What’s Your Brand?

It sounds like a simple question. You are familiar with hundreds of brands. It’s impossible to go through a day without seeing, touching or hearing about them. Their names conjure up images, memories and opinions. What comes to your mind when you see Apple? Coke? Miami University? But a personal brand is different. It isn’t aspirational. It isn’t what any one person thinks it is. It’s deeper than that. It’s your core … your essence ... your true center. And it’s complex. Your brand isn’t what you say it is … your brand is what other people say about you.

Test it out – ask three good friends what your brand is … next ask a co-worker … then a family member. Ask them to be honest, because they will want to only say positive things about you. Chances are, their answers will all be different. We present ourselves differently and show different parts of our selves to different people, and in different settings. The “you” out with your friends is very different than the “you” giving a board presentation.

Jacob Shwirtz, head of social partnerships at WeWork, provided this insight, “My quick tip on personal branding is to remember you are your brand, no matter what your current job is, what project you happen to be working on at any one time or whatever the priority happens to be today... always keep in mind the impact you leave on others and remember all we have is our own reputation and that’s our brand.”

Working through an example of the process might make it easier to understand.

Allie Pearson (Engelhart) graduated from Miami with three degrees. In her sophomore year, that question was posed to her as part of ESP 366 – Creativity and Leadership.

“One of the projects I assign every semester involves personal branding. Allie struggled with it, as many students do. She was dedicated, determined to finding THE right answer. What she didn’t realize is finding any right answer is rare. Allie struggled and struggled and by the end of the semester she essentially turned in nothing.”

JIM FRIEDMAN

White Family Associate Clinical Professor Entrepreneurship

For Allie to answer that question, she had to examine all the things that made her unique. With so many different facets, it was a difficult but enlightening task.

To her family, Allie was Independent

Growing up in Cincinnati, she was an exemplary student, giving her many options for college selection. One thing she knew for certain – she couldn’t wait to leave Ohio and expand her horizons when she graduated from high school. “I applied to nearly a dozen colleges and universities. Miami was the only in-state school that I applied to and I had

nearly ruled it out solely based on its residence in Ohio. I was certain that I wanted to explore someplace else.” Her father asked her to at least consider Miami, and reluctantly, she agreed.

“I remember coming on campus for the Make it Miami program. It felt like the typical college tour until we arrived at the Farmer School of Business – it was the first year the building had been open and it was magnificent. I still remember walking in the doors for the first time and being floored that this was where I could learn for the next four years. As I made my way around the building I met professors and students who told me all about their programs, projects, classes, internships, student organizations, and study abroad opportunities.. The possibilities felt endless. I remember walking out of the Farmer School of Business knowing that it would soon be my school – on the ride home I accepted my offer to be a student at Miami University and then express shipped the first of many Miami sweatshirts to my house. I didn’t visit another school after that.”

To university administrators, she might be called Brash

Her second week on campus, Allie was already making herself known. She went to the Dean’s Suite, introduced herself to Dean Roger Jenkins and peppered him with questions. She remembers the conversation well. “Dean, how am I going to do everything that you have to offer here at the Farmer School of Business? What am I going to major in? When will I study abroad? And he said, ‘Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time for plenty of experiences.’”

That was the first of many pivotal moments for Allie – understanding the value of patience and the creative process and that sometimes the best decision is not to make a decision.

To her professors, she was Persistent

Allie had joined Igoodea Creatives, a (student run) entrepreneurship organization, in her freshman year and wanted to take ESP 366 – Creativity & Leadership, immediately. But the course was extremely popular, so sophomores rarely made the cut. “Back then Friedman made it known that he did not teach freshman or sophomores – because of the popularity, there was no room in entrepreneurship 366 for underclassmen. I didn’t want to wait that long so the whole summer between my freshman and sophomore year I wrote Friedman an email once a month and said, ‘Friedman, 212 days and 14 minutes until we start class together. Friedman, 112 days until… and he’d say, ‘I’m not teaching you, you’re not getting in this course now.” And I’d respond, ‘I’m going to keep emailing you.’ I think Friedman appreciated the persistence so eventually he let me in and I was able to start engaging with entrepreneurship content my sophomore year. I loved it.”

