打造个人品牌是一种自我发现的过程。
Why can't the most talented people articulate their own value?
I work with incredible humans - therapists, strategists, artists, who've transformed countless lives. They have immense depth, non-linear journeys, and years of hard-won expertise. Yet they all say the same thing: "I don't know what to talk about.”
“I don’t know what to talk about”.
“Sometimes, I wonder if I have any of value to share…”
“Can you just hold my hand step by step and tell me what to do?”
The moment I start talking to them, it doesn’t take me long for me to see a break-down of infinite topics they can overly share on, and the amount of value they have that can benefit others. Multiple tabs and connectors start to open inside my mind, and the structure to hold and support their voice comes alive.
But if it’s so obvious for me, why they can’t see it for themselves?
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It feels like trying to read the label while being inside of a bottle
If you ask a fish what water is (I mean, assuming they could speak), they would say "water?" They're immersed in it, and they may have never realized that water is a thing. They would only be able to see water if they moved to land.
And this can happen with us too. We have lived our lives immersed in ourselves, and now that we have to articulate it to the outer world — it can be hard even to notice what in us is actually relevant.
When I help people gain clarity on their personal brand, I serve as their "land." Their universe is like water to me, which allows me to quickly identify the value and relevance of their unique perspectives and stories.
When therapy meets strategy
I've worked as a brand strategist for 12 years now, but it wasn't until I started building my own brand that I realized what a powerful path this can be for self-discovery.
In the first 10 years, I helped faceless brands of companies answer the questions "Who are we?" and "How do we position ourselves?" But 2 years ago, things changed.
I had been feeling completely disconnected from that work, and I found myself in an identity crisis. "If this is not what I'm supposed to do, then who am I?" Despite being an agonizing time, it forced me to look closer at my side passion in life: psychology of the self.
I looked so closely that I was about to throw everything away and go back to university to become a psychotherapist. But life has its funny way of working things out.
When I was at my bottom, I received an inquiry from someone asking for help to work on their personal brand. And guess who it was? A therapist.
I'd never worked with personal brands before, but something about her excitement made me say yes. Working with her changed everything. I was digging into her story, helping her see her strengths and communicate her humanity so she could help more people. I had to work through her self-beliefs and perceptions, becoming a mirror for her to see herself clearly.
Isn't this as close as you can get to being a therapist while working in communication?
That was two years ago. Since then, I've been helping people express who they are to expand their business and support a life they love. But here's the irony: while I've been helping others communicate for over a decade, I never built my own brand until two months ago.
You'd think it would be easy for me, right? It's not. I'm navigating all the challenges, doubts, and fears that come with putting yourself out there. With one key difference: I don't have another me to help me see myself from the outside.
I tried getting help, but it didn't work. I felt I had to adapt to their method and system, and that I wasn't seen individually for how I function and who I am. They told me what to do but they didn't see me. I got a template, but I didn't recognize my voice.
And so, this newsletter was born. As a way to reflect on my own process of building my own brand, and share with you, based on my clients and experience, topics that not so many people talk about when discussing about personal brands, like self-worth, self-doubt, confidence to express yourself, identity, and more.
Creating a personal brand turns you into an archaeologist of yourself
Creating a personal brand forces you to become an archaeologist of your own life. You start digging into experiences you've lived but never really examined, patterns you've followed but never named, and perspectives you hold but have never articulated.
The moment you try to explain to someone else who you are and what you stand for, you're confronted with questions you've never had to answer: What do I actually believe? Why do I see things this way? What in my story shaped the lens through which I view the world?
It's like being asked to describe the taste of water when you've been swimming in it your whole life. Suddenly, you have to step outside yourself and look back in. You discover strengths you didn't know you had, wounds that became wisdom, and connections between seemingly random experiences that now form the backbone of how you help others.
I watch it happen with every client. They come to me thinking they need marketing help, but what actually unfolds is a journey of self-recognition. They realize their 'messy' non-linear path isn't a bug - it's the feature that makes them irreplaceable. They discover that their biggest struggles often contain their greatest gifts.
Every time you share your story, every time you voice an opinion, every time you show up as yourself, you learn something new about who you are. You start to see patterns in what resonates with people, what feels authentic when you say it, what energizes you vs. what drains you.
This isn't about creating a persona - it's about uncovering the person you already are but maybe never fully saw. Your brand becomes the external expression of your internal truth, constantly evolving as you do.
A healthy personal brand is one that is true to who you are, it’s not static, and it’s constantly evolving
Simply put, a brand is what others think about a company, product, or person - it's their perceptions and associations.
While most people I work with want to create their personal brand to amplify their work, I want them to be remembered for more than just their job title. I want people to connect with their ideas, vision, personality, and unique way of being.
A healthy personal brand happens when people's perceptions align with your real self - including how you grow and evolve over time. An unhealthy one is when you show up differently than who you truly are.
But why "unhealthy"? Because it makes you and your business sick. You won't be able to sustain it long-term, hurting your business, and it will only push down your sense of self-worth and self-trust.
