also where you want to
Speaker 1: pursue your career. The next thing I would say is
Speaker 1: gathering feedback. Now, this one is where it can get fun.
Speaker 1: It can also get kind of weird. But I was like,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna get weird, let's get freaky, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Go to your family, ask me to
Speaker 1: see your family, your friends, maybe you're even your manager
Speaker 1: or a trusted a person in your life. Right ask
Speaker 1: them like, if you had to describe me in three adjectives,
Speaker 1: what would they be? Because honestly, you can use those
Speaker 1: adjectives to inform your personal vision statement, mission statement, however
Speaker 1: you want to label it. You also want to start
Speaker 1: asking people what do you see me as an expert
Speaker 1: in or where do you see that I can add
Speaker 1: value and impact because the reality is these are the
Speaker 1: people who are seeing things about you that you don't see.
Speaker 1: And honestly, even as scary as that is, the reason
Speaker 1: why you want to do that is because you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that what people see you as is
Speaker 1: how you see yourself and how you want to be seen.
Speaker 1: And there sometimes can be a disconnect in those things,
Speaker 1: which you want to figure out early on. The last
Speaker 1: thing I will quickly say is refine your statement. You
Speaker 1: might have to go through a couple of revisions, but
Speaker 1: then you can share it with other people. You can
Speaker 1: be like, what do you think do you think that
Speaker 1: this matches up with who I am and how I'm
Speaker 1: showing up. I think that's a great place to start.
Speaker 1: And the great thing is this is something that is
Speaker 1: industry agnostic. Everybody can do it. You can do it
Speaker 1: in your first job, you can do it in your internship,
Speaker 1: you can do it when you are the senior CEO.
Speaker 1: Everyone should have a personal vision statement that goes back
Speaker 1: to their personal brand.
Speaker 3: Speaking of industries, I think something that makes people hesitate
Speaker 3: when it comes to personal branding is that it feels
Speaker 3: exclusive to people who are in creative roles like you
Speaker 3: and I. So I'm wondering, what's your advice to people
Speaker 3: who work maybe in like finance or healthcare? How should
Speaker 3: they think about building a personal brand when they're maybe
Speaker 3: not in such a public facing role.
Speaker 1: That is such a great question, because I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you guys a little secret. A lot of people
Speaker 1: make the mistake of thinking I am an extrovert. I
Speaker 1: am an ambrovert, and I'm gonna say that because I
Speaker 1: am extrovertive around people who I know. I obviously am
Speaker 1: very extrovertive on social media. It's so much easier for
Speaker 1: me to have social relationships than real ones, Like I
Speaker 1: kid you not, I talk to the same four people
Speaker 1: in my life. And I'm not joking when I say
Speaker 1: it's literally for pretty much like it's like, it's pretty
Speaker 1: bad I have to actually leave the house to socialize anyway.
Speaker 1: But the reason why I say that is because I
Speaker 1: think people make also the assumption and that personal branding
Speaker 1: is so easy if you're an extrovert, and I totally
Speaker 1: get that. But my advice for introverts as well as
Speaker 1: people to your point who are in maybe less public
Speaker 1: facing roles, is understand that your personal brand exists whether
Speaker 1: you want it to or not. What we're discussing here
Speaker 1: is you having the power to determine what that brand is.
