Branding Hits And Mrs.
For women, building a name in the mortgage industry gets complicated when marriage happens. BY ERICA LACENTRA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
O
n the Monday immediately following my wedding, the well wishes from my co-workers at RCN Capital poured in shortly after I had logged in for the day. After the initial congratulations, the question I had dreaded followed almost immediately after, would I be taking my husband’s last name? Now this question didn’t bother me because I didn’t want to take my husband’s name. In fact, we had talked about this at length before getting married. No, I dreaded the thought of having to explain to co-workers and industry peers over and over again that while I was taking his name, I would continue to use my last name professionally. In my head, it made perfect sense, but from an outside perspective it probably seemed silly, egotistical, or even that I had ulterior motives to want to use my maiden name in the industry. So, if I was indeed changing my last name, why did I have a problem using it
Photo credit: iStockphoto / vm
RICA LACENTRA
THE XX FACTOR
professionally? As a marketing professional who has been in the mortgage industry for almost eight years, I know as well as anyone that a company’s brand is everything. You can have the best products or services but if you don’t have a strong, easily recognizable brand, you are invisible to your customers. Branding is the key to a company being successful in this industry and any industry for that matter. Now, while that may be marketing 101 for most, what many people
often fail to acknowledge is that the notion of branding is not limited to companies.
PERSONAL BRAND Every person has their own unique brand that they portray to the world and whatever audiences they want to appeal to, and this is especially true in our space. The most prevalent faces in the mortgage industry have taken great care to develop their personal brand. They have created an outward facing persona that is supported
“Call me selfish, but I want to be able to focus on my career and career goals without having to get into awkward conversations with peers about my marriage.”
