yes that’s me so in a hospital maternity
ward there’s so many emotions in the
delivery room there’s excitement joy and
some anxiety well when I was born there
was another emotion in the delivery room
surprised I can hardly imagine how my
mom and dad felt when they learned that
they were the parents of not one but two
baby girls twins
I’m not had a feeling that she was
pregnant with the toys but the doctor
told her she wasn’t and and my sister
and I had instant best friends and
playmates see it’s much harder to become
your own person when you have someone a
few feet away from you and my sister and
I learned early about life as a twin we
shared everything from toys clothes
bedrooms birthday cakes no boyfriends
and and love from of course our parents
iris Stacy and she was sherry but to
most others we were simply the twins
learned early to negotiate questions
like why do you weigh more than your
twin and how come you get better grades
than your twin and strangely enough we
never truly knew if we were identical or
fraternal growing up the doctor told my
parents that we were fraternal but
really with little evidence or
explanation so there’s always this
ambiguity but because we were very much
treated like like a single person it
sure did feel like we were identical so
you may be saying to yourself what does
Stacy’s twin saga have to do with
personal branding only everything you
see because
personal branding is about standing out
it’s about being memorable
it’s about being unique and that’s what
I had to do from day one with strive to
be unique so now as a professional
marketer I have developed a niche
because building personal brands has
always come second nature to me and with
their lives playing out online and
competition growing more global personal
branding is no longer a luxury it is a
requirement and so it doesn’t matter
whether you’re a 50-something
professional or college-bound high
school student a strong personal brand
can make all the difference and today
guess what we’re gonna talk about
building a brand first let’s a little
vocabulary lesson so what is a personal
brand exactly well in 1998 management
guru Tom Peters coined the term in a
Fast Company article he said we are the
CEOs of me Inc to be in business today
our most important job is to be had
marketer for the brand called you his
point businesses aren’t the only ones
that need brands everybody has a
personal brand
it’s your passions accomplishments
expertise values and personal brands can
be positive neutral or negative and a
lot of people think that personal brands
just happened they don’t the best ones
are very carefully honed and so what we
say post publish all adds up and carries
tremendous weight anyone want to go back
so face it we’re all branded at birth
but think about it our birth
certificates are a first branding moment
our names are personal but they’re also
public they’re the first thing that
others learn about us and they induce
all sorts of judgment from heritage to
socioeconomic status as parents we want
to give our new boards the best possible
start and that should start with a name
in fact there’s tons of data that prove
the name that you give your child’s will
influence likability academic and career
success or lack of it so an interesting
study there’s been many interesting
studies but LinkedIn analyzed a hundred
million profiles to determine which
names are most associated with c-level
executives and found that today you’re
more likely to be a CEO within dames
like Peter Jack Bob or for women Deborah
Cynthia or Caroline another study very
interesting study shows that women with
gender-neutral names like Jordan and
Alex actually have an advantage in
male-dominated fields like engineering
or technology so it should come to you
with little surprise that baby naming
has become a big business so there are
countless tools and services there’s
online databases baby named generators
and yes what I’m about to tell you is
true baby named consultants they range
in price from a few hundred dollars to
one that I interviewed this is true one
that I interviewed will charge you
so before we depart that before we
depart the delivery room let me leave
you with this anecdote when my business
partner Jes was seven months pregnant
and conflicted over a name I reminded
her to make sure that the URL was
available before they may it’s true
she’s here right now before they made
before they made the the name selection
and really in today’s world where search
engine optimization is more valuable
than precious metal do you really want
to name your child the millionth Jim
Smith so personal grounding again it’s a
lifelong undertaking and different ages
call for different approaches
during the impressionable toddler in
elementary school years you want to
encourage discovery and exploration let
your children go it’s your child going
to be an engineer a fitness instructor
psychologist artist or maybe an
astronaut introduce them to science
music or drama math and more and urge
them to pursue their passions let’s
fast-forward to high school so in high
school this is where cultivating a
positive and impressive brand really
becomes key and those that tend to their
personal and brand early exponentially
will increase the likelihood of success
in college admissions and also that
all-important first job so what does
that look like no resi photos though no
racy social media accounts instead an
Instagram that showcases a budding
interest in photography LinkedIn that
highlights achievements or Twitter with
thoughtful analysis
current events and it’s it’s really
about students are much more concerned
about SAT at a CT scores when they
should be more concerned about character
and let’s imagine two prospective
students student a has a slightly higher
test score student B has their own
tutoring business with a website and
great client testimonials who do you
think is a more appealing student I bet
many of you are thinking B so another
reason why personal branding matters in
college admissions it’s because
everything kids do today is public and
permanent and say you you know another
yet another reason is more than 75
percent of admissions officers they are
looking at applicants social media so
all the more reason to share positive
testimonials about your tutoring
maybe you’re not convinced recently 10
students incoming students to Harvard
got their admission revoked because they
posted inappropriate content on social
