what makes you you?
It's the question that keeps coming up, isn't it? Especially when you're at one of those inflection points—maybe you're launching something new, stepping into a bigger role, or just tired of feeling invisible in your field.
Personal branding feels like a lot. Like you're supposed to become some polished version of yourself with all of the sharp edges smoothed away. What I’ve learned from working with authors, speakers, and people doing meaningful work is that the most magnetic brands aren’t polished to perfection. They just feel real. Honest. Thoughtful.
You can feel the person behind them.
And that’s what makes them powerful.
the space between who you are / how you show up
Most of us feel this disconnect between our true selves and our professional personas, editing out the quirks and playing it safe. After years of helping people build their brands, I've realized this isn't really an authenticity problem but a permission problem. The breakthrough happens when you stop asking for permission to be yourself and start showing up as the person you already are.
Most people already know who they are. They're just not sure they're allowed to be that person in their professional life. The coach who's naturally irreverent but thinks they need to sound "professional." The consultant who's deeply intuitive but leads with data because that's what feels safe. The creative who has strong opinions but softens them because they don't want to alienate anyone.
When someone discovers your work, they're not just evaluating your credentials. They're checking out your LinkedIn. Scrolling through your content. Getting a feel for who you are beyond the resume. And what they're really looking for isn't perfection—it's permission. Permission to be themselves, to think differently, to care about what you care about.
The magic happens when you stop performing professionalism and start embodying your actual values. When you stop trying to appeal to everyone and start speaking directly to the people who need to hear from you. When you realize that the thing that makes you different isn't a bad thing at all, it's the entire point. And it's the most beautiful thing there is.
You don't need to impress people. You need to give them permission to be more themselves. And that only happens when you show up as yourself first.
I design from the nervous system out.
When I work with someone on their personal brand, I really don't start with mood boards or color palettes. I try not to touch visuals at all, actually. I start with something most branding agencies never touch: how you feel in your body when you're doing your best work.
Here's what I've learned: your brand isn't just visual. It's energetic. It's the frequency you emit when you're fully yourself. And you can't fake that frequency. You can only tune into it.
So I watch. I listen. I notice what happens to your posture when you talk about the work that lights you up. I pay attention to how your voice changes when you're passionate versus when you're performing. I study the micro-expressions that cross your face when someone asks you about your "why."
Take Victoria Pelletier. She came to me as this powerhouse speaker, but her digital presence wasn't capturing her fire. That fire came through immediately in her podcasts and story and I could sense it before we even met. Her energy was palpable from the moment I started watching her podcasts and keynotes. That passion jumped off the screen when I was researching her work, making it clear she had exactly the kind of authentic drive that resonates with people. So I started with her energy. I watched how she moved, what lit her up, even what she wore on stage. Her brand (check out our work here) needed to feel like her presence felt: bold, warm, absolutely unshakeable. That bold, final website design can be seen here.
Or consider someone just starting out. They're brilliant at what they do, but they're getting lost in the noise of the world. They have insights worth sharing, but no clear way to share them. The problem isn't their message. It's that they're broadcasting on the wrong frequency. They're trying to sound like everyone else instead of tuning into their own signal. It's a trap that society has laid out for us, and one that the universe will never, ever agree with.
That's where this work becomes transformative. It's not about manufacturing authority. It's about amplifying the authority that's already there. It's about finding your frequency and turning up the volume.
Because here's the thing: people don't just see your brand. They feel it. And when your brand matches your energy, when it's calibrated to your actual frequency, people don't just notice you. They're drawn to you.
your brand is a living system, not a logo.
Here's where most personal branding goes catastrophically wrong: it treats humans like products.
Static. Defined. Finished.
But you're not a product. You're a living system. You're changing, growing, contradicting yourself, having insights that shift your entire worldview on a Tuesday morning at the gym. You're messy and multifaceted and beautifully inconsistent.
Most branding tries to capture you at one moment and freeze you there forever. "Who am I?" becomes "What's my tagline?" and suddenly you're trapped in this tiny box you built for yourself three years ago, desperately trying to fit into a version of yourself that no longer exists.
I design brands like ecosystems. Systems that can hold your contradictions. That have room for your evolution. That actually get stronger as you change, not weaker.
Think about it: the most compelling people you know aren't one-dimensional. They're complex. They contain multitudes. They're the therapist who's also a metalhead. The CEO who writes poetry. The scientist who's deeply spiritual. Their contradictions don't weaken their authority—they make them more human, more relatable, and way more real.
Your brand should work the same way. It needs to be a container spacious enough for all of you. Not just the polished, professional version, but the version that's still figuring things out. The version that's passionate about unexpected things. The version that's evolved since last year and will evolve again next year.
This isn't about putting on a show. It's about building a home for your whole self. A place where you can be seen not just for what you do, but for who you are becoming.
Because the most magnetic brands aren't perfect. They're aliiiive.
you're not building a brand. you're building a legacy.
Here's what no one tells you about personal branding: it's not only about perception. It's about ancestry.
Every time you show up authentically, you're not just promoting yourself. You're giving future generations permission to be themselves. You're adding to the lineage of people who chose truth over comfort, who chose depth over surface, who chose to be seen rather than safe.
How about the people who've influenced you most? Not the perfect ones, but the real ones. The ones who showed you what was possible by being unapologetically themselves. They didn't just build careers. They built pathways. They said, "This is also allowed. This is also valuable. This is also a way to be in the world."
When you do this work, when you really commit to showing up as yourself, you're not just changing your own trajectory. You're changing the trajectory of everyone who comes after you. The person who sees your work and thinks, "If they can do it, maybe I can too." The person who's been hiding their weirdness until they see you celebrating yours.
Your brand isn't a marketing tool. It's a beacon. It's a signal to your people that says, "You belong here. Your perspective matters. Your voice is needed."
This is why it matters more than you think. Because you're not just selling a service or growing a following. You're contributing to the collective story of what it means to be human in your industry, your field, your corner of the world.
ready to be an ancestor?
If you're ready to stop hiding behind your work and start showing up as yourself. If you're tired of being the best-kept secret in your field. If you have something important to say but haven't found the right way to say it.
Maybe you're ready to be the person you needed to see when you were starting out. Maybe you're ready to give others permission to be themselves by being yourself first.
Let's make something real. Something only you could say. Something that hits because it comes from you.
Because the world doesn't need another polished personal brand. It needs ancestors. It needs people who are brave enough to be themselves so others can be themselves too.
That's what makes you you. And that's exactly what we're here to capture.
