Everyone Has a Brand. Even You!
How to beat the bias and earn like the Steves.
TL;DR: Your personal brand isn't some corporate performance—it's the consistent value you bring across roles and contexts. Most women either let others define their narrative or get stuck projecting an outdated version of themselves. Skip the buzzwords and borrowed personas. Instead, identify your throughline (what you've always been good at), understand how others already see you, and make choices that authentically showcase your strengths. Your brand evolves, but your core strengths shouldn't change with every opportunity.
Hey there 👋,
When I was a middle school principal, a parent once told me, “You’re famous for saying no.”
In high school, I was voted “Most Like David Letterman.”
At the time, these moments felt random. Now I realize they were early signs of something deeper—my personal brand.
Back then, I thought brands were for influencers with suspiciously white teeth or corporations with Super Bowl ads. Not for middle school principals with a knack for boundaries and a dry humor. But your brand isn’t your reputation or your personality—it’s where who you are, what you value, and how you create impact all meet. What Harvard researcher Jill Avery describes as “the amalgamation of the associations, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and expectations that people collectively hold about you.”
Your reputation is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
Your personality is how you naturally show up.
Your brand is how you choose to channel both.
It’s also not the same as your mission. Your mission is the change you want to make. Your brand is how you uniquely go about making it.
Sometimes a brand is visual—like Steve Jobs and his black turtlenecks. But even that simple choice said something deeper: focus, minimalism, clarity. It wasn’t random.
When I was job hunting, I used to change my LinkedIn profile to match whatever job I was applying for. I thought I was being clever—custom-fit branding! But eventually I started asking: “Who am I, actually?”
Now, my LinkedIn shows a clear career path in education and leadership. But the thread that runs through all of it? I lead with clarity. I value strong communication and healthy boundaries. I cut through the noise to find what matters. And I like a laugh 😜.
That’s my brand. And it shows up whether I’m running a school, building an EdTech product, or writing this newsletter. It’s “accurate, coherent, compelling, and differentiated.”
Why should any of this matter to you?
Because in a world where attention is scarce, being clear about how you create value helps people know what you bring—and how to find you when they need it.
Your brand doesn’t have to be flashy. It just has to be true.
The Problem Pattern
Most professional women I’ve encountered fall into one of two problematic patterns when it comes to personal branding:
Pattern #1: The "I'll Just Let My Work Speak for Itself" Trap
You avoid intentionally crafting how you're perceived because it feels like self-promotion or inauthenticity. Meanwhile, without a clear narrative of your value, others fill in the gaps with their assumptions—often unconsciously biased ones that keep you stuck.
Pattern #2: The "Outdated Identity" Predicament
Your professional story is frozen in time. Personal branding expert Dorie Clark shared an anecdote about a woman who kept getting overlooked for roles because her LinkedIn showcased "vintage" skills compared to what she actually did every day. In other words, you've evolved, but your brand hasn't kept up.
Both patterns leave you watching less qualified colleagues (looking at you, Steve 👀) sail past you into leadership positions because they've mastered a skill you're actively resisting: strategic self-presentation.
And let's be clear: your personal brand is not the same as your resume. Your resume lists what you've done; your brand communicates how you uniquely approach your work and the consistent value you bring.
How Most People Try to Solve It (And Why It Fails)
When the "personal branding" lightbulb finally goes on, most women fall into approaches that sound good but miss the mark:
The Aesthetic Overhaul
You update your headshot and redesign your website, but neglect the substance underneath. It's like repainting a house with a crumbling foundation.
The Buzzword Buffet
You load your profiles with "strategic," "innovative," and "results-driven" because everyone else does—but end up sounding like an AI-generated profile rather than a human with specific strengths.
The Borrowed Persona
You notice the woman who got promoted speaks assertively in meetings, so you try to mimic her style—even though your natural strengths lie in thoughtful analysis and written communication.
The Identity Chameleon
You shift your professional identity to match whatever opportunity is in front of you—until you lose track of what’s yours. Like me with my ever-changing LinkedIn profile, you end up asking, "Who am I, actually?"
