Last night 43 women and 1 man gathered at the Trumbull Kitchen  in downtown Hartford CT to discuss the topic of personal branding – what is it, why is it important and how to develop and leverage yours.

The event was hosted by an amazing woman by the name of Tricia Brunton who founded The Females’ Center of Excellence and Leadership, Inc. (Xcel) in 2002 when she was a student at Northeastern University. A full time employee for Hamilton Sunstrand (a UTC company) with an expertise in all things financial, Tricia makes time to operate this non-profit organization to help women and girls grow, develop and excel in their career and lives.

Tricia is particularly passionate about mentoring. She has a Mentoring Program that unites female professionals and students based on any career and educational path. The aim of the Mentoring Program is to provide female students (mentees) with support that will assist them to achieve their educational and professional goals. Mentors also have an opportunity to get involved in the community and mold the leaders of tomorrow.

Tricia had invited me and image consultant Mallory Mason to be the panelists and to provide our insights and professional advice on personal branding. Mallory and I had worked together professionally on a new venture called Power Up Your Professional Image – an event based company that helps career-minded women get a stronger edge in the workplace and marketplace by polishing their image and confidence and building their skills and network.

Some of the questions that Tricia asked us included:

1. What is a personal brand and how to you create one?
2. What is the best way to identify your personal brand?
3. How do you define yourself to a potential employer or client?
4. As an employee, should I represent myself or my company?
5. how do I share my personal story without being too personal?
6. What is the best way to personify my ideals/values?
7. Does my dream job help with defining my personal brand?

What ensued was 60-minutes of lively interaction with the audience on the topic of personal branding and other aspects of career and image management. Below are some of the golden nuggets of wisdom and advice on the topic:

8 Great Ideas to Help Develop Your Personal Brand

1. A personal brand is what distinguishes you from others. It is an ownable position that you hold in someone else’s mind and heart. It’s your reputation at work even when you are not there.

2. The process of personal branding is one of deliberate marketing of you by you. You strategically decide how you want to be positioned and actively and consistently project, communicate and demonstrate that brand in everything you do and say. You must take action and invest in you in order to build equity in your personal brand over time.

3. You already have a personal brand. When you were born, they gave you a name. That was the first act of personal branding. But your personal brand needs to be more than just a name; it needs to have meaning and equity. It’s time to take charge of your personal brand. You must start first by discovering it. You can do this by examining the personal attributes and skills that innately yours. You must recognize and respect those unique qualities and strengths in you. Then you must figure out how you can put those into play for greater career success and happiness. Your personal brand is greater than “what you do for a living.” In fact, it may have more to do with HOW you do what you do and what values and attributes you hold dear.

4. External feedback is also useful in discovering your personal brand. Interview people who know you well and ask them how they would describe you to others. What words or attributes would they or do they use when describing you to others who do not know you yet. You can also ask them the ultimate 2-part question that I have used with great success. That is: “What VALUE did I create for you?” and “What’s so great about that?” Now listen carefully. They may just reveal your personal brand to you. (p.s. this is how I discovered my personal brand as the Marketing Motivator)

5. Conformity is out; Distinction is in. When creating your personal brand, don’t try to be like everyone else or copy someone else’s personal brand (even if you greatly admire it). You must strive to showcase your own uniqueness and have the faith that over time it will build and be recognized and valued by others.

6. You must look the part. Visual impact is a critical component to fulfilling your personal brand promise. People size up people within seconds and make instant judgments and assessments. Make sure that your personal appearance, posture, grooming and anything else that they can “see” says what you want it to say about your personal brand. You must be consistent in projecting your personal brand. If you need help here, contact Mallory Mason at (860) 748-9163. Ask about her closet audit service – it’s a great way to figure out what works for you within your existing wardrobe.

7. The more authentic, the better. They call it a personal brand because it is yours – it is YOU. It’s very personal. If you can strive to design your personal brand to be a close to the way you really are, the stronger your personal brand will be. While we may admire certain celebrities or business leaders or lust after the cool iconic brands like Apple, we can’t all be that. It’s not authentic to us. Your values, your personality, your natural gifts and strengths, your abilities – these are the underpinnings of YOUR personal brand. As William Shakespeare once said “To thine own self be true.”

8. Express your personal brand at every touch point. Once you have identified and decided on your personal brand, you now can express it. Everything thing you do or say, your communication and actions all should embody your desired personal brand. Your Linkedin.com profile should reflect your personal brand statement. The things you tweet about or post on your Facebook page should reflect, honor and uphold your personal brand (be careful here. You must manage your on-line persona. Read the article I wrote on this topic). You can express your personal brand in the way you write your emails, your voice mail messages, in the presentations you give, in the way you dress. Be more conscious of what you do and make sure it aligns with the personal brand you are trying to establish for yourself.