media these brilliant students who were
able to make the cut in Harvard’s four
point five nine percent acceptance rate
lost it all so while college admissions
is the first personal and branding
milestone it’s definitely not the last
how you perform in college grades
internships all influenced that first
job and a great resume is just one part
of the equation you also need a strong
online portfolio networking LinkedIn and
holds true throughout your whole career
so we see that personal branding is
crucial to success but how do we create
it and and when should you start the
real work should begin in high school
around the age of 14 and every personal
brand should have a roadmap
first comes discovery which is really a
stuff audit of your passions expertise
values goals and by plying all of this
you’ll be able to crystallize your
competitive advantage or what I actually
call the white shoes me factor and just
as important it’s as understanding who
you are
you must understand your target audience
and what drives them whether it’s an
admissions officer client or recruiter
and personal branding is not about me me
me
it’s your value to others why do you
stand out from the other college
applicants and why should you be
selected for that coveted promotion and
why should someone hire your company
number to develop develop a strong
portfolio that showcases your value so
your LinkedIn Twitter Facebook
everything should be updated and in sync
gotta make every word count and number
three is is deliver think of yourself as
as a news channel think of yourself as a
news channel think think about this
you’re sharing information through
various channels I want to say
Communications works best when there’s a
constant drumbeat so you can’t just turn
on the volume and then walk away
but the journey does not stop with
delivery the work does not stop here and
the great news is is that it’s never too
late to start the important thing is to
know is that as you progress in your
career you have to constant
we adapt and refine your personal brand
so I started this story telling you
about my twin and growing up we were
constantly asked are you fraternal or
identical and although I’d respond
fraternal I always had some doubt even
though the doctor said that we weren’t
and we didn’t look identical but
interestingly enough I always feared
getting tested because even though we
were twins
I liked the idea of being unique now I’m
working on a book on personal branding
and I had the opportunity recently to
interview a twin expert and at the end
of our conversation I shared with her
our little quandary of not knowing and
she she encouraged me to take a DNA test
and I thought would it be poetic if we
were identical after all with my career
built on branding when two humans
entered the world so we took the test
and we waited for the results and the
identical does that change my identity
no the best compliment I’ve ever gotten
is Stacy you are so unique because I’m
developing my unique personal brand
since birth so I am uniquely Stacy and
my sister’s uniquely Sheree even if we
are identical twins and if two twins can
stand out as individuals and each
develop their own distinct brands you
can too thank you good night [Applause]
ward there’s so many emotions in the
delivery room there’s excitement joy and
some anxiety well when I was born there
was another emotion in the delivery room
surprised I can hardly imagine how my
mom and dad felt when they learned that
they were the parents of not one but two
baby girls twins
I’m not had a feeling that she was
pregnant with the toys but the doctor
told her she wasn’t and and my sister
and I had instant best friends and
playmates see it’s much harder to become
your own person when you have someone a
few feet away from you and my sister and
I learned early about life as a twin we
shared everything from toys clothes
bedrooms birthday cakes no boyfriends
and and love from of course our parents
iris Stacy and she was sherry but to
most others we were simply the twins
learned early to negotiate questions
like why do you weigh more than your
twin and how come you get better grades
than your twin and strangely enough we
never truly knew if we were identical or
fraternal growing up the doctor told my
parents that we were fraternal but
really with little evidence or
explanation so there’s always this
ambiguity but because we were very much
treated like like a single person it
sure did feel like we were identical so
you may be saying to yourself what does
Stacy’s twin saga have to do with
personal branding only everything you
see because
personal branding is about standing out
it’s about being memorable
it’s about being unique and that’s what
I had to do from day one with strive to
be unique so now as a professional
marketer I have developed a niche
because building personal brands has
always come second nature to me and with
their lives playing out online and
competition growing more global personal
branding is no longer a luxury it is a
requirement and so it doesn’t matter
whether you’re a 50-something
professional or college-bound high
school student a strong personal brand
can make all the difference and today
guess what we’re gonna talk about
building a brand first let’s a little
vocabulary lesson so what is a personal
brand exactly well in 1998 management
guru Tom Peters coined the term in a
Fast Company article he said we are the
CEOs of me Inc to be in business today
our most important job is to be had
marketer for the brand called you his
point businesses aren’t the only ones
that need brands everybody has a
personal brand
it’s your passions accomplishments
expertise values and personal brands can
be positive neutral or negative and a
lot of people think that personal brands
just happened they don’t the best ones
are very carefully honed and so what we
say post publish all adds up and carries
tremendous weight anyone want to go back
so face it we’re all branded at birth
but think about it our birth
certificates are a first branding moment
our names are personal but they’re also
public they’re the first thing that
others learn about us and they induce
all sorts of judgment from heritage to
socioeconomic status as parents we want
to give our new boards the best possible
start and that should start with a name
in fact there’s tons of data that prove
the name that you give your child’s will
influence likability academic and career
success or lack of it so an interesting
