I have several things that have compelled be to blog about these next few topics. Some of it personal, some of it professional, and even some related to Lucy and childhood cancer. And as you all know my ADHD mind is probably going to jump all over these topics back and forth, but as always, I promise to tie it all together in the end ;)
Ok, so let's talk about branding. What is branding? Well, its the image of a company or organization, its how they want to be seen by the public. For example, St Jude has wonderful branding. They have a logo, an image, and this "thing" that they want people to always associate with them. That would be curing children, saving lives. Who doesn't think of that when they see the St Jude logo? It takes a long time for an organization to earn the right to have their brand marked or coveted. They usually are in business for many years, are a respected company, and have individuals who are faithful followers. Some of the most popular brands are known simply by looking at colors of their logos. Morgan Spurlock did an entire documentary on this. It was fascinating. And it was interesting in that the company he wanted to be his biggest sponsor was concerned that Morgan's Brand may not portray them in a good light. Yes, you heard that right. Morgan's Brand. Each of us have a brand if we work hard at it. You have to brand yourself now a days in the work force, and even in some community services areas. You want people to associate certain things when they think of you. I have learned all about branding at work. I have been told many times that perhaps I need to work on my brand. Which basically means, my brand doesn't always fit in with the company I work for. I tried that for a very long time, and of course, I didn't succeed. And I felt like a failure. Until today. Today for some reason or other reasons, I realized why I didn't succeed at changing my brand. That would require me changing a large part of who I am, and what I stand for and believe in. Essentially, it requires me to change things that are not negotiable. I like who I am. And I have done some wonderful things as "me" for many companies that I have worked for and organizations that I have volunteered for. I will admit, my approach is unorthodox ed, but I have produced some pretty amazing results that have saved millions of dollars. Just yesterday, I was listening to NPR about a woman who wrote a book about, women and feminism. She definitely had her own brand. It was witty, a little crude, but definitely in your face effective, and hilarious. She said something that I found to be so powerful. She said (and I'm paraphrasing) that its a scary world to most men when woman not only have opinions, but when they speak about them and use humor. She said that is a deadly mix and can be seen as threatening. She was referencing when a delegate from a state (woman) was on the floor talking about women's rights and abortions. She said the woman said "And thank you Mr. Speaker for having so much interest in my vagina and its reproductive abilities". gasp! She said vagina! and she was funny with a strong opinion (mind you, I'm not arguing the point of abortions, I'm simply using a reference). She then had a brand and was banned from speaking on the floor. It is relevant story because it reminds me of my own brand and advice I got once. We had a meeting at one of my places of employment for all of the women in management. It was something that we couldn't do publicly as it was frowned upon to have a "woman's" group. Anyhow, we were talking about child birth and periods and the things that woman talk about. I remember telling the story about when Lucy was born. The nurses asked us if we had any questions since this was our second child. Zach said "yes, I do. I'm not sure about the whole "cleaning the vagina" thing because we have a boy". Everybody had that nervous giggle when I told the story, and I could hear a gasp. I was like "Really? you just talked about your periods and you are gasping at the word vagina? Especially in the context I gave it?" Mind you I didn't tell them that, merely thought it. Of course, later on, guess who got a talk to about her "branding". Yep! me! I was told that it was inappropriate to use the word vagina in that setting. As much as I disagreed, I thought ok, so I won't do that again.
It occurred to me as I heard that woman speak on the radio yesterday that I was sacrificing my strength and compromising what I stood for the moment I agreed to submit and apologize for using the word vagina in front of a bunch of women who were talking about their periods and PMS. Mind you, this happened years ago, and it was just yesterday that I realized this. Now is my brand vaginas? No. Read on, I'll touch on that in a bit.
Which brought up another topic of Choices. It reminded me of what my Dale Carnegie teacher said to me. He said that if your goals, mission, and brand doesn't match up with the company you work for, perhaps its time to find a new company. Interesting because when I was offered a job at the company I am speaking of, I was also offered another job through another company in a role I would have loved - event and marketing coordinator. They even had a bidding war over salary. Guess what I chose? The money. I will never choose money again. The irony is, look what I am doing for free anyhow. I fundraise, market, and schedule events for St Jude and child hood cancer. Lesson learned.
Which leads me to purpose. I'm a deep thinker, always have been. So this little NPR interview about this woman who was talking about feminism sparked up all of these feelings regarding branding, choices, and what my purpose in life is or is suppose to be. Does everything happen for a reason? Is it coincidence that everything came full circle? I don't know the answers to those questions, but I do believe I was sent down this path for a very specific reason. And I intend to Brand it. I intend to use what resources I have, what brand I have acquired, and what knowledge I have learned to Brand Gold. I promise I won't throw out the word vagina all the time, but I can't promise that it won't come up. Why? Because its a word in a story that was absolutely hilarious about Zach and his role as parent to a female infant. and because that is a part of who I am and a brand that I have worked on my entire life. I like who I am, I do not intend to change, and I now have a mission that has so much meaning for me, I feel as if everything has happened for the exact reason it was suppose to. All over a 6 letter word. Amazing.
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