The Power of Branding Yourself As A Business Owner - Kate Terentieva

As a business owner, it can be hard to make yourself the “face” of your business, but Kate joins us to discuss why it is important for you to humanize your brand, how to begin developing your personal brand, and how having a powerful personal brand can even make your business more profitable!

About Kate

Fueled by the power of personal branding, MOB MGMT™ is the personal branding strategy house dedicated to disrupting the creator economy by transforming influential people into influential brands.

Founded by art director, talent manager, and personal branding strategist Kate Terentieva, MOB MGMT™ is here to lift the lid on the influence industry. With a résumé of answers from the marketing & advertising world, she spent years humanizing brands like Meta, Savannah Miller Bridal, Grailed, and Lobos 1707. Now, she's turning people into brands and advising them on strategic decisions on how to market their influence. Her secret sauce? The power of personal branding.

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Episode Transcript

Kate Terentieva 0:00

So your personal brand in essence is your emotional appeal. It's like the soul and the identity of your business beyond just what you offer, but also like the human aspect of who you are as an entrepreneur and being able to use that as an asset within your business.

Christy Bowie 0:28

I'm your host, Christy Bowie. And today I'd like to welcome Kate Terentieva, Kate is the owner of mod management and a personal branding expert. And honestly one of my favourite humans, Kate has worked in the marketing and advertising world with some of the top brands that have become household names. But now she's going to share with you all of the secrets, she learned about the power of building a reputable brand, and how it can actually help you build a more profitable business. I'm so excited to welcome you today, Kate, I'm stoked to be here. Thank you so much for having me. So first, I really just want you to share about the idea of a personal brand. And really what that is and what it means.

Kate Terentieva 1:05

Yeah, so in layman's terms, personal brand is essentially, it's a combination of kind of your emotional appeal as a person, right. So when you build a business, there are tonnes of other businesses exactly like yours, offering the same exact services. But ultimately, at the end of the day, the reason why people work with you is because of you. And if they come back, then you definitely had a greater hand and why it is that they came back to you over any other competitor or any other additional business that offers the same types of services. So it really is understanding, you know, what is it about you that people that draws people in? How are you perceived, and also having control over that narrative and over your own perception and being able to strategically shape that so that if you feel you are being perceived in a way that isn't maybe helpful to your business? Or is, you know, not bringing you the types of people that you want to be working with, then you're able to assess, okay, this is the quality in me that I'm portraying online that maybe could be tucked away, or I'm mentioning certain things that I think are drawing the wrong types of people. So it's really a really allows you to have control over like your narrative and your story, before even hiring anybody to help you with that. Whether that be a brand designer or a social media manager, or you know, somebody so far as like a publicist, or an agent or a talent manager, depending on what it is that you want to achieve as an entrepreneur. Yeah,

Christy Bowie 2:43

that's incredible. So it's really kind of like your competitive edge in terms of a human instead of your competitive edge, whether when you have a product or something. Exactly. So just it's

Kate Terentieva 2:53

just like brands, you know, Coca Cola, Mehta, Amazon, Netflix, just the way that they create their own USP as brands and set themselves apart from other streaming services, other social media platforms, other you know, logistic companies, it's the same way with people, right? I mean, even so far is to think about when you date somebody, what is the quality in somebody that you decide to go on a date with? versus somebody that you think, pass? Or what are the things that when you make friends with somebody, what were the qualities that drew you to that person versus somebody that you thought, I'm probably not going to be friends with them. So your personal brand, and essence is your emotional appeal. It's like the soul and the identity of your business beyond just what you offer, but also like the human aspect of you know, who you are, as an entrepreneur and being able to use that as an asset within your business. And I think that's

Christy Bowie 3:53

so important that you kind of touched on even these big brands, you know, Coca Cola, metal, all of them are doing things like that, and I think in the world we're living in, I think it's going, you know, a little bit more socially conscious, being aware of what companies are doing, do we want to associate ourselves with these brands, and I can really see that being an advantage going forward when someone says, you know, I don't just like your brand, or your service or your product. I like who you are and what you stand for.