Let me share a quick story: I once had a client who told me his marketing (funnel) was working but people weren't connecting with him. Before the consultation call, I checked his social media channels and website, and when I met him in the call, I was surprised by the person I found sitting in front of me. He was warm, friendly, and funny, but online he projected a serious, distant person.
When I gently pointed out the incoherence to him and asked why he didn't bring more of himself into his communication, he said that he felt people wouldn't trust him if he showed up with his true personality.
Your personal brand isn't just what you say about yourself — it's what people perceive about you. Aligning these perceptions with your true self requires deep internal clarity, not only of your external world but of your inner world.
So how do you develop this clarity? How do you ensure your brand reflects your authentic, evolving self? Through that archaeological process I mentioned before — by excavating two essential elements that form the bedrock of who you are.
Foundation 1: Your story
Your story is the foundation of your personal brand, no matter what your intention is. It’s your story that makes it personal and uniquely you. No one else in the entire world has lived and experienced what you did in the way you did it.
It's your journey, your struggles, your lived experiences, your pain, your lessons. And one thing I've noticed consistently is that most people I work with initially undervalue their story – or worse, they dismiss it entirely because they believe it's not linear enough, too complex to explain, or lacking in impressive achievements worth sharing.
I'm here to tell you this: Besides my grandparents, I don't know one person with a linear path in life. I don't even know if this is possible anymore.
Second, and most importantly: your non-linear path is what makes you relatable to others. It's through your challenges that the people who connect with you will feel seen and understood. Also, what you experienced in life is what creates the unique lenses through which you see things and the world — which differentiates you in a noisy room.
It’s through the story of others that we can relate, connect, and reflect on our own.
What stops you from sharing your story and your voice is that you have not acknowledged and validated the value of your own journey. Recognizing your story and cherishing it is an act of self-recognition and self-worth.
And I understand that this might not be an easy thing to do, including for myself. I still, at times, question whether sharing my story is relevant — I still sometimes don't make sense of it and can't see the value in it for others.
But as I help others validate and recognize their paths and relevant points of their stories, they also reflect back on me, and I learn to validate my own in the process.
The foundation of your personal brand is your story, so own it. And the rest will come. Your personal story is what gives perspective to other people on where you are coming from and why you see things the way you do.
Foundation 2: Uncovering your beliefs and opinions
Voicing your beliefs is essential to defining what you stand for. Without it, your personal brand risks being vague or invisible. But with clarity and courage, your voice becomes your signature.
This has been one of my greatest challenges. In natural conversations, our opinions, beliefs, and perspectives flow effortlessly. But when we're not directly prompted or lack specific context, identifying what we truly believe becomes difficult. It's like the fish who doesn't realize it's swimming in water because that's its constant environment.
If I asked you out of the blue "What are your thoughts and beliefs?" you'd likely respond: "About what?"
There's so much inside of us, and without a focus on knowing what the objective is that we're being called to talk about, we might end up with no words at all.
That's why having a clear positioning helps us find direction for our voice. A positioning is NOT AN AUDIENCE NICHE. Your positioning can emerge from a specific topic, elements of your personal story, or your unique approach to your work. But regardless of where it comes from, it's always rooted in your story!
When creating a personal brand, I usually look for the intersections of what makes that person unique. The combination of things in their journey that makes them uniquely them. For example, for me, my story and my work relies on the intersection of self-knowledge and communication, because it reflects my own story and path.
When I work with people, this is what I help them with: being clear of their identity, discovering the strengths in their story, and helping them to communicate who they are and what they do with confidence. So I will share my view of the world in this direction: What can you learn about yourself? How can you communicate? Your inner world, etc.
The more you see yourself, the more others will too
So here’s what I hope you take away from all this: You don’t need to become someone else to build your brand. You just need to start seeing — and valuing — who you already are.
We talked about why it can feel so hard to articulate your own value (because you're living inside it), how your story is the foundation of everything (even if it feels messy), and how uncovering your beliefs gives your voice direction and depth.
The way I see the process of creating your personal brand is not as a way to impress others, a live in constant stress of performance, it’s a process of learning to express yourself and communicate who you are in a way others can understand and connect with.
And yeah, it can feel confusing and confronting sometimes. But that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It means you're being real with it, and that’s how the messy process looks like - not just in the begging, but every time we discover new parts of ourselves.
So keep digging and keep sharing. Trust that what’s already inside of you is enough. Just start from where you are, and in the next edition we will talk about why everything you want is on the other side of your personal brand.
Warmly,
Nat
💫 If you’re ready to find your voice:
- 🤖 Download my free Brand Clarity Tool: Reflective prompts integrated with AI to give you insights into your own story.
- 📔 Get my Workbook: Reconnect with Your Authentic Voice: Guided exercises to find your voice, see your story and uniqueness.
- 👩💻 Book a Brand Clarity Call: gain brand clarity, and leave with with a clear direction to execute your next steps.
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to help you discover more of yourself, communicate who you are with confidence, and build a brand that supports a fulfilling life.
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