Speaker 1: People are going to talk about you no matter what
Speaker 1: I would say. Don't necessarily think that personal branding means
Speaker 1: you always have to be external, you have to have
Speaker 1: a large social media presence that you have to be
Speaker 1: posting all the time. It's really about controlling the narrative,
Speaker 1: I would say, and really making sure that again, how
Speaker 1: you want to come across is being communicated. So personal
Speaker 1: branding still matters, right, You can still if you work
Speaker 1: in finance. You can absolutely create content, maybe even sharing
Speaker 1: it on LinkedIn about how you do audits or how
Speaker 1: you are getting your CPA license, or maybe you've decided
Speaker 1: you want to go back for your MBA. Like there
Speaker 1: is so much content and just the everyday thing, and
Speaker 1: really I would say, we want to see the journey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't want to just see a quote unquote overnight success,
Speaker 1: because anyone who's been an overnight success is really at
Speaker 1: least twenty years in the making. Like, so take the
Speaker 1: pressure off of yourself to think that you have to
Speaker 1: be this inflated Like I get it. I wear pink
Speaker 1: blazers with feathers, I get it. I am a very
Speaker 1: like bold, out there person. But you don't have to
Speaker 1: be to be successful. You just have to be you
Speaker 1: and even just share a little bit of the journey
Speaker 1: in the process. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think when you think about it as your career story,
Speaker 3: it's really how you sell yourself in networking conversations. When
Speaker 3: you're reaching out to people, let's say, over LinkedIn, how
Speaker 3: do you explain who you are you know, in the
Speaker 3: context of your professional life in interviews? How do you
Speaker 3: position yourself across your cover letter and resume, Like, what
Speaker 3: is the message people are getting when they look at
Speaker 3: those materials when they look at your LinkedIn profile. So
Speaker 3: I think that's like the way to kind of think
Speaker 3: about it if you're not somebody.
Speaker 2: Who's like, I'm ready to post right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, And I would definitely add to that that.
Speaker 1: Really it's just about starting with where you are at
Speaker 1: right now and understanding that you have something unique to
Speaker 1: add to this conversation and that is also part of
Speaker 1: your personal brand.
Speaker 3: I want to bring up a question from one of
Speaker 3: our listeners. Next this is Dear work Bestie, where we
Speaker 3: answer your questions. This week's comes from Morgan and Nevada.
Speaker 5: A question I have as a gen Z professional entering
Speaker 5: the workforce is how can you start establishing a reputation
Speaker 5: and credibility early in your career as you're building a
Speaker 5: personal brand. Especially with social media and the Internet, it's
Speaker 5: made it easier to put yourself out there, but it
Speaker 5: also feels like there's more to consider when you're trying
Speaker 5: to figure out what your personal brand is.
Speaker 3: I love Morgan's question because figuring out what you want
Speaker 3: your personal brand to be is only the first step.
Speaker 2: And we talked about that before you then have to
Speaker 2: communicate that.
Speaker 3: And you know, we've talked about posting a bit, and
Speaker 3: you know how you position yourself in interviews and in networking.
Speaker 3: But part of that too is building credibility, Like how
Speaker 3: do you get people to actually buy into what you're saying.
Speaker 2: What's your advice to Morgan.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one word consistency. I think that what's really
Speaker 1: important here is that you build credibility when people see
Speaker 1: things over a period of time. For instance, Gianna, you've
Speaker 1: talked about baking and how much you love cooking and stuff.
Speaker 1: If you said that one time to me and that
Speaker 1: was the only time you ever mentioned it, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just be like, yeah, she said it, but like she's
Speaker 1: really not serious about it. Now if you keep talking
Speaker 1: about it now, I'm like, oh, there's something really here, right,
Speaker 1: And in many ways you have to keep kind of
Speaker 1: putting it out there. And I think that's what scares people.
Speaker 1: People don't like to be marketers of themselves. They don't
Speaker 1: like talking about themselves. It's scary, right. We're not comfortable
Speaker 1: because we have been taught as a society to downplay
Speaker 1: our achievements. This is not the time for that. Even
Speaker 1: if it just starts something as simple as you know,
Speaker 1: I am a this, and I'm a this, and I'm
Speaker 1: a this, I do this. I specialize in that you
Speaker 1: have to keep saying it. It's almost like affirmations to yourself.
