Whew! We just wrapped our 20th podcast episode, and now we’re taking a look back over the past few months at all of the amazing conversations we’ve had, the laughs we’ve shared, and the tough topics we’ve tackled… and we figured it’s the perfect time for the Girl Geek X team to share our top takeaways that women in tech and allies everywhere can benefit from!
We’ll be doing this via a mini-series of blog posts in the coming weeks, where we’ll break down our key learnings, salient moments, and hard-hitting realizations and share them with the community as bite-sized nuggets that you can quickly devour while waiting for everyone to join your morning conference call. (Can you hear me now? Everyone please mute!)
If you haven’t already subscribed to the Girl Geek X podcast, head on over to iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play and get ready to start binge listening!
First up, Girl Geek X CEO & Co-Founder Angie Chang is delving into her favorite (and our most recent!) release on the Girl Geek X Podcast — Episode 20: Branding to Stand Out.
Why this topic matters, and why it’s her favorite episode:
“I enjoy how we as the Girl Geek X team can talk thru the uncomfortable reality of branding for women in their work lives and work places. Each place and situation is different, so it was fun to hear the diverse perspectives we all have, and share some common themes in how we feel we show up at work and how to be most effective while being true to our selves.”
6 Quick Takeaways
6. “Part of what a brand is, is an emotional connection. It’s how you’re perceived. It’s how we’re perceived in the workplace. And I would say, as a woman in business, and as women often are told in tech companies, you’re either too nice or too aggressive. Or, you’re too mean. Or, you’re too sloppy. Or you’re too proper, or whatever. The list can go on and on. Everybody in this room has some anecdote of a time when they felt they got conflicting messages or they weren’t quite sure ‘how do I show up in this meeting?’
I think for a lot of us, throughout our career we’ve found a way to find that balance of, how can we show up at work in a way to be super effective and so that people listen and we can do really good work? And how do we stay true to who we are?” —Khobi Brooklyn, VP of Communications at Aurora
5. “When I was very deliberate about what brand I wanted for myself or what I wanted to be known for, I then was very clear about what opportunities I wanted to seek out for myself, in addition to what I was already doing. That helped me.” —Sukrutha Bhadouria, Co-Founder & CTO at Girl Geek X and Sr. Manager, Engineering at Salesforce
4. When I was earlier in my career as a Girl Geek, I would run from the idea and the topic of branding. Because I’m like, ‘That’s just marketing.’ I didn’t want to deal with that.
As you get more experienced in your career, you start to see the bigger picture and how your manager or other people need to be able to pick you out from a crowd. And then the branding issue becomes something that you actually pay attention to — what you want to be known for, and then tying it to your authentic self and making sure it’s aligned.” —– Angie Chang, Co-Founder & CEO at Girl Geek X
3. “Focus on the value you add and everything else will begin to fall in place. It’s really easy to get caught up in that branding piece, particularly with social media and all this good stuff. And I’m always like, well, let’s take step back. What is your story? What are you trying to build? What is the story you’re trying to create?” —Leah McGowen-Hare, VP of Trailhead Evangelism at Salesforce
2. “Your brand goes so much farther beyond the one specific company that you’re working in. It really exists in your whole network. It’s how you represent yourself to your whole network. Within your job, outside of your job.
I think what’s tied all the things that I do together is definitely storytelling and social impact. With everything that I’ve done in my career and all the outside of work things that I’ve been doing, those are the threads that tie them together. That’s how people view me. Regardless of what aspect of my career I’m showing up in.” —Rachel Jones, Podcaster at Girl Geek X
1. “Your brand in college is not the brand you had in your 20s, and is not the brand you had in your 30s, in your 40s, in your 50s and 60s. Your personal brand is going to continually be a work in progress.” — Gretchen DeKnikker, COO at Girl Geek X
Check out the full episode or podcast transcript for more great insights on organizational and personal branding for women in business, or subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more insightful content on topics that matter to women and allies.
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