Personal Branding

I am often asked about how I built my personal brand around both sport and poetry and how others can do it do.

So for this week and next weeks newsletter I will be sharing how I built my brand with some tips in the hopes that it may benefit others in some way.

Before my first ever spoken word poetry performance, I was asked if I wanted to be introduced by my name or a stage name. I opted for my full name. Asma Elbadawi. and joked that it was a brand. though I didn't know much about branding I knew that I had many interests and wanted to keep everything under one name in the future.

Every time I introduced myself I shared my full name, My first name is pretty common so using it alone would have made me blend in with thousands of other women around the world.

A year on from my first performance, I remember walking into a green room before performing at The Roundhouse in London and hearing another performer call my name out then greeted me. I knew he was a friend of a friend but I honestly couldn't remember his name. so I asked him to remind me of his name and he jokingly responded, But I know your name. and I joking replied But my name is a brand thats why you remembered it.

Though I was joking the name you chose is actually very important, it needs to be memorable especially in a digital world. usernames are being generated everyday and the internet is flooded with hashtags. So I always advice people to use their first and surname or their first and middle name if they are planning to use their own name. a nickname is also good.

When it comes to business it's slightly different for example, I use words and lenses for this newsletter and its part of a project I am hoping to expand on over the next years. I specially choose these two words because I am a poet and visual artist mostly working with video and photography so it reflects well with what the brand will expand to be about.

The second phase of my personal branding required me to create an association between my name what I do and make it difficult for someone else to replicate. I had a great mentor called Sabrina Mahfous who I got the privilege of being mentored by for 6 months. She advised me to bring in the sport side of my identity into my work and bio for an upcoming shoot I had, were only 4 of 6 poets would feature in a film alongside our poems while the other two would only have their poems featured and acted by 2 young actors.

Her reasoning was as follows. If I write a poem about my sports side, it will be difficult to find a poet, who wears a hijab and plays basketball so they will have to go with you. She was right, I got the part.

By bringing in both the sport and creative elements of myself I now made it more difficult to replicate so brands had to ether go with me for the creative writing part and featuring me too. or had to bring in a actor who could both perform my poetry and play basketball. Spoiler alert they always go with the less hassle option.

This worked for me because I concentrated on only spoken word poetry for around 10 months and when the momentum built I introduced the sports side of me in the right moment. It's not about throwing in different eliments of your self and hoping it will fall together, you have to work on one craft get known for it and then find the right opportunity to bring in another side of you.

Lastly and arguably the most important part of personal branding is your story, Some people discover their story early on but others develop it along the way. Ether way it needs to be strong and capture other peoples interest. My story started as a very simple one, I was a poet born in Sudan and raised in England who shared poetry relating to my British sudanese identity.

It then developed to ' I am Asma Elbadawi a spoken word poet and a sports activist. Born in Sudan and raised in England. My dual heritage deeply influences both my creative work and activism. Growing up I didn't see women who looked like me on the TV screen so I never considered playing sport professionally, I later discovered that there are many bans on headwear such as the hijab that prevented muslim women from competing at elite levels. After successfully campaigning FIBA to allow hijab, I continue to advocate for a equal playing field for women in sport because I have seen first hand how the lack of representation can effect a females athlete confidence to take the leap into professional sports. and continue to use my poetry and visual art to shed light on personal and social issues in society"

I was able to solidify this story by repeating it over and over during different interviews with media and by creating a strong bio for others to introduce me by when speaking or performing at events.

If you’re finding it difficult to develop your story sometimes it good to ask those closest to you to help you, we don't always acknowledge parts of our lives that have made us who we are. or have the confidence that our story could inspire others. Hearing why our loved ones admire us can give us the confidence to own our stories.

If you enjoyed learning about personal branding or have topics you'd like me to address in my upcoming newsletters, please leave a comment bellow.

Best Wishes

Asma Elbadawi