Speaker 1: The more you say it, the more it gets locked
Speaker 1: into yourself, and the more that you keep saying it,
Speaker 1: the more other people begin to see you as that. Now,
Speaker 1: this is where faith without works is dead. You can't
Speaker 1: just say something and then not back it up. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the
Speaker 1: walk too. That now also comes with showing up every
Speaker 1: day authentically as that person you want to be treated
Speaker 1: as an executive. You got to show up to work
Speaker 1: as an executive. You got to carry yourself like one.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: For instance, for me, I was saying that I was
Speaker 1: an actor before I even started editioning. Why I'm going
Speaker 1: to classes, I'm taking my voice classings, I'm working out,
Speaker 1: I'm doing the things, I'm doing the work, and guess what,
Speaker 1: now I'm doing things like some of it, yes, it's
Speaker 1: some of it is what is like delulu, like manifestation,
Speaker 1: like but you have to believe it. And I'm so
Speaker 1: passionate about it, because I really do think anyone can
Speaker 1: change their life at the drop of a hat, the
Speaker 1: minute you decide to take a bet on yourself. So
Speaker 1: from Morgan, I would definitely say, be so delusionally aggressive
Speaker 1: about who you want to be that you show up
Speaker 1: every day and you speak life into being that person,
Speaker 1: because at some point it's either going to be your
Speaker 1: word against everybody else's. But if you've been putting in
Speaker 1: the work, if you have the receipts, if you've been
Speaker 1: showing up and you've been saying it, everybody else has
Speaker 1: no other option but to support your vision for yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: You know, Let's say you're like at a networking event
Speaker 3: and you introduce yourself and you basically are sharing your
Speaker 3: personal brand, like who you are, what you care about,
Speaker 3: you know, your interests, your strengths. Someone's then gonna go
Speaker 3: connect with you on LinkedIn and then they're going to see, oh,
Speaker 3: you know, does her career experience align with this, does
Speaker 3: her boud section align with that? I mean, they're not
Speaker 3: literally going there and asking that. Maybe they are, but
Speaker 3: I think it's a way for people to kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, check what you're saying even if they don't
Speaker 3: realize they're doing it consciously. They want to see the
Speaker 3: posts that you're putting out there. Does it align with
Speaker 3: kind of what you said?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? And that's kind of why. Fun fact, I really
Speaker 1: don't like when people say I am an aspiring blank
Speaker 1: like people put it in their bio all the time,
Speaker 1: aspiring copywriter, expiring executive, aspire. Baby, you already are the
Speaker 1: thing I say.
Speaker 2: I'm an aspiring pastry.
Speaker 1: You already are because you already us you are, because
Speaker 1: think about it. You already go home and you already cook,
Speaker 1: and you already bake, and you already test it out.
Speaker 1: The only difference between you and them is that they
Speaker 1: have a restaurant. You don't have it yet, thanks to me.
Speaker 1: But think about it, because if you keep selling yourself
Speaker 1: you're aspiring. You are already sort of putting a mental
Speaker 1: glass ceiling on yourself that you haven't arrived yet. But
Speaker 1: the minute you tell yourself, actually, I've already arrived. It's
Speaker 1: just everybody else hasn't seen it yet. Like, honey, I
Speaker 1: already know Lionsgate is gonna come knocking on my door
Speaker 1: one day. Okay, I'm already carrying myself in the way
Speaker 1: that I want to be. I'm going to stay ready
Speaker 1: so I don't have to get ready. And that's just it.
Speaker 1: The minute you realize that this is what you do
Speaker 1: for your personal brand, the universe conspires in your favor
Speaker 1: and I don't believe anything else. That's my delusionalness coming in.
Speaker 3: If we're going to be Jululu, be it for yourself,
Speaker 3: I might as well be for yourself. Morgan mentioned social
Speaker 3: media making it easier to put yourself out there, and
Speaker 3: we talked a bit before. Or You mentioned having a
Speaker 3: social media presence, and I remember when I started at LinkedIn,
Speaker 3: I was so fearful to even start posting, even though
Speaker 3: I was literally getting paid to do that, because I
Speaker 3: was like, oh, my friends are going to see this,
Speaker 3: what are they going to think? And I talked to
Speaker 3: myself out of posting so many times. Luckily, I've really
Speaker 3: worked on getting, you know, outside of my comfort zone
Speaker 3: over the last few years.
Speaker 2: But great, thank you.
Speaker 3: But I'm wondering for others who are just getting started.
