LFF Brand Spotlight!!!

Hello Hello,

Continuing to feature some of the Fabulously Fierce that I know, I’m excited about this week’s Spotlight on Sharon Brewster!  I met Sharon when I was an itty bitty freshman at Fontbonne Academy.  In true all-girls’ parochial school fashion, we were paired as big and little sister.  She was a fabulous sister then and is even more so now!  Check out the details of my interview with her!

Sharon Brewster

Art Director, United Way

   Blogger, TheOutletforWomen.Blogspot.com

What does Living Fabulously Fierce Mean to You? Living Fabulously Fierce, to me, means living a life of impact, regardless of my own personal obstacles or triumphs.

If you had to describe your brand in three words, what would those three words be?

• Innovative
• Integrity
• Bold

The body of work I produce for clients and the creative solutions I offer blend a natural boldness of ideas and solutions.  Also, everything I do is grounded in integrity and innovation. I’m always trying something new.

How do you actually define your personal brand? Consistently focusing on a solution focused approach to design.

How are you intentional about your brand? I’m specific about the body of work I’m producing and for whom. I understand the importance and value of having specific strengths and skills I am known for.

If there is anything you could do to either reinforce or enhance your brand, what would that be? I would take time to market to specific companies and small businesses and keep my business and brand in the mix…but there are only so many hours in the day.

My brand is fabulously FIERCE? What is your brand?  Fabulously Creative!

What would you say makes you fabulously CREATIVE? I’m naturally creative and I’m also a Creative. I enjoy the thrill and challenge of creating something new or expanding an existing brand and bringing innovation and passion to the work.

How do you recommend others stay true to themselves and live their personal brand? It’s important to know what your key differentiators are and be able to clearly articulate what makes your brand significant in the market.  You want to highlight why someone should use you. Once you’ve identified that, stick to it and grow your brand and network based on your strengths rather than trying to let your market dictate what you should be doing. I’m a firm believer that your gift will make room for you and bring you before people of influence.

If there were one song on the soundtrack for the Fabulously Creative, what song would that be?
Proud Mary by Tina Turner.

Anything additional you’d like to share? Know that you can do whatever you set your mind to do if you’re focused, committed and skilled.

Bernier Brand Building: Phase 1-Self Discovery (Continued)

Hello Hello!!!

I hope you’ve all been doing well!  I gave you a little extra time to answer the questions I listed for you in the last post.  At this point, you’ve gotten closer to the answer to the question “Who Am I?”.  I trust that you’ve done some inward digging to better understand who you are, where you come from, what makes you tick, what makes you sick, and glimpses of what makes you fabulously fierce.  So now, it’s time to delve into part two of the self-discovery phase: Leveraging people and tools to identify key components of who you are.

I actually started to do a little bit of this, this week, with the team of the UK’s Unleash, with members in their UK and Barcelona offices.  It was amazing.  Honestly, watching folks go through this process is totally my high.  So, I’m absolutely looking forward to you doing the same!

Jumping right in…

Leveraging People:

When I talk about this, what I mean is really going out and getting feedback from those in your circle.  I never get tired of highlighting my circle…let me tell you, I’ve got some pretty amazing individuals in my life who will always tell me when I’m doing well, when  I’m not doing so hot, and when I absolutely need to get my act together and get back on the fabulously fierce track!  Love them love them love them love them love them.  Yup, if I’m ever messing up, just reach out to the Aundrea Cline-Thomases and the Veronica Chapmans of my world, just to name a couple,let them know, and they’ll get on me.

Believe it or not, you’ve got your own Aundreas and Veronicas in your life.  They may not be as bold to give you feedback, even when you’re not asking for it, like these two, but you’ve got them.  What you may need to do is reach out and give them permission to give you feedback.  What do I mean?  Well, it’s really simple.  Just go out, let them know you’re actively working on your brand, investing the time and energy in yourself in this way and you need their help…their candid, open, honest help.  Then, just ask:

• If you could only describe me in three words, what would those three words be?
• What would you say is the absolute best thing about me?
• What is the one characteristic about me that could be eliminated or improved?
• What truly makes me unique from your perspective?
• What do you think keeps me from being my very best?

