Find out more about Dionne Smith, Lead Editor of BrandMe! Magazine and Personal Brand Coach.

Dionne's journey of personal discovery has seen her learn more about herself and develop the self-confidence to value who she is and what she has learned, ultimately helping her to fulfil her passion for helping others to do the same. After her second redundancy, she started her business and never looked back.

What sparked your passion for personal branding?

My core experience started off in the corporate financialmarketing world and naturally progressed into brand andbusiness development through the projects that I workedon. Personal branding became a much bigger focus for mewhen I started my business. Going through a process ofmy own personal development and having to reallyunderstand myself, what I really wanted, why and alsoappreciating the value of the years of experience,knowledge and skills I had gained was a big turning pointfor me. As a service professional, I am my brand andsocial media has given us all a platform to share ourstory, views and voice, in order to build our profile andinfluence, so it was a perfect complement to what I wasdoing already.

People have always come to me for guidance, advice andsupport, and being a natural listener I'm always strivingto help people succeed or find solutions to theirchallenges. I love to see the impact I have on changingsomeone's perception, achieve their goals and ultimately,fulfil their dreams. So, that's what motivates and inspiresme to do what I do.

What advice would you give to someone starting out with their personal brand development?

The one thing that I have learnt very clearly over the lastfew years is that knowing yourself and appreciating yourvalue is absolutely paramount if you want to besuccessful. On the flip-side, I also know that we are ourown worst critics and it can be challenging to see pastour insecurities. It takes time to develop a successmindset and be absolutely sure about yourself and whatyou intend to achieve. You have to be willing to step outof your comfort zone and show your vulnerabilities inorder to move forward and that usually takes someoneelse to help you.

One of my favourite quotes is 'You can't solve a problemwith the same mindset that created it' by T Harv Eker -you need someone else to help you grow and learn how tolove and respect who you are and your journey. Workingwith a coach or mentor is the best way to do that. Thereis not one person out their who has achieved a high levelof success without them. In fact, they usually have severalto help them with different areas of their lives. We allneed someone impartial in our corner to help us moveforward!

What is the 1 area of your own personal brand that you would like to improve?

My body weight and personal image has always been oneof my biggest insecurities and although I have learned tolove who I am and appreciate how I look, it's definitelyan area of myself that I have to stay focused on..

Being confident in how I look and what I wear makes ahuge difference to how I feel. I can be bold with colours -red is my favourite, but it's one of those things where Iprobably see myself worse than others do. I have to 'livewith myself' everyday, so it's about motivating myselfand being happy with who I am. I am perfectly who I amsupposed to be so, I just need to do whatever it takes totake care of what God blessed me with and be thankfuleveryday.