Resources to help you establish your personal brand

1. Rahna Barthlemess – the personal branding guru. I highly recommend Rahna and her Signature for Success program. I co-taught this workshop with Rahna at a corporation last year. Personal branding is a very timely topic for on-going professional development for corporate employees and professionals. Visit Rahna’s web site called Signature for Success.  Sign up for her free e-newsletter on personal branding.
2. Mallory Mason Image Management. Make a wise investment in your professional image and personal brand by engaging Mallory or a certified image management consultant in your area to help you with your visual impact. It’s your career; it’s your personal brand – manage it!
   
3. Power Up Your Professional Image is available to companies to sponsor   check out our workshop agenda.
4. Xcel – the Females’ Center of Excellence and Leadership non-profit organization offers a wide range of career and professional development programs for women and girls. Check out their monthly networking events. Next one is August 24, 2010 in Hartford, CT with a panel discussion on Owning Your Career. the event is free, but space is limited. Register early to ensure your spot.
5. Building Your Personal Leadership Brand Workshop on October 19, 2010 - for professionals in the insurance and financial services industry. Sponsored by LIMRA International as part of their executive development program, the BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL LEADERSHIP BRAND workshop will help you develop your personal brand statement and develop an action plan to put it into action. Date of workshop is Tuesday, October 19, 2010 in Windsor, Connecticut. For more information or to register, please  visit  the executive development section of LIMRA’s web site or call LIMRA at 800-235-4672.
6. America’s Marketing Motivator Kathy McAfee is available for hire as a keynote speaker or workshop training instructor. Check out the range of topics available or call me at (860) 408-0033 to discuss your specific needs. Telephone consultations and tele-coaching is also available to close the distance gap and still get you what you need!

I just completed the third day of convention of the Soroptimist International of the Americas. If you aren’t familiar with the Soroptimist organization, it is a non-profit, volunteer women service organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in local communities and around the world. There are close to 95,000 Soroptimist women around the world and over 1,500 of them attended the 41st biennial convention in San Francisco this past weekend.

As the delegate from my on club Soroptimist International of Farmington Valley, I attended the conference to learn more about the critical issues affecting women and girls as well the many projects that Soroptimists around the world are implementing to help bring relief, support, hope and resource to help women live their dreams.

(it was great to be back in San Francisco again, having lived there the first five years of my career. Those were FUN days!)

I have written blog posts following each day of the convention sharing the insights and inspirations that I gained. I have posted these complete blog articles on my web site www.BestforWomenSelfDefense.com, which shares information about the  Soroptimist organization

Please consider joining me in the very cool group of women who are changing the world for good. Join us and get involved – click here to find out how.

Highlights from the 41st Biennial Convention of Soroptimist International of the Americas.

Day #1: Update on the escalating social nightmare of human trafficking and sexual slavery that is plaguing every community in the world, including the USA. Read what investigative journalist and author Victor Malarek had to say about this horrific problem and his ideas to tackle it with a demand side solution.

• Read my blog post entitled The World’s Oldest Oppression – prostitution.
• You can also learn more about the issue of human trafficking at http://www.soroptimist.org/trafficking/trafficking.html

Day #2 of the convention presented uplifting stories of remarkable women and girls living the dreams and helping other women, children and communities rise out of misery into hope and opportunity. I was simply wow’d by the story of 12-year old kid CEO Talia Lehman, founder of www.RandomKid.org, who was awarded the Soroptimist Violet Richardson Award for her volunteer leadership and community service.

• Read about Talia’s remarkable philosophy, story and accomplishments in my blog post entitled “The Power of Anyone.” Talia has proven that anyone and everyone has the power of make tremendous POSITIVE changes in our world if they believe they can.

Day #3 offered the perfect finale of inspiration with motivational speaker and leadership genius Cynthia D’Amour and her lazy leader model. With her bright red hair and commanding stage presence, Cynthia engaged a very large audience with her wisdom and golden nuggets for how to create a surplus of volunteers by creating a powerful and positive Soroptimist experience for our volunteer members. Cynthia’s wisdom and insights are captured in her book The Lazy Leaders Guide to Creating Outrageous Results. You can also follow Cynthia’s teachings on her cool blog and webinar series (all FREE!) at http://www.chapterleadersplayground.org/

Cynthia shared her favorite definition of leadership which I found intriguing:

“The ultimate expression of leadership is in bringing others with us.” – Cynthia D’Amour, PeoplePower Unlimited, Inc.

