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Maria Kuntz: Each episode, we include a key takeaway or LBIdea. Today's LBIdea is that everybody has a personal brand and being intentional about building that brand can help you stand out from the crowd.

Our guest today is Olivia Omega, a branding strategist, author, diversity and inclusion advocate, speaker, and seasoned entrepreneur. She is the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Denver Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps make college possible for area students. Olivia is also a Leeds alumna and an active member of the CU ������ý���� community.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

Olivia Omega: Thanks, Maria. Glad to be here.

Kuntz: Well, Olivia, we have lots of fun questions for you. And so, we're just going to jump right in. I'm sure listeners would love to hear just off the bat, what was your experience at CU and at Leeds? And how has that impacted your career and work in education?

Omega: I always tell everyone that, when you graduate from college, you don't really truly see the impact and benefit and the network that will form down the line. And so, looking back, I can truly say that every big opportunity, job opportunity, project, et cetera, I can literally tie back to the network that I formed at CU that began over 20 years ago. So, that's why I'm so involved and such a big advocate of getting involved with alumni, et cetera, because the benefit, I think, you see after the fact.

Kuntz: Great. Well, we're going to talk about some of your areas of expertise, including personal branding. And, you know, there are a lot of misconceptions about what the term “brand” means, so I was hoping you could share with us how you define it.

Omega: Yeah. Brand goes so far beyond visuals — logo, colors, photos. I think that's a lot of the fun stuff that people like about what a brand is, but a brand is, sort of, this gathering of emotions, promises — we call them value propositions — qualities, tangible versus more emotive, are perceptions, it could come in the area of sounds, even, that all come together to make up how much we're willing to pay for, champion, support one thing, one brand over another.

So, this notion of brand positioning or brand strategy, the language, the words you use to talk about something, how you talk about something to really explain it to your target audience or consumers, that truly is branding.

Kuntz: Amazing. And so, what does that mean then to have a personal brand? And how can you personally bring it into your career?

Omega: Yeah, a personal brand is a very similar thing but applied to an individual. So, what are the experiences, reputations, the way we present ourselves, the way we walk, talk, act, our values, all of those making up our personal brand and actually influencing someone to choose, hire, follow, date, whatever that might be, one person over another person.

And so, when I'm in a room and I'll ask people, “Raise your hand if you have a personal brand,” and there's, you know, one or two people that shyly, kind of, raise their hand. And I'll say, “Actually, everyone in this room has a personal brand because all of you have a name, a face. You all have a reputation. And you all have people in this world that think something of you. So, whether you're building a personal brand or not, we all have one.”

Kuntz: Well, and even how people are using social media intentionally or unintentionally to craft and create a personal brand, I think we're in an era where it's so common for folks to have social media presences. And that is a huge part of a brand.

Omega: Yeah, exactly. And so, that's why it's so important to, kind of, impress upon young people to be very mindful and intentional on what they post and how they post because it’s building those things. And I know, in the world of entrepreneurship, which is where I come from, personal branding is very important. And there's a very direct connection to why it's important, how it connects to my business, to sales, et cetera.

But I'll say this, too. In career, if you're not an entrepreneur, personal branding is important as well, because you want to make yourself known in an organization, in a company, for something. You want people to have a thought about you, versus just, “Oh, Olivia, she works here. I don't know anything about her and I don't know what she stands for or, you know, that she's good at X, Y, and Z. I just see her face in the hallways here and there.” And so, building a brand for yourself in a corporate setting is also extremely important when you think about network, when you think about promotions, and really just being able to do really great work. We can do those things when people know what we're about.

Kuntz: Absolutely. Can you share about your experience building your personal brand? When did you, kind of, know that you were starting to do it? What was your journey? And what's been your biggest takeaway?

Omega: Yeah, that's a great question. I, similar to what I just mentioned, you always have a personal brand, but then it's about understanding and acknowledging that, oh, the success and that you're being intentional about building it. And what's interesting is, when I graduated from Leeds, I had an internship right before I graduated and went straight into a job at that same marketing and branding agency.

And so, I learned early, early on in my career what branding meant and what this notion of differentiating was — setting yourself apart, setting a brand apart. And so, it wasn't until several years later that I started to even realize that, wow, you could take the same notions, strategies around branding and apply them to an individual and that be personal branding.

And so, when I started to recognize that for myself, it's when I started being known for marketing. And marketing is so vast. And so, people be like, “What do you do?” “I do marketing.” “Oh, what does that even mean?” And the more I started to hone in on when someone said, “What do you do?” And I started to be like, “Actually, it's not marketing. It’s branding. And actually, it's not branding, it's personal branding,” the more people started to refer me to clients and to work that was really aligned with what I did and what I wanted to do.

So, it was right when that clicked for me that I was like, “Okay, I understand the power of this. If I'm going to devote and dedicate my life to something or my work today to something, then, If I could be more specific about it, it'll benefit me and benefit others the most.”

