The More You Known: Aliza Licht––On Self Discovery, Personal Branding and Shaping Your Narrative

Intro by Sarah Elkins , Consultant, Brand Marketing at Known

Embracing authenticity and enabling self discovery are key for brands trying to reach next gen consumers today. But this commitment to helping consumers become the most authentic version of themselves shouldn’t be exclusive to Gen Zers. Figuring out who you are––or who you want to be––isn’t necessarily tied to age. It’s about having a mindset where you can shed the preconceived notions of who you are to make room for who you can be.

I learned this from my own experience, having a fairly rigid sense of who I was at a young age. I grew up constantly battling self doubts. I was introverted, risk-averse, a rule follower, the type of person who color codes her to do lists. And while these things about me are still mostly true, having this limited perception of myself and behaving in a way that aligned gave others an incomplete image of who I am and, in some ways, limited who I could become. As I grew older, I began to realize that I didn’t have to continue fitting inside the “box” of who I was at a younger age. That’s when I was able to create a real shift. I became a more confident version of myself, shared my opinion without the same level of hesitation, and started to reveal more of my dimensions to others.

All that to say, I am still a work in progress. As a brand marketer who spends my days thinking about what my clients’ brands can be known for, I often find myself reimagining my own personal brand, considering who I have the potential to become and giving myself the freedom to embrace that possibility.?

That’s why when ALIZA LICHT , branding expert, came to speak with Ross Martin , President of Known , in our offices, I made sure to get a front row seat. Aliza Licht, a former fashion executive who successfully turned her communications expertise into a multimedia brand and consultancy, Leave Your Mark, is passionate about helping others understand who they are, who they want to be, and how to ensure that others see them that way. Aliza shared stories from her career, reflections from her own personal branding journey, and more details about the launch of her book On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception. which is available for purchase starting today, April 18.?

Below are Aliza’s excerpts from their live interview in a recent episode of The More You Known.

On why she wrote On Brand

I was on the phone with a psychic and she, out of nowhere, asked, "Are you going to write a second book?” I said, "Hell no." She replied, "No, I think you are." I asked her what it would be about. She says, "Personal branding." Then three weeks later––I’m not lying––my editor from Leave Your Mark texted me out of nowhere about buying my second book. When I told her I wasn’t writing a second book, she persisted and said, "No, I think you are." I played along and said, “Okay, okay, what’s my next book about?” Finally, the three dots disappear and in all caps appears “PERSONAL BRANDING.” And I was like, Well, how am I going to ignore the universe talking?

On who her book is for

This book is about understanding what you want to be known for and making sure others see you that way. That can be as part of a company, it can be as an entrepreneur; it can be as someone who's starting in their career; it can be a mom who left the workforce who wants to return. There are so many use cases. I know in marketing you need a target audience, but my feeling is that it’s really for everyone––because everyone needs to understand how they're showing up in the world.?

On her work ethic and rising in her career

When I started interning at Harper's Bazaar, I was the person who turned on the lights in the morning and turned them off at night––and I loved every minute of it. I kept my head down, I did the work, and I earned social capital, which is a big topic in the book, because it's not just the work you do, but it's also how you prove yourself to other people that they can count on you to do the work. Things did get handed to me because I did that work to get things handed to me. I think people recognize you when you’re consistently raising your hand for things beyond your job description, or even better, when you see a white space opportunity and decide to go for it. That's how you rise in your career.

This book is about understanding what you want to be known for and making sure others see you that way.

On starting her company

I think that when I was going through the self-discovery of considering, Who am I? What am I doing now? I started to think about creating my own brand––thinking through the logo, the name, everything. But my husband filed an LLC for me and when I opened the mail and saw that it was “Leave Your Mark LLC” I was confused. That wasn’t supposed to be my company. It was just the title of my book. But then I had an ‘aha’ moment. It can be more than a book. It can be a company, a podcast, a newsletter, a community, a mentorship program. Once I realized it could be so much more, I decided to build all of the pieces and do it all.

On embracing the work and speaking up

At Donna Karan, when I was doing celebrity dressing for award season and on the floor as an executive packing and unpacking boxes, I never thought, "I'm too important to do this." You just do it. One of the things I write about in On Brand is that I grew up in a household where my sister and I were encouraged to give feedback. We were very vocal. I was in fact fearless to give my parents feedback on whatever...and my sister is the same. She's a litigator today. That's how that ended up. At Donna Karan, even when I was a coordinator, I was not afraid to say whatever was on my mind to the CEO of the company. I was always invited to meetings that I probably shouldn't have been in. I always had a seat at the table as I grew in my career because I wasn't afraid to tell Donna Karan, "That's a bad idea. And, here's why.”

On collaborating with a team

I think you can be an individual contributor and you can be a team contributor. I think that there is always going to be someone who has the initial germ of an idea, but it's a building block. You might have the first brick but then other people add on and it expands and you extrapolate. That's the beauty of collaboration. It starts with an idea, one idea, one person, but it's bigger than that person. I think it's thinking about, "Oh, my gosh. I'm so glad I shared that thought, and we could all make it even better than how it initially came out…look what we have all been able to build together.”

I think people recognize you when you’re consistently raising your hand for things beyond your job description, or even better, when you see a white space opportunity and decide to go for it. That's how you rise in your career.

On what it means to have a strong personal brand

The book includes a series of different exercises––or as I like to call them, mental gymnastics––and one of the first exercises is a self-reflection exercise of how you see yourself. There's a series of questions that you ask yourself. But then you need to ask the same questions to people in your network, whether you work with them or they are your friends and family. You could do it anonymously or not. And then, you collect their answers and you can see if you think about yourself the same way you do. I did it myself for the purpose of the book. I think a strong personal brand is when self-reflection and public perception are aligned.

On her hopes for On Brand

I want to leave people feeling inspired and motivated. I want this to feel very user-friendly. I don't want it to be intimidating, and I don't want it to feel like a textbook on how to market yourself. I hope people actually go through this book with an open mind and take themselves out of the mental box they’ve put themselves in––I don't do that or I can't do that or I'm not going to do that––and actually just let me hold their hand and lead them through it. At the end of the day, it’s about making people more self-reflective on how they're showing up, what they're choosing to align with, the energy they're giving off, what they put into things. That's really the goal.

I want to leave people feeling inspired and motivated. I want this to feel very user-friendly. I don't want it to be intimidating, and I don't want it to feel like a textbook on how to market yourself.