Kate Terentieva 4:18

Exactly. Yeah. And I think that's a bigger, you know, a bigger compliment, especially to somebody who is like a solopreneur, or a small business or chooses to position themselves as a CEO, you know, as also a representative of a company. We see that recently now without them necessarily on Instagram, to think that that was by chance that he's suddenly being you know, the representative face of Instagram. I think not. I mean, compared to somebody like Mark Zuckerberg, who is more robotic, who maybe isn't as relatable isn't as approachable has been definitely in a lot more scandals. We have a figure like Adam mosseri, who's like the father of Instagram. He's like our internet. Dad, you know, he quite literally has his own children, he films from his house, he is the kind of person that if even if you don't like what he says about how the platform is developing, you still feel like you can ask him questions, and you can come to him with your Instagram problems. He's more approachable. He's somebody that represents Instagram as a company. So now when people think, oh, Instagram, they think of Adam mosseri. And so he has also built his own personal brand, in addition to just being tied to Instagram, he's kind of like, the internet dad that you can come to with all of your Instagram problems, which is kind of cool.

Christy Bowie 5:39

Yeah, that's super interesting. And there's something that I know you've mentioned before, that's kind of like the humanising of these brands. And I think that's exactly what you're talking about making it so it's not an unapproachable brand, you're putting a face behind it, so that people really know, hey, this is who I'm talking to. And this is who is solving my problems, or, you know, making these changes. For me, it's not some, you know, person in the universe, who I can't relate to. I think

Kate Terentieva 6:04

now, it's, especially with so many people starting their own businesses and documenting that journey online, you have an advantageous position now that a lot of brands founded earlier didn't have where you can immediately start connecting with people like you, or potential customers, or your target audience, and involve them into your journey as a person, as an entrepreneur, as a founder, you know, what have you and they're able to connect with you on a human level that I think is a lot harder for brands that are larger, or corporations that we don't really know, like, Who is the person behind them? So in that particular case, you know, there's a little bit more of a strategy involved.

Christy Bowie 6:47

Yeah, no, that's super important, really, for us to think about in not only just making ourselves more approachable, but also kind of attracting the right person to us. So when somebody is thinking about, you know, what do I want this personal brands to be? How to identify that? How do they start thinking about what does this personal brand need to look like? And what do I publicly show the world? And what can I kind of keep to myself?

Kate Terentieva 7:13

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think a lot of the times personal brands have this perception to be narcissistic, we see that a lot with influencers, and it's oftentimes Me, me, me. But at the end of the day, any type of human business is a business. And in order to have a business, you have to have other people involved, other people are paying you, you're not putting money in your own pocket, buying your own products, buying your own services, right, you're impacting other people's lives. And so with a personal brand, you first do start with figuring out okay, well, what is it that I want to be known for? What am I good at? What am I passionate about? You know, are you in a position where you can google yourself and kind of figure out how you're already being perceived? Or are you more so in the position where you need to ask close friends and family like, what they think of you what they would come to you for? And start taking note of that and becoming incredibly self aware about, like how people currently perceive you? And like, is there a gap between how you're currently perceived and what you want to be known for and kind of your why so to say in your mission, and then from there assessing like, Okay, well, who is the type of person that would benefit from my expertise, or my passions, or the values that I have, if I'm a social activist, for example, or, you know, just the type of person that would be interested in my business, not just in my services, but also on an emotional level, and then you're able to find a way where you can communicate with them that connects to them. So that's how we see personas that come about like the girl boss, or the big sister or you know, the the work Besty, like all of these different personas that we see online of people kind of figuring out different ways to connect with their target audience. Like that's all created based on, hopefully the research that they've done to figure out, this is the type of person I'm talking to, but this is who they need, am I that person naturally, because at the end of the day, the the thing with a personal brand is that it shouldn't be inauthentic. It shouldn't be who you are, it doesn't need to feel like it's burning you out. Because you're pretending to be someone else. You're more so figuring out, okay, there are boundaries that I need to set with my audience and things like you mentioned in terms of keeping certain things off limits. And that can include things like your children or your love life, your home life, any types of trauma that you've experienced, you know, there are certain things that we like to keep to our selves, and that especially the more you grow, the more you're being scrutinised, whether it's by your team or people online. You have to maintain those boundaries but you know, figuring out kind of healthy balance of the things that you the way that you want to portray yourself to your target audience, but all So keeping some of your sanity is definitely kind of like that golden ratio. But yeah, it's all about other people. It's it's not about us, we are essentially, as a personal brand of vehicle to make our business more human, we are kind of like that arm that reaches out and you know, does a handshake to our target consumer or target audience.