And then I'll just say this, that then over seasons, as life changes, so graduating, starting into my career, having kids, kids getting older, being a single mom, you know, I feel like, every five to 10 years, as shifts happen, my personal brand stays consistent in this notion of personal branding and authenticity, but how that looks and how I show up in the world shifts and changes, I think, as any one of us is going through different life stages or just, you know, growing up or realizing more and more who we truly are and what we truly want to do.

Kuntz: I think that's such a strong analogy for just evolution. As companies evolve, as human beings evolve, the brand evolves. It's not a static moment that persists for all of eternity.

Omega: Yes. And that's when I talk to young people, I'm talking to either high school or college students or those who just graduated, a lot of times, you don't know what you want to do and you're still trying to, kind of, figure out what you want to be known for. But what I say is, if you search your core and your heart, you, kind of, have an idea of what your values are, even at a really young age, what do you value? And those core things might shift a little bit. I value family more now that I have kids than before, but I still valued family. I still valued my freedom and valued relationship and connection and just being real with people and authenticity. So, I'm always encouraging, you know, life will shift and change. You will evolve. But right now, start thinking about, what are your values? Because a lot of times, those will, kind of, stay the same.

Kuntz:��So, you've already touched on this a little bit, but I'm wondering if you could expand upon how you recommend people go about building their personal brand, especially if they're listening and they're like, “Oh, I want to do that,” or, “I should do that.” How do they get started?

Omega: Examine who you are, you know, what you stand for, what you really truly value, what you gravitate towards, and start to, kind of, write those things down. And hopefully, you'll, kind of, see some threads that, kind of, come throughout.

And one thing that I really truly recommend is that people find someone that you can be truly authentic with. This could be a best friend, a family member, a co-worker, you know, et cetera. Find the person. There's probably usually one or two people that you truly feel like you could be yourself around and that they know you really well. And ask them to describe who you are. Ask them to write down words that describe you. Because a lot of times, we can't see our differences because it's us and we live with us every single day. And so, stepping outside of our body can be really, really hard. And you'll learn a lot when you start asking these questions of, just really the impact you have on people's lives and how you make them feel.

And so, once you, kind of, have that, then you can start saying, “Okay, what are the threads in that?” And again, going back to, “What do I want to be known for in this world right now?” And then you can start to say, “All right. How do I show that in the things that I do, the things I say, the things I talk about, the things I post?”

Kuntz: I love it. And you've talked about authenticity. Could you just maybe go a little deeper? You know, why is authenticity important for someone's personal brand?

Omega: Yeah, I will. And the word “authenticity” is so overused and just repeated so many times. And I honestly think that we throw it out there and either use it in a way it's not it's true meaning or don't know what it means. But authenticity of being true to yourself and true to your core is extremely important with a personal brand because you don't want to be someone else.

And I know that, in the land of influencers and social media and content creators, we often find people online that we gravitate towards. But then we also start to mimic. And modeling is one thing. So, if we see someone online that, “Gosh, they're doing something similar to what I want to do. They're successful at it. And they have a podcast, or they are posting these types of reels, or they're creating this type of content,” it's wonderful to model something that works, but you have to make it your own. And that's where authenticity comes into play. How do I make this truly me and not just copying someone else?

Two important things for that is just simply that, we want people to like, follow, love, trust, hire, buy us for who we are at our core. And we also want to make sure that we are differentiating ourselves so that we don't fall into the vast sea of people out there saying and doing the similar thing. So, there's multiple benefits to being truly authentic and being real.

Kuntz: Amazing. How, then, do you see the role of social media in building a personal brand today? And how can someone stand out with so much content and so many people?

Omega:��So, I think we need to think about social media in a broader context of this notion of content creation. So, it's interesting when I've asked people before, “What do you do?” And they're like, “I'm a blogger.” And it's like, well, blogging is the platform. Instagram is the platform. TikTok is the platform. So, social media can take all of those different forms. And we have to be mindful that social media can and will come and go and not to get into the, you know, topic of TikTok, and if it's coming, staying, going, and all those things. But if I'm going to create content for sharing across the interwebs across the world, being mindful in what I post is going to be extremely important, as well as creating content on social media that I can feel really good about.

Sometimes, we do something called, and I'm sure we've all done it, called panic posting. And a panic post is, “I know I should be posting content. I know I need to be on this thing called social media. I don't know what I'm doing. Let me just come up with something that I'm going to throw it out there.” And while overthinking is also not the best route, being intentional is going to be extremely important.

Kuntz: That's great. I mean, I think, right, you know, sometimes, who hasn't experienced the moment of, “Oh, did I want to post that?” Or, “Ooh, delete. No.” Maybe, you know that moment of thinking, and social media can seem ephemeral, but it's also really permanent, right? So, being thoughtful about what we put out there and knowing that, kind of, once it's out there, it's out there.

So, let's talk a little bit about another, sort of, aspect of your work as a professional. You're an advocate for diversity and inclusion. So, I'm curious if you could share, how do you encourage young people to embrace their identity as part of their personal brand?