Speaker 3: Do you need to have a strong social media presence
Speaker 3: to have a strong personal brand? Are those two things
Speaker 3: mutually exclusive?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say, I said no. I would say
Speaker 1: for certain industries. Obviously it pays to be more front facing, right,
Speaker 1: But if you find that you don't necessarily need a
Speaker 1: social media presence in order to be marketable, I would
Speaker 1: say still do the exercise that we discussed and really
Speaker 1: make sure you lock down your vision or your mission statement,
Speaker 1: because you can use that when you go into job
Speaker 1: interviews and when you're talking through your resume. I always
Speaker 1: say social media can be a good tool in your
Speaker 1: toolkit if used correctly. So a couple of mistakes that
Speaker 1: I see is when people try to be too many places,
Speaker 1: too many times, lock one platform down and then expand.
Speaker 1: I'm saying this not just because I work here, but
Speaker 1: because I genuinely have seen the fruit of the labor
Speaker 1: here that LinkedIn I think is a really great place
Speaker 1: for people to start out. First of all, we have
Speaker 1: so many different formats. You have short form video, we
Speaker 1: have LinkedIn live if you want to go long. We
Speaker 1: have newsletters. You know, Gianna, you've been running a great
Speaker 1: newsletter for years. There are so many different tools we
Speaker 1: already have here, and I know, like then the caveat
Speaker 1: of that is that people are like, but this is
Speaker 1: a professional platform. How am I supposed to show up
Speaker 1: baby by sharing your story, just by starting there. If
Speaker 1: you have just graduated, like document the jobs maybe you know,
Speaker 1: you don't have to call out the names of them,
Speaker 1: but the companies and when things that you're learning in
Speaker 1: the process that first internship, I bet you you walked
Speaker 1: out better than you came in. Those are things that
Speaker 1: you can start sharing now. And even though you don't
Speaker 1: think that that's part of your brand, it sort of
Speaker 1: is because everything is building this holistic idea and image
Speaker 1: of you. So there's just so many ways that you
Speaker 1: can flip storytelling on social media that I would say,
Speaker 1: like to take the ick or the fear out of it.
Speaker 1: Just start with what you know. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, as I am going to continue to say,
Speaker 1: oh a brand authenticity is the name of the game.
Speaker 1: Like you cannot be anyone else but you, and honestly,
Speaker 1: no one else deserves that seat.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I have.
Speaker 3: Been loving everything you're sharing, but I have one last
Speaker 3: question for you. You know, you build this personal brand, you
Speaker 3: do all the work, you've taken time and energy and
Speaker 3: invested into doing it. How do you then leverage that
Speaker 3: personal brand to find your next opportunity?
Speaker 1: Yes, so I would say that you can leverage a
Speaker 1: couple of different ways. And again it goes back to
Speaker 1: sort of your industry. This is honestly where industry research
Speaker 1: is gonna come. Okay, market research. If you want to
Speaker 1: be in a certain industry, you kind of need to
Speaker 1: see who the movers and shakers are, what companies you
Speaker 1: would want to work for, because it's gonna sort of
Speaker 1: give you a vibe check.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, like, let's say, for instance, I am a new
Speaker 1: grad who wants to work in marketing, and so I start,
Speaker 1: you know, googling and finding out different cmos chief marketing
Speaker 1: officers for those who don't know, and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to aspire to be like this one. I'll
Speaker 1: just use Bozma Saint John because she's just who I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of off top of mind. You might go on
Speaker 1: her Instagram, you might go on her LinkedIn. You start
Speaker 1: to see how she's creating content. Now, what did I
Speaker 1: say earlier? You are not an aspiring marketer. You already
Speaker 1: are a marketer. Okay, So now you're like, all right, she's
Speaker 1: posting consistently, she's posting a little of her personal she's
Speaker 1: posting her professional wins, I'm going to start doing the same.
Speaker 1: That is how you start building up the portfolio. And
Speaker 1: now when you want to go and apply for X,
Speaker 1: you know, job or whatever. Usually in a job application
Speaker 1: they ask for links, websites, whatever. This is where you
Speaker 1: can start sharing out your portfolio. Now, I know someone
Speaker 1: out here saying, okay, but you may this is for
Speaker 1: the creative folk. What I do and find it is
Speaker 1: same thing. If you have cultivated or curated a digital
Speaker 1: portfolio of some sort, you can absolutely share that. I
Speaker 1: think a lot about how we have so many healthcare
Speaker 1: professionals on LinkedIn. We have doctors, we have nurse practitioners,
Speaker 1: we have everyone in between, and they are consistently creating
Speaker 1: content on LinkedIn about becoming a new grad or going
Speaker 1: to med school or whatever the process. That is all
Speaker 1: fair game.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, even like what's going on in
Speaker 3: the healthcare industry, like news that's impacting your job.