Yup, seriously, go out and get it. AND DO ONLY THAT.  DO NOT:

• React positively or negatively
• Ask any probing questions…not yet.

This will help you avoid the chance that you might roll your eyes, suck your teeth, or give the head roll in response to any feedback your don’t necessarily agree with.  C’mon, you know how some of us can get.

Then, while your friends, coworkers, mentors, your mom (only ask her if she’s like mine and will totally tell you the truth, not just say “oh baby you’re perfect the way you are”) your siblings, your boo…etc, are pulling their thoughts together for you, I need you to dig deeper into your own personal skills and capabilities leveraging some assessments.

Leveraging Assessments:

Some folks get leary of assessments or just freak out because they think it’s about exposing things in them.  To that I put forth a REMINDER: in this phase you’re just focusing in on increasing your self-awareness….assessments help do that.

In the world of assessments and inventories, there really are so many that you can take that are credible.  The most commonly used one is the Myers-Briggs indicator which just highlights how you see the world.  In addition to this one, I’ve also taken the Whole Brain, True Colors, DiSC and Strengths Finder Assessments.  I’ve been fortunate enough to work for various organizations that covered the cost of these.  While I always encourage personal investment, I always support doing so strategically..ie finding ways to avoid having to pay directly out of pocket.  That being said there are enough assessments out there that won’t cost you too much and are still quite valuable.  So, I’m going to ask that you go out and pick up the book, Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath.  It includes a unique access code for you to take the Strengths Finder 2.0 Assessment and gives you access to the website where you can dig deeper into understanding what your resulting strengths say about you.  Do it, do it, do it.  When we come back to this, I’ll share mine….I’d love it if you’d share yours and then we’ll move into how we can leverage the feedback you get from your circle and the results of your assessment to start the second phase of self-definition.

Since we’re all in the process of just getting better and better and watching things get, as my Pastor would say, “gooder and gooder,” I hope you know that truly your best days are ahead of you.  So with that, this week’s soundtrack is Tamela Mann’s Best Days, which also happens to be the adopted theme song of Living Fabulously Fierce!  Enjoy!

LFF Brand Spotlight!!!

Hello Hello,

Here at Living Fabulously Fierce we’re going to be spotlighting some fabulously fierce brands!  Yes, the amazing women I know and love, and those who’s paths are about to cross with mine for great purpose, are about to take center stage!  I’m really looking forward to highlighting some of the remarkable women in my circle and sharing their personal brands and tips with you.

This week, I had a chance to catch up with Career Coaching 4 Kidz, CEO and one of the first people to join in on an LFF Meet-Up, Ms. Lynette Correa.  Ms. Correa was recently awarded the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting Excellence in Service to the Community Award! Here she shares her perspective on Living Fabulously Fierce as an entrepreneur.

Enjoy!

Lynette Correa
Founder/CEO of Career Coaching 4 Kidz

What does Living Fabulously Fierce Mean to You? Living Fabulously Fierce, to me, means not only knowing your life’s purpose in serving others but also having love, being love, in all parts of your life….all while having fun!

Although this isn’t the case for me all day, everyday (life’s little issues tend to test my character and attitude every now and then), I always try to make sure I love what I do personally and professionally and let the ones that I love know that I love them. Having a spiritual foundation is also just as important for me.

If you had to describe your brand in three words, what would those three words be?

• Youth Development Warrior
•  Lovingly Altruistic Latina
•  Education Social Entrepreneur

All of this because I am an avid advocate for youth and education, I am a proud Latina and I love having a big heart for being a social architect in the world of entrepreneurship.  

How do you actually define your personal brand? I define my personal brand through the young people I serve and empowering them to be career-focused, success stories.  My company, CC4Kidz is committed to positively impacting young people.  Being a leader is more than what’s on the outside but rather what you “wear” on the inside. My descriptions above communicate all of this.

How are you intentional about your brand? I live as a role-model for the leadership qualities that I actually admire.