Omega: You know, I was just having this conversation with my daughter. I have a senior in college, so she's applying for jobs and doing all the things. We were talking about how authentic little kids are, because they haven't been jaded by the world. They haven't had their dreams crushed. They're putting themselves out there. They dress the way they want to dress. They say what they want to say. Kids definitely say the darndest things and ask the questions that they are really curious about. And then we get into the area around middle school or so, and that really just shifts overnight because of how judgmental human beings can be and critical and mean, and you want to fit in.

And so, we start to dim that light and, kind of, shut out those things that truly do make us different and unique. And so, it becomes really hard, then, to grow up and land in college and then into career and now say, “Let me revert back to a place where I dress the way I want to dress and talk the way I want to talk and be who I want to be,” because we've been conforming this whole time. So, regardless of whether, you know, you are in a room where you're the only person that looks like you or you're in a room where everyone may look like you, there's an important piece of setting yourself apart and differentiating yourself. And it takes a lot of courage. It also just takes time and baby steps. I tell people on social media, you do want to be vulnerable and you do want to let people into who you are, but only in a way that you feel comfortable with and only at an extent that you feel comfortable with. At the end of the day, though, being yourself and letting people in is definitely important.

Kuntz:��So, when you're working with high school students or college students, I know you mentioned you have quite a few mentees, what advice do you give them about building the brand and, more broadly, about building their careers?

Omega: The advice I give, honestly, is you don't have to have it all figured out. I don't have to have my personal brand all nailed down and figured out. “This is who I am. This is what I say, what I talk about.” And you don't have to have your career figured out. So, the important pieces of that are to step in a direction. And you can always pivot, you can always shift, and you can always change, but move and step into a direction.

So, then, that means, in my career, I may not know everything in what I want to do, but I'm going to pick this direction and now I'm going to talk about it. If I'm getting a job in marketing and I like the idea of marketing and, now, if you narrow it down, like, I really get excited about sports marketing, whether my job is in that or not. Start posting about sports marketing. Start commenting on things that are happening in the world and, kind of, current events to start to build that up. So, it's really about taking a step in a direction and then not overthinking it to the point where you aren't doing anything.

Kuntz: I love that tie back to also the evolution of the brand and interest. You know, people's interest change and shift. And so, you don't have to do it all at once, but just that starting to post and evolve your own conversation and brand online, it's great. So, what have you learned from working with young people?

Omega: I have learned that young people, this current generation, are so incredibly inclusive and empathetic, way more than I think my generation was at that age or is now. And so, it's a breath of fresh air to see that. I also think that this current generation and young people are extremely ambitious in their dreams and imaginative in what they want to do and where they think that they can go.

Because we have this world of social media and influencers, we've seen people go from no one to someone over what appears to be overnight. We've seen people make their dreams happen. And so, I think they have the example and the visual of what that could look like. And so, their dreams are really, sky is the limit, which I definitely truly admire.

I think, also, there is this notion of overnight success that we don't see behind the scenes and that someone that blew up overnight actually has been building their YouTube channel for seven years and finally got the visibility and recognition that they wanted. So, with this generation, I just do encourage that things do take time, things take a ton of grit and perseverance. And I think that, unfortunately, can be deceiving in a way.

Kuntz: Yeah, that's a great reminder to everyone that the success we see online is rarely won overnight. You shared with us that you have recently been collaborating with your daughter who's finishing up college. And I was wondering if you could tell us about that project.

Omega: Yeah. So, my daughter is a creative writing major. She's written four novels, fiction novels, for middle schoolers. And they're, like, thriller, adventure novels. And so, her and I just had been doing a lot of, kind of, talking and she had to come up with a capstone for graduation. And so, we decided to write a memoir together looking at generational narratives and generational storytelling.

From my point of view and just my career, I've done a lot of storytelling with regard to brands, personal and, you know, general brands, consumer packaged goods, et cetera. And so, her storytelling is around creating fictional characters. So, we thought, how cool would it be for us to create a memoir together that talks about our own individual perspectives on various large life topics and how we see things differently, but then also how, kind of, things overlap and intertwined together?

Kuntz: Is there a date? Is that going to be shared with the public, published?

Omega: Yeah, we're excited to publish. May 3rd is the publishing date. So, we've got a lot of really great things lined up, including a podcast that just launched on Saturday leading into that May 3rd date. But the book is called Through Her Eyes. And it will be available on Amazon and all the things once it's out. But yeah, we're super excited about coming together and collaborating in that way.

Kuntz: That is really exciting. I can't wait to see it. Olivia, it's been such a pleasure getting to talk with you today. And I'm sure our listeners would also love to reach out, follow up. They'll have questions. How can people get in touch with you outside of this podcast?

Omega: Yeah, I can be found pretty much anywhere and everywhere. Olivia Omega, my website also is OliviaOmega.com, but LinkedIn, Instagram are all great places to connect.

Kuntz: Wonderful. Well, Olivia, thank you again for joining us. This is a great conversation. And I'm certain our listeners are going to be excited to have the opportunity to learn from your expertise.

Omega: Thank you!

Kuntz: Thank you again for listening to Leeds Business Insights. Make sure you’re one of the first to hear every episode by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. Leeds Business Podcast is a production of the Leeds School of Business and is produced by University FM.