Speaker 1: I need you now tell me what to do and
Speaker 1: tell people to keep washing their hands, because I think
Speaker 1: some people have stopped knowing that. It's really great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but what I'm but essentially what I'm saying is you
Speaker 1: can leverage all of that and actually that is a
Speaker 1: great way when you are filling up those job applications
Speaker 1: for you to say I'm already talking about this. I
Speaker 1: am already because again, the reason why your personal brand
Speaker 1: is so important is because it differentiates you from other people,
Speaker 1: including your competition. You have to show why would I
Speaker 1: go out and nowadays getting a job is hard. I
Speaker 1: know friends who are out here applying for two three,
Speaker 1: four hundred jobs who have been laid off for a year,
Speaker 1: year and a half. Whatever it is rough out here,
Speaker 1: it is full on hunger games. So what are you
Speaker 1: bringing to the table that is different than everybody else?
Speaker 1: Your personal brand is that? And if you are already
Speaker 1: creating content, why would I not take the bet on you?
Speaker 1: At least I know that you can talk about this
Speaker 1: versus someone who's just said, Hi, I just got my degree.
Speaker 1: I don't have anything behind me. I don't have no receipts,
Speaker 1: no samples, no nothing, just vibes. Can I come up
Speaker 1: here and drink the macha? No? No, no, no.
Speaker 2: So true.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a short break, but stick around because
Speaker 1: there's still plenty more to come.
Speaker 3: Wow, Tomay, I love everything you shared and I love
Speaker 3: just getting to learn more about your own journey and
Speaker 3: something I've been curious about since I listened to that podcast.
Speaker 2: Episode a year ago.
Speaker 3: So I really appreciate you sharing all of that with me.
Speaker 3: And I think I totally need to revisit my mission statement.
Speaker 3: I actually did write it before the episode.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna read it, but yeah, it's like not it.
Speaker 3: I need to, you know, think about my identity outside
Speaker 3: of my job title, which I still feel tied to
Speaker 3: because that's how I started my personal brand. So I'm
Speaker 3: going to revise my mission statement just so I can
Speaker 3: better articulate, like what I'm passionate about, what I'm interested
Speaker 3: in outside of just like being tied to a company
Speaker 3: and with a certain job title. And also I'm gonna
Speaker 3: ask for feedback. I think that was such a good tip,
Speaker 3: because you want to know if your messaging is land right,
Speaker 3: Like you could do it for so long and then
Speaker 3: somebody's like, oh, that's not really what I thought you
Speaker 3: were about. So I think that's a really good piece
Speaker 3: of advice, is to ask people closest to you, like,
Speaker 3: if you had to describe me in the context of
Speaker 3: my professional career, what would you say, and collect that
Speaker 3: and you know, pivot revise, do all the things after.
Speaker 2: So those are my two action items.
Speaker 1: I love that I cannot wait to hear your personal
Speaker 1: mission statement. But everything you said is so true, and
Speaker 1: I think that the minute you detach yourself from a
Speaker 1: job and think more about, like what is the holistic
Speaker 1: arch of your life, then that will also help inform
Speaker 1: you for other roles right and other opportunities down the road.
Speaker 1: For me, I really want to emphasize three things. First
Speaker 1: of all, remembering that authenticity is key. You are you.
Speaker 1: I always like to say you are your superpower. Nobody
Speaker 1: else can be you. No one else deserves to be you,
Speaker 1: and if you were not you, then who would be?