I’ve been in writer’s jail for nine weeks. This past Sunday at precisely 8:25am, I completed the 41st and final chapter of my new book on networking. The title is Networking Ahead: your GPS for driving business and professional success.

The book is due out in September. If you want to reserve a copy of the book now, email me at Kathy@MarketingMotivator.net

The truth be told, I’ve been thinking about and talking about writing a book for several years now (you too?). I finally pulled it out of my head and on to paper.

Are you curious as to how I got it done?

Click here to read the inside story

One of the many things that I am interested in and involved in is women’s self defense. I first took up the sport of martial arts when I moved to Connecticut in 2003. It was a great way to meet new people, learn new things and get some exercise in the process. What I didn’t expect to receive was a life-changing experience.

As a young girl, I grew up hearing many well-meaning cautions like “don’t talk to strangers,” “beware of bad men” and “don’t go out alone at night.”, ” Stay in groups – there’s safety in numbers.” I remember after college, when I was sharing a flat in San Francisco with my friend Sally, I used to barricade my bedroom door with furniture, to prevent an intruder from attacking me at night. Sally, on the other hand, had experienced a house fire when she was a young girl. She wanted all the passage ways clear so she could safely escape the building. We were an odd couple.

When I first went to New York City after graduating from college, I walked around the city expecting to be mugged. I packed my purse carefully, leaving out the special things that I didn’t want to lose. I imagine that my body language must have been a dead give away to the people around me. “She is scared.” Thankfully, nothing bad happened.

It took me until I was 40 years of age until I tackled that fear and began to learn some self-defense techniques and practice them until they became second nature (that’s on on-going goal!). I found my voice and learned to use it to create more power and energy in my movement. I learned to stand tall and look people in the eye. My posture is much more confident now, since I learned the defensive stance. I am a very different woman than the one that was cowering around the New York city streets some 20 years ago.

On February 14, 2009, my husband Byron and I tested for our black belts in Tae Kwon Do (the art of punching and kicking). We were granted the award on May of that year. (photo shown here was during my black belt test, demonstrating a self defense move with the help of my friend Dorien Boon van ostade). After seven years of study and regular attendance, I had not only achieved this unexpected goal, but I had found a new passion: helping other women and girls find their voice and learn to defend themselves.

You’re Invited

To that end, I invite all the women and girls who are reading this blog (and the people who really care about them) to join me on Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 2:00-4:00pm in Canton, Connecticut for an introductory women’s self defense workshop. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, April 30, 2010, more than a quarter of a million people in America will take a stand against racism.

Founded in 2007 by two YWCA organizations in New Jersey,  this year’s Stand Against Racism will be a nationwide event, celebrated at more than 2,043 participating locations across 32 U.S. states. People from all backgrounds will be stepping up and speaking out against racism…today. You can too!

The Stand Against Racism is a movement of the YWCA with the goal of bringing people together from all walks of life – across the country – to raise awareness that racism still exists. This initiative is a manifestation of the YWCA mission which is:

YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

If you are one of the 250,000 people participating in a Stand Against Racism event – good for you! For the remaining 217,550,001 people in the USA who haven’t yet made plans to participate in a Stand Against Racism event, I invite you to take a virtual stand. How can you do this? Read the rest of this entry »

This week I was the luncheon keynote at Mohegan Sun at an event to celebrate and honor Administrative Professionals Day and to provide additional training to these women who are now being asked to take on the  duties of professional meeting planners.

I was debuting a new program called: Pay Attention! I’m talking: vocal power and body language intelligence for professionals. It was a great deal of fun and the audience took away great pointers on how they could bolster their communication mastery in order to increase their competence, confidence and credibility on the job.

In the above posted video of a recently broadcasted PBS television interview, TV host Steve Adubato and I discuss the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication.

Steve asked me to explain the dangers of Up Speak, the bad habit where a person makes a question out of a sentence that isn’t a question. This is a common affliction for teenagers, some women and younger professionals. Up Speak puts doubt in the listener’s mind and causes them to think that you don’t know what you are talking about. Up Speak is a credibility killer.

If you would like to learn more about this topic, you can download a special 23-page  workbook for free on me:  FREE WORKBOOK: Vocal Power and Body Language Intelligence for Professionals.  This information will help you better leverage your voice and body language. Check it out. Pass it on.

I am also available to come and speak to your company, group or team about this topic. My “Vocal Power and Body Language Intelligence for Professionals” program is available as a 45 minute keynote talk, a 2-hour seminar or a half-day hands-on workshop for professional development.