These approaches fail because they treat branding as a marketing exercise, not a clarity tool. They ignore the gender tax, where women are judged on proven performance while men are judged on potential. They mistake tactics for strategy, confusing profile updates with actual brand development. And they blur the line between healthy evolution and confusing inconsistency.
When you treat branding like a performance instead of a clarity exercise, you end up feeling fake, tired, and still overlooked.
The Solution: Strategic Authenticity, Not Performance Art
Instead of viewing your brand as a marketing campaign, think of it as intentional clarity about your unique value. Here's a more grounded approach:
1. Find your through-line
What themes have consistently emerged throughout your career and life, even as the specific roles and contexts changed? What problems do you consistently solve for others? What values have guided your major decisions? This is your core—the part that remains even as your job, the world, and your hair changes around you.
2. Map how others already see you with AI assistance
Use AI to help you identify patterns in how others perceive you:
AI Prompt #1: Brand Archaeology
I'd like to identify the core elements of my personal brand. Here are a few instances where I've received genuine feedback or recognition:
[List 3-5 examples with the specific feedback you received or cut and paste your most recent review]
Based on these examples, what patterns do you see in how others perceive me?
What unique strengths or approaches seem to be my differentiators?
What value do I consistently provide that others might not?3. Identify the gaps
Be precise about the differences between how you're currently perceived and how you want to be. This is where AI can be particularly helpful:
AI Prompt #2: Perception Gap Analysis
I'd like to understand the gap between my current professional reputation and how I'd like to be perceived.
How I think I'm currently seen: [your assessment]
How I'd like to be seen: [your goal]
What specific signals or behaviors might be reinforcing my current reputation?
What subtle shifts in how I communicate or what I prioritize could help bridge this gap?
What opportunities should I be seeking to demonstrate my desired qualities?4. Create a decision filter, not a performance
Your brand isn't a celebrity persona you need to maintain—it's simply a consistent approach to your work that reflects your actual strengths. When faced with an opportunity or challenge, try asking: "What would be the most authentic way for me to handle this, given what I'm genuinely good at?" This keeps you aligned with your real strengths while helping others recognize your consistent value.
The point isn't to "live your brand" like you're curating an Instagram feed—it's to make professional choices that feel authentic to you and showcase what you actually bring to the table, rather than what you think others want to see.
Power Practice for the Week
Monday: Conduct Your Brand Archeology
Use AI Prompt #1 to identify the consistent themes in how others have recognized your value. Look for the through-line that connects feedback across different roles and contexts.
Tuesday: Define Your Core and Your Evolution
Write down what you believe has remained consistent about your value (your core) and how your expression of it has evolved over time. What stays the same even as you grow?
Wednesday: Create Your Brand Statement
Draft a simple statement: "I bring [your unique approach] to [your specific context] which helps [your audience] achieve [desired outcome]." Test variations until it feels authentic and distinctive.
Thursday: LinkedIn Reality Check
Review your LinkedIn through the lens of your through-line. Does it tell a coherent story of your evolution, or does it read like disconnected chapters? Use the AI prompts from last week’s newsletter to help align your profile with your core brand.
Friday: Practice Your Brand Filter
Look at one decision or opportunity you're currently facing. Ask yourself: "What would be the most authentic way for me to handle this, given what I'm genuinely good at?" Make a choice that reinforces your through-line, even if it means saying no to something that doesn't align.
The Short of It ⚡
Your brand isn't your reputation, personality, or mission—it's how you uniquely deliver value
Effective brands include both a consistent core and thoughtful evolution as you grow
Instead of shape-shifting, find the through-line that makes your journey coherent
The simplest brands (like Jobs' turtleneck) work because they reflect deeper values and principles
Small, consistent choices that reinforce your brand do more than grand declarations
With you all the way,
- Kara
PS. Next week: If you’ve ever felt weird asking for more—money, support, visibility—you’re not alone. I’ll share a better way to think about negotiation that isn’t about being aggressive; it’s about being clear. Especially for those of us raised to be “nice” instead of powerful.