Speaker 1: So you have to be you and you have to
Speaker 1: be true. Second, write the vision. Make it plain. It's
Speaker 1: that simple. Write it out, put it on pen and paper,
Speaker 1: articulate it. Workshop it. It's okay if you have to
Speaker 1: go through multiple rounds. I'm gonna give you guys a
Speaker 1: little tip. Open up, chat GPT, ask it some questions,
Speaker 1: tell it you know, adjectives that you have that people
Speaker 1: have given to you. Workshop your vision and if it aligns,
Speaker 1: it aligns, and then pivot if you need to. And
Speaker 1: then last personally, not least be consistent. One thing I
Speaker 1: did not mention earlier that I think consistency also entails
Speaker 1: is making sure that you're getting the same person, even
Speaker 1: if it's a slightly different variation on every platform. If
Speaker 1: you go to my Instagram, you go to my LinkedIn,
Speaker 1: you go to my Twitter, you go to my TikTok,
Speaker 1: you go to my website, you're gonna see Jamay. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a different version of jam because obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, I can cut up a little bit more
Speaker 1: on some places versus not. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you're going to say this is Jammy Jackson,
Speaker 1: and I know that for a fact. So your consistency
Speaker 1: is also about showing up in the places where you
Speaker 1: need to show up and being true to yourself in
Speaker 1: the process. So speaking about being true to yourself, Gianna,
Speaker 1: I gotta be true to myself. I love cooler cringe.
Speaker 4: Ah.
Speaker 1: It is my favorite thing, Emma, because it is such
Speaker 1: a fun way for us to figure out what is
Speaker 1: cool versus what is cringe. And in this little part
Speaker 1: of the show, we like to present something to you all,
Speaker 1: and Gianna and I like to discuss if it is
Speaker 1: in fact cool or it is cringe. So, Gianna, what
Speaker 1: do we have this week?
Speaker 2: This is a spicey on? Oh I love spice dating
Speaker 2: your coworkers. Ooh, you've been there, dumb.
Speaker 1: Would you like to go first? What do you think
Speaker 1: about that? Gianna?
Speaker 3: I think it's cool as long as there's like some
Speaker 3: degree of separation between you and the person. So like
Speaker 3: direct team is kind of you know, that could get messy.
Speaker 1: That could get really messy. Really message what if someone
Speaker 1: got promoted over the other person.
Speaker 3: Or just like you break up and then you're like,
Speaker 3: let's work on this project together.
Speaker 1: No, I would not work on no project. You're on
Speaker 1: your own body.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally great.
Speaker 3: So I think it's okay as long as there's some
Speaker 3: you know, maybe they're on a different team or they
Speaker 3: work in like a different office. Great, And I feel
Speaker 3: like that's good. Like you need healthy separation too, Like
Speaker 3: you don't want to be like potentially living with this person,
Speaker 3: going to work every day, seeing them every day. And
Speaker 3: I think there that's like a healthy level of separation
Speaker 3: too that you want. So yeah, I don't know, I've
Speaker 3: never experienced this myself.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, have you ever had to, you.
Speaker 2: Know, figure out no office romance. Okay, what about you?
Speaker 1: I kind of want that for you. But now, like
Speaker 1: we both worked here, instead of be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'd be like, who's Gianna's bow. I have dated a
Speaker 1: coworker before, but we were not on the same team.
Speaker 1: We didn't have the same job function our entire days were.
Speaker 1: It's completely different, and so I think that's sort of
Speaker 1: where it was fun. And it was kind of you know,
Speaker 1: it was cute. You know, oh, I see you up
Speaker 1: in the lunch line boot, you know you want to
Speaker 1: take a walk with me to go get coffee and
Speaker 1: hold my hand. But wholl that didn't last. I was like,
Speaker 1: is this your husband? No, it is not, but it
Speaker 1: is okay, y because I'm trying. I want my husband
Speaker 1: to work to work with me so we can do
Speaker 1: the same things. He's like, absolutely not only can, He's like,
Speaker 1: I can take you on doses.
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 1: But I say the same thing. I would say that
Speaker 1: it's cool as long as you have boundaries. Obviously, still
Speaker 1: keep a professional. Okay, no hanky panky in the office, please,
Speaker 1: I do not need to know what y'all been up
Speaker 1: to with your weekends, with your nights. I don't stop
Speaker 1: getting so close to each other. Stand away what is
Speaker 1: Don't be weird, you know, especially at the company holiday party.
Speaker 1: Not be weird because I'm gonna call you out. I'm
Speaker 1: aa spray you with a spray bottle. You being weird, Yeah,
Speaker 1: spray bottle. It's a little too hot up in heare.
