I’m on a packed train, typing in my notes app. My notes app is full of lists, half-baked ideas, and half-written poems, but maybe that’s a blog for another day.
I recently did an internal workshop on personal branding. Prior to that, I worked on my own personal brand, and prior to that, have been proofing and editing my boyfriend’s personal brand for longer than we’ve been together. What I’m saying is that this blog is a long time coming!
My journey with personal branding - and marketing as a whole - is a little unconventional. Which, if you know me, fits in with my brand in a lovely ironic way.
I finished my degree (in Film and English Literature) during covid, and wanted to work in TV production. Except, there was no TV in production because of covid. So, I started applying for marketing jobs, knowing that I have a good eye for design and I’m a good writer. I happened to get a job at a data consultancy, throwing me into a world of jargon I didn’t understand. After a couple of years, I moved to Advancing Analytics, where I’ve been for 3 years. Somewhere along the way, I was also diagnosed with ADHD, got a ginger tabby cat (Baked Bean), and moved to Glasgow.
It was at Advancing that I started speaking at data conferences, which was a surprising turn of events for the kid who used to shy away from any and all attention. But I love it. My first talk was at SQLBits, and I went on to speak at Fabric February and FabCon Europe twice. Clearly I don’t do things by halves.
My sessions have always been on two pretty personal things - neurodivergence and LGBTQ+ topics. I’m very open about both of these things, and have long championed DEI, so it made a lot of sense for me. But despite loving being on a stage, I always had a mental block around LinkedIn.
I used to hate it as a platform - until the platform changed. It used to feel fake and sales-y, then (thanks to a collective move away from X) it turned into an actual community space. A space where I wanted to spend my time. Despite not using it myself, I’d always kept up with best practices and trends, and helped my boyfriend with his personal brand (he’s been a champion of a personal brand far longer than me!).
Then after FabCon Europe 2025, I hit post. And it was fun.
My conference sessions meant I already had personal brand of neurodivergence and queerness, with values that were inherent to me as a person. Completely by accident!
Then I realised I wanted to create carousels and graphics, and had absolutely no template. So, my personal brand got some colours and a pattern, and I started being more intentional with posting and sharing my knowledge and opinions.
Instead of starting by building a personal brand and then writing conference sessions around it, I did the opposite - and to be honest, I think a lot of people do the same. Personal branding sounds a little wanky and fluffy, and personally, I think many people who don’t have a personal brand have a “this has worked for me so far, why would I change it” perspective. But that doesn’t take into account the benefits personal branding can have, with relatively little effort.
This blog will be a place for me to share long form content on personal branding and digital marketing as a whole. And who knows, maybe you’ll get an insight into my notes app too.