study there’s been many interesting
studies but LinkedIn analyzed a hundred
million profiles to determine which
names are most associated with c-level
executives and found that today you’re
more likely to be a CEO within dames
like Peter Jack Bob or for women Deborah
Cynthia or Caroline another study very
interesting study shows that women with
gender-neutral names like Jordan and
Alex actually have an advantage in
male-dominated fields like engineering
or technology so it should come to you
with little surprise that baby naming
has become a big business so there are
countless tools and services there’s
online databases baby named generators
and yes what I’m about to tell you is
true baby named consultants they range
in price from a few hundred dollars to
one that I interviewed this is true one
that I interviewed will charge you
so before we depart that before we
depart the delivery room let me leave
you with this anecdote when my business
partner Jes was seven months pregnant
and conflicted over a name I reminded
her to make sure that the URL was
available before they may it’s true
she’s here right now before they made
before they made the the name selection
and really in today’s world where search
engine optimization is more valuable
than precious metal do you really want
to name your child the millionth Jim
Smith so personal grounding again it’s a
lifelong undertaking and different ages
call for different approaches
during the impressionable toddler in
elementary school years you want to
encourage discovery and exploration let
your children go it’s your child going
to be an engineer a fitness instructor
psychologist artist or maybe an
astronaut introduce them to science
music or drama math and more and urge
them to pursue their passions let’s
fast-forward to high school so in high
school this is where cultivating a
positive and impressive brand really
becomes key and those that tend to their
personal and brand early exponentially
will increase the likelihood of success
in college admissions and also that
all-important first job so what does
that look like no resi photos though no
racy social media accounts instead an
Instagram that showcases a budding
interest in photography LinkedIn that
highlights achievements or Twitter with
thoughtful analysis
current events and it’s it’s really
about students are much more concerned
about SAT at a CT scores when they
should be more concerned about character
and let’s imagine two prospective
students student a has a slightly higher
test score student B has their own
tutoring business with a website and
great client testimonials who do you
think is a more appealing student I bet
many of you are thinking B so another
reason why personal branding matters in
college admissions it’s because
everything kids do today is public and
permanent and say you you know another
yet another reason is more than 75
percent of admissions officers they are
looking at applicants social media so
all the more reason to share positive
testimonials about your tutoring
maybe you’re not convinced recently 10
students incoming students to Harvard
got their admission revoked because they
posted inappropriate content on social
media these brilliant students who were
able to make the cut in Harvard’s four
point five nine percent acceptance rate
lost it all so while college admissions
is the first personal and branding
milestone it’s definitely not the last
how you perform in college grades
internships all influenced that first
job and a great resume is just one part
of the equation you also need a strong
online portfolio networking LinkedIn and
holds true throughout your whole career
so we see that personal branding is
crucial to success but how do we create
it and and when should you start the
real work should begin in high school
around the age of 14 and every personal
brand should have a roadmap
first comes discovery which is really a
stuff audit of your passions expertise
values goals and by plying all of this
you’ll be able to crystallize your
competitive advantage or what I actually
call the white shoes me factor and just
as important it’s as understanding who
you are
you must understand your target audience
and what drives them whether it’s an
admissions officer client or recruiter
and personal branding is not about me me
me
it’s your value to others why do you
stand out from the other college
applicants and why should you be
selected for that coveted promotion and
why should someone hire your company
number to develop develop a strong
portfolio that showcases your value so
your LinkedIn Twitter Facebook
everything should be updated and in sync
gotta make every word count and number
three is is deliver think of yourself as
as a news channel think of yourself as a
news channel think think about this
you’re sharing information through
various channels I want to say
Communications works best when there’s a
constant drumbeat so you can’t just turn
on the volume and then walk away
but the journey does not stop with
delivery the work does not stop here and
the great news is is that it’s never too
late to start the important thing is to
know is that as you progress in your
career you have to constant
we adapt and refine your personal brand
so I started this story telling you
about my twin and growing up we were
constantly asked are you fraternal or
identical and although I’d respond
fraternal I always had some doubt even
though the doctor said that we weren’t
and we didn’t look identical but
interestingly enough I always feared
getting tested because even though we
were twins
I liked the idea of being unique now I’m
working on a book on personal branding
and I had the opportunity recently to
interview a twin expert and at the end
of our conversation I shared with her
our little quandary of not knowing and
she she encouraged me to take a DNA test
and I thought would it be poetic if we
were identical after all with my career
built on branding when two humans
entered the world so we took the test
and we waited for the results and the
identical does that change my identity
no the best compliment I’ve ever gotten
is Stacy you are so unique because I’m
developing my unique personal brand
since birth so I am uniquely Stacy and
my sister’s uniquely Sheree even if we
are identical twins and if two twins can
stand out as individuals and each
develop their own distinct brands you
can too thank you good night [Applause]
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