If there is anything you could do to either reinforce or enhance your brand, what would that be? Use social media, network at formal and informal events and deepen my current personal and professional relationships.

My brand is fabulously FIERCE? What would you say makes you fabulously ENTREPRENEURIAL. I do what I do because I love it, it makes me happy, and no one can take that away from me!

How do you recommend others stay true to themselves and live their personal brand? Learn what makes you tick. What’s your sweet spot to being utterly happy? For Lynette, at my core I LOVE my family and significant other, social entrepreneurship, educating/coaching/empowering others, especially students, being creative through song and dance to ALL kinds of music,  maintaining my health in various ways to relieve stress through yoga, prayer ,hanging out with like-passionate friends, being optimistic about life and other activities, and laughing at life…A LOT!

Anything additional you’d like to share? One of my favorite quotes is “My advice to young women is don’t wait to fully look and act yourself at work. Who you are and how you express yourself is an important part of what makes you successful.”- Susan Johnson (Chief Marketing Officer @ NCR Technologies)”.

 

For more information on Lynette, check out her profile

LinkedinIn: http://linkedin.com/in/cc4kidz

Website: www.cc4kidz.us
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cc4kidz
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cc4kidz

Bernier Brand Building: Phase 1-Self Discovery

Hello Hello!

I was totally MIA last week as my energizer bunny tendencies definitely caught up with me.  I was totally down for the count.  Amazing what your body will do…ie shut down…to get your attention.  I don’t think I’ve ever slept the way that I did last weekend…I mean a full 12 hours straight and then 12 hours the following night.  Monday morning was incredible.  I was beyond alert and ready to go.  Lesson learned: BALANCE BALANCE BALANCE.  I definitely got the message!

All this to say, I’m much better now and ready to focus on the first phase of the Bernier Brand Building Process: Self-discovery

Recap:

Last time, I introduced what personal brand building is, along with the intent behind it. As a reminder, my definition of a personal brand is:

The reputation of an individual that keeps them top of mind for those in their networks and positions them as the main point of influence as it relates to any area of expertise in which they’ve built credibility.

So, before we get into the actual building our individual brands, the very first thing we need to do is start looking into who we really are…you’ve got it..,ah, self-discovery!

Self-discovery:
This is really all about engaging in some personal research into who you are. No, you don’t need disappear into the sanctuary of some far away land…unless you really want to and if so, more power to you, but you’ll definitely have to cover the expense of a guide because I’m going to need to come too!  Here though, all we’re going to need is your journal and your pen!

So, this phase takes two steps:
1-Looking inward and answering some questions…honestly.  It’s essentially all about standing in front of the mirror and relaying what you see.

When you look inward, trying to answer the question, ‘who am I?’  what comes to mind for you?  Let the note taking begin…

• What is your history?
• Where do you come from?
• What is the source of your confidence?
• What pains in your past creep up every now and then to battle with your source of confidence?
• What is your race, ethnicity, culture, and how does all of this contribute to who you are?
• What is your faith and how does it influence and direct you?
• What are your strengths?
• What truly, positively, distinguishes you from others in the strengths that you’ve identifies?
• What are some skills that you need to further develop?
• What are you passionate about?
• What moves you? I mean, really drives you to be fierce.
• What have you overcome?
• What are you most proud of?
• Is there anything that you’re holding on to that you really need to let go of?  What makes it so hard?
• What do you think of the picture you’ve just painted?  It’s all you…so what do you think about it all?

2-Leveraging various resources, people and tools to identify key components of who you are.
This is all about using some really simple assessment tools to dig deeper into some of the questions above…especially as it relates to your skills and the things that motivate you….
Remember how I said were going to start slow?  Well, we’re going to keep with that approach….as hard as it is for me not to just move on and lay it all out, I’m going to pause so that you can really just focus on Step 1…yup, that’s this weeks homework.  Just do it do it do it…and let me know what you come up with.

Soundtrack of the week: Some journaling music, an oldie but goodie, Corrine Bailey Rae’s Put Your Records On