To her fellow students, she was Collaborative

“It started in high school and translated to college. I was always passionate about unique projects that I was able to work on with my talented peers. I think high school and college are both excellent spaces to try everything, to experiment and to fail and find what you’re good at and what you’re not good at.

“I started at Miami as a finance major. My first interview for a student organization was with the investment banking club in the fall of my freshman year. I was extended an invitation to join and accepted it. That same semester I made it into PSE (Pi Sigma Epsilon, the national professional fraternity for marketing and sales and I hit the ground running. PSE became the first place outside of the classroom where I was able grow and build friendships.

“I found great value in being in that organization so early on in my college career– I was able to have all sorts of diverse experiences. I looked up to the older students in PSE and they shared their brilliance, perspective, passions, and tenacity with me- I learned from the examples they set. With their guidance, I gravitated over to marketing and found an excellent fit there.

“Dr. Don (chapter advisor Don Norris) was a hands off advisor, the organization is truly student run. He was always present and he knew what was going on in the chapter, but he gave students the space to teach each other, to learn, and to fail. By building relationships with upperclassmen, I learned how to lead and how to manage projects which equipped me with the skills to lead the chapter my junior and senior year. During my time in PSE I built a lot of confidence as a leader and as a mentor which are both skills that I still use today.”

“Allie was a positive force in the success of the Miami chapter of PSE. In addition to being a very active member from the time that she was initiated, Allie served as manager for several projects. Among her most significant contributions was managing market research project the Chapter completed for Schneider Electric which not only earned several thousand dollars in revenue; but also, resulted in her receiving the 2013 Top Project Manager at PSE’s National Convention in San Diego. Then, after leading by example, she was elected by the Chapter to the critical exec position of VP of Marketing. In that capacity she oversaw several sales and marketing projects that were instrumental in the Chapter winning the Lewes F. Gordon Top Chapter award at the 2014 Convention in Miami. In fact, Miami swept nearly every significant award that year.”

DON NORRIS

PSE Advisor Professor Emeritus Marketing

To all who know her, she is a Life-Long Learner

In addition to her involvement in many clubs and organizations, internships and international study, Allie graduated with three majors in four years.

“I spent a semester in San Francisco working for astartup called Pilot 44, a summer in London, England consulting for the American Peanut Council, and I had internships in Chicago (BuiltIn) and Cincinnati (Procter & Gamble).

“I was thrilled that P&G offered me an internship after my junior year- I couldn’t wait to engage with best in class people, resources, and brands. The experience so far exceeded my expectations. I met brilliant business leaders, led two projects, and influenced Charmin strategy. I remember seeing my recommendations on shelf during my senior year in Oxford and it was a surreal experience.”

“After switching from finance to marketing, I found interactive media studies (IMS) by wandering into Glenn Platt’s Social Media Marketing class that took place in FSB at 7:30pm on Tuesdays. I was immediately energized by the professors, students, and content in the IMS program. I wasn’t much of a coder or developer like some of my talented IMS counterparts but I did enjoy classes like design thinking, digital branding, user experience, and social media analytics. While I was working through my Marketing and IMS courses, I always made room for at least one entrepreneurship course each semester. It wasn’t until I was a senior when I discovered that with one more class I’d also be an entrepreneurship major.

“I have always loved school, so upon graduating from Miami a potential MBA was always in the back of my mind. I continued to stay in contact with Dean Jenkins, and he is a big proponent of higher education. He advised, ‘You should go back and get an MBA, it will serve you well and you’ll continue to grow through that experience.’ I was excelling at P&G and was passionate about my role and my business so I started to explore part time and online MBA options. The Kelley School of Business quickly rose to the top of my list as it is a top 20 business school and their online program is ranked #1 in the country. I applied and was fortunately accepted a week later- it turned out to be a perfect fit.”