• To book Kathy McAfee as a keynote speaker for your your next conference or meeting, please call Kathy at (860) 408-0033 or email her at Kathy@MarketingMotivator.net

WOW! venues for meetings and conferences

This blog post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share my impression and opinion of Mohegan Sun and its amazing staff. As I walked through the Mohegan Sun casino facility (located in Uncasville, Connecticut) I was reminded of what a fantastic venue it is. It is so much more than just a casino. The artwork, design, sculpture, waterfalls will blow you away. It hosts more top restaurants than many cities can maintain.

If service is important to you (and when is it not?), you cannot find better people – true service professionals – than at Mohegan Sun. Working with the Mohegan Sun staff including Mary, Nancy, Jim, Jessica and Gina, who specialize in banqueting, meeting planning, convention services and sales support left me with a very positive impression in my mind. It made me wonder why so many people book their meetings at regular conventions centers (where parking alone can break the bank for attending guests $19/day). Why would you send you people to an uninspired conference facility that YOU have to transform, when you could engage your guests with more fun on earth at Mohegan Sun.  By the way, parking is free and plentiful. Even valet parking is free!

If motivating our people is important and you want to make a lasting impression, book your next meeting at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Networking expert  Kathy McAfee is the special guest this week to be interviewed by Pete Winiarski, president of the Institute of Success and Goal Achievement. The topic of the interview was how to be more effective with your networking and relationship building so that you can create more fun, freedom and fulfillment in your career, business and life.

Kathy describes that the real purpose of Networking is Relationship Building – a purposeful exercise to build mutually beneficial relationships.  That’s an interesting perspective given all the 1-way “transactional” conversations you might hear when you go to a networking event.  Or, think of all the requests on Twitter or Facebook to click here to buy now – without the relationship first.  (This is one of the biggest mistakes people make.)

Click through to download the interview highlights and access more resources and ideas on how to get more success (and have more fun) with your networking and relationship building.

 Interview on Networking with Kathy McAfee and Pete Winiarski: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Michele Norris of NPR’s All Things Considered addressed over 1,500 motivated leaders and supporters of the YWCA of the Hartford Region today at the Connecticut Convention Center.

As the keynote speaker for the YWCA’s 15th annual In the Company of Women luncheon, Ms. Norris advised the many women (and a few wonderful men) in the room to take their vitamin C.

She breaks down the new vitamin C as follows:

1. Cooperation
2. Copycat
3. Cut out certain things
4. Companionship
5. Calm – find it
6. Comfortable shoes
7. Conversations

Read more about her thoughtful insight and advice to the rest of us

I attended a wonderful ’s networking event last night hosted by Reid & Reige law firm and their Women’s Alliance. The main activity was speed networking. The purpose of the speed networking exercise is to make multiple new connections in a short amount of time and to practice and get more comfortable giving your elevator pitch. If you haven’t experience speed networking yet, look for opportunities to do so.

In addition to meeting new motivated women business leaders, I learned a valuable lesson. Be careful not to use too many “I message” when you introduce yourself. You might even count how many times you use it in a 2-minute introduction. For example, how many times do you find yourself starting a sentence with the word “I”?

Click through to read why I think this is a real networking turnoff and what you should be doing instead.

Today is the fifth anniversary of my business formation as Kmc Brand Innovation, LLC.  As I reflect upon these past five years,  I feel compelled to share some of my lessons learned with you, my fellow motivated business leaders.

Truth be told, my business was born out of necessity. I was in-between jobs and found myself in a precarious position. No company would hire me (at least not in my time frame or on my terms).

What a gift this turned out to be!

A networking friend, Alan D. Weber (a marketing professional who retrained himself and is now qualified as a certified financial planner with Merrill Lynch) gave me a good piece of advice. He suggested that I start consulting as a way to “keep the pencil sharp.” He also said I would be able to answer the question “What have you been doing with your time?” with a respectable answer “Oh, I’ve been consulting with various clients during my job search.”

After my first consulting engagement, I quickly fell in love with the freedom, the challenge and the idea of paving my own way in the world of work. Finding my first client was easy. I met Optometrist Dr. Leora Berns of Avon Eye Care at a Soroptimist meeting. She was looking for a marketing consultant to help her grow her medical practice. I was looking for my first client. It was a match made in Heaven. (Incidentally, it was feedback from Dr. Berns that led me to discovering my brand, Marketing Motivator. )

Perhaps I was blessed with beginner’s luck, but the entrepreneurial reality set in as I struggled to land my second and third clients. My misguided marketing pitch “I can do anything for anybody, because I’ve done all kinds of marketing in my 22 year corporate marketing career” resulted in no bites. I have since learned that if you attempt to be all things to all people, you will effectively be nothing to nobody.

The key to entrepreneurial success is to focus and specialize. Read the rest of this entry »