Speaker 3: I think when people can start picking up on like
Speaker 3: to they have a vibe, that's when you know.
Speaker 1: When other people start getting uncomfortable because they're like, something
Speaker 1: itchy is happening here and I don't know what that's about.
Speaker 1: Don't do that. Don't make the block hot, essentially, and
Speaker 1: that's when it can get into the cringe territory. But again,
Speaker 1: I would just say, also, just be mindful. You know,
Speaker 1: I've had friends who have dated their bosses. I think
Speaker 1: that is an absolute that's a no no. Like I
Speaker 1: had one friend who was dealing with her manager's manager
Speaker 1: like so she always would be like, he can't say
Speaker 1: nothing to me. I'm like, sis, you're playing a dangerous game.
Speaker 1: So like I would say, like, aside from like the
Speaker 1: fun juiciness of it all, I get it. We're young,
Speaker 1: we're hot. Everything is still sitting pretty and whatnot. Like,
Speaker 1: I get it, baby, but just be careful about how
Speaker 1: you run in these streets because these streets will run
Speaker 1: up on you.
Speaker 2: Yeah wow.
Speaker 3: But also you're like spending so much time at work,
Speaker 3: so I think it's natural for people to find you
Speaker 3: know a partner at work. I think you also just
Speaker 3: have to be mindful of the policies not to be
Speaker 3: like such an arc. But you probably have to disclose
Speaker 3: that it is in your employee hand but read your
Speaker 3: employee handbook.
Speaker 1: Do not get god.
Speaker 3: Are you guys let us know cool or cring dating
Speaker 3: or coworkers, and if you have some stories to share,
Speaker 3: we want to hear them.
Speaker 1: So I think we both are collectively cool cool ringing cool, Yeah,
Speaker 1: cool ringing. We're ordering cringe if you go about it
Speaker 1: at the don't be freaky kids out there, So guys,
Speaker 1: don't be a freaky kid cooler cringe, but more poorlyan.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed this entire episode. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for listening.
Speaker 3: Yes, and make sure you guys are following the newsletter
Speaker 3: Let's Talk offline if you're not already. The link is
Speaker 3: in the show description and also in my LinkedIn bio.
Speaker 1: Yes and a couple of important announcements. First of all,
Speaker 1: if you have a burning question, make sure you send
Speaker 1: that to me and gian Okay, we cannot do that
Speaker 1: segment without you, guys, so we want to hear it. Okay,
Speaker 1: send us your questions. Information on how to do that
Speaker 1: is in the show description. And also, do not forget
Speaker 1: to rate and review the podcast and follow it to
Speaker 1: the you didnim misus any episodes. If you missed the
Speaker 1: episode is because you are not listening to your work. Mesties,
Speaker 1: Jamai and Gianna follow the show.
Speaker 3: Also shout out to Morgan for your question this week.
Speaker 3: That was so fun to have Jamay answer. I know
Speaker 3: I learned a lot. All Right, guys, before you go,
Speaker 3: remember we've always got your back, so something comes up.
Speaker 2: Let's Talk Offline. I'm Giana Prudente.
Speaker 1: And I'm Jammy Jackson Gadson Stay Thriving.
Speaker 3: Let's Talk Offline is a production of LinkedIn News and
Speaker 3: iHeart Podcasts. This show is produced by Western Sound. Our
Speaker 3: producer is Sabrina Fang. The show is edited by Savannah Wright.
Speaker 3: Our associate producer is Sarah Dilley. Alex mckinnis is our engineer,
Speaker 3: and Ben Adair is the executive producer.
Speaker 1: Executive producers at iHeart Podcasts are Katrina Norvel and Nikki Etour.
Speaker 1: We got support from LinkedIn's Jesse Temple, Sarah Storm, and
Speaker 1: Ayana Angel. Maya Pope Chappelle is Director of Content, Dave
Speaker 1: Pond is Head of News Production, Courtney Coop is Head
Speaker 1: of Original Programming, and Dan Roth is the editor in
Speaker 1: chief of LinkedIn
Speaker 4: M