To her friends, she is Relationship-Oriented

“I am still close to many of the friends that I made at Miami University – I stay at their houses when I travel and they stay at mine, I’ve written character references for MBA and law school applications, and I’ve had a blast at countless weddings. While we may live in different cities, our friendships still stay very much intact.

“I also stay in touch with my professors. I enjoy catching up with Friedman and going to his “duck” dinners, earlier in the year I texted Glenn Platt because I saw he was speaking at one of P&G’s largest conferences (Signal), I occasionally grab lunch with my school dad, Mark Lacker, and I really enjoy phone calls with Brett Smith. They are all still my biggest encouragers and are valuable sources of wisdom.”

“I come back for Startup Weekend as well to see my friends and to help mentor students. I love spending time with my Miami family and I’m always inspired by the students’ work.”

In the community, she’s a Giver

Allie and her family (both two- and four-legged) are involved in their community, seeking ways to enhance the lives of all the people they can.

“We love the Cincinnati community. We have a Great Dane named Knox and together we serve as a Canine Volunteer Team at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. We feel very grateful to get to visit the extraordinary staff, brave patients, and their strong families. Additionally, my husband, Patrick, is an Army veteran so we also like to volunteer at veteran related events and activities.”

“We spend a lot of time with our Crossroads Church community here in Cincinnati. Through Crossroads we’ve built meaningful friendships and have found invaluable mentors who are ahead of us in life stages. They also lead by example and are big supporters of our marriage, aspirations, and vision. Most notably, they lead us towards adventure – we say yes nearly every new experience we’re invited into and we’ve grown a great deal as a result.”

“Since quarantine we have done our best to be intentional about connecting with our community in safe ways. We try to check in often via text/phone calls, we like to drop gifts/dinner off on porches, and we’ve gone on many socially distant dog walks so we can hear how our friends are doing.”

To co-workers and business associates, she’s Purposeful

“I just made a switch at P&G. In October, I moved from the consumer and market knowledge function, which is responsible for representing the consumer voice in the company, to the brand management function where I am responsible for building the brand strategy. During that cross functional transfer, I also moved business units - from Baby Care to Hair Care. I’ve been at P&G for five years, and am very fortunate to have been afforded such a diverse set of experiences in both role and category. In the coming years I am looking forward to honing my brand management skills and learning how to develop strategy for P&G’s iconic portfolio of brands.

So now that you know more about Allie, back to the question… how do you sum up all of that into one succinct word or phrase? Not surprisingly, Allie struggled with that.

“When I was in 366 working on my personal branding, I remember spending hours searching for the perfect depiction of my personality, values, and character traits. I wanted to deliver something excellent to Friedman. However, my efforts were inconclusive- I did not submit a polished personal brand. Instead all I had to turn in was a bunch of messy slides and scrap paper documenting my process. When Friedman said, ‘A+, this is excellent work.’ I was shocked. He continued by saying, ‘Your process and approach are really good, and I believe that you’re moving in the right direction.’

It wasn’t until months later that the “aha moment” occurred for her.

“The next semester Allie took my next level class. During that class she took another run at her personal branding. She picked up where she left off and continued her struggle. During an advising conversation in my office, Allie stated that she wanted to add a third major. A student sitting next to her said ‘You have three majors and you’re involved in four student orgs - how do you do it all?’ I responded, “It’s because she works all 25 hours a day.” Allie’s eyes lit up. She said, ‘That’s it. That’s my brand.’ And from that moment on, students have referred to her as 25 hours. It’s even her license plate.”

JIM FRIEDMAN

White Family Associate Clinical Professor Entrepreneurship

The secret is - once you know your brand, you can live it. Live in integrity. Know your values and be that person in every situation. b

“Allie is one of the most motivated and driven people I have ever met. She even had her own brand - called 25 hours, which was a perfect example of her daily work ethic. She is a one in a million student who wouldn’t just exceed expectations, but completely obliterate them for the next decade of students to come after her.”

BRETT SMITH

Cintas Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship Founding Director, Center for Social Entrepreneurship Research Director, L.I.F.E. (Leading the Integration of Faith & Entrepreneurship)

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