Christy Bowie 10:23

So you kind of mentioned, you know, taking a little bit of our authentic self. So how much do you think of people's personal brand? In How much should it be is truly like, here's who I am, and how much is kind of strategic on here is what I need you to perceive that I am.

Kate Terentieva 10:39

Yeah, that really depends on the industry. So and also, it depends on how much you're already being scrutinised. So if you're listening to this, and you're somebody who is a recording artist, for example, or a personal brand, may oftentimes, depending on whether or not you're signed to a label, will be controlled by your label. So that is things from how your dress the stylists that you hire, that way your hair looks, the way your makeup looks, the way that you perform, the way you speak. And the kind of ads that you accept to do or partnerships, commercials, magazine covers, all of those things are typically controlled by a record label. If you are however, kind of independent, you're not necessarily working for somebody, you're not tied in a contract with with a record label or some sort of talent agency, and you're more so using your personal brand as a tool within your business, it should feel like authentic to you, I think that it definitely has an a negative connotation sometimes of being like a persona and something fake. But I think where you crack the nut is being incredibly self aware of how people already perceive you, but also being able to take control of that narrative and being like, Okay, if I, you know, I'm shifting values as we do as people, you know, we rebrand more often than Coca Cola, or you know, any kind of like bigger company, you're not being a slave to your audience and being like, Okay, I'm only going to give you the things that you want to see. And you're, you're still in control of, okay, I understand how you perceive me, I understand maybe the some of the things you want to know more about me, maybe you're asking me about my love life, but I'm not comfortable sharing that. So I will not be sharing that, even if you did ask for it. So it's finding a balance between, you know, understanding and accepting and acknowledging the things that your audience and online community is interested in knowing more about you. But then at the end of the day, it's your story. And you get to make the decision of do I want to feed into that? And I want to share that and open that can of worms potentially? Or do I want to maybe figure out like, Yeah, that's really cool that you want to know more about my boyfriend. But let's like shift our attention over here. So I will say that for some people, it's a maybe a little bit more strategic than for others. Some people have a team doing this for them, if they're not the type that has like a natural pulse on this on their own. But usually, it's it's who you authentically are. And that way you're not burning out, you're not being a slave to your audience, you are truly kind of leading the way and controlling your own narrative as you should, because it's your story.

Christy Bowie 13:15

So if you're listening to this, and you are thinking that you've been trying to put on a persona, or try to be somebody everybody else wants you to be, I want you to listen to what Kate is saying, because I think that a lot of us, when we start putting ourselves in front of the camera, or on social media or wherever, in terms of branding ourselves to our business, we get so caught up in exactly what we want other people to think of us. And as Kate has said, You will burn out doing that. And I think something else that you kind of alluded to earlier is when you put yourself off as somebody who isn't authentically you, you're also not authentically attracting the right people who you want to be your audience, whether that be consumers or whether you have a service and you're working with people. That's not the right person because they didn't truly, authentically know who you were

Kate Terentieva 14:07

right, and then you end up resenting them when in reality, the real issue was, I either didn't set boundaries, or I didn't really even know who I was talking to. And that wasn't something that I did research on or that wasn't something that I established, or I was just catering to what was this is a really popular one, especially anybody who creates content online. I was catering to what is popularly viewed and engaged with doesn't matter if something gets a tonne of views. It doesn't mean you need to now go all into that and create only content that has a tonne of views. If it's the thing that burns you out that is unfulfilling, that feels inauthentic, that will eventually just kill your breaks. Then it's time to pivot and figure out a way that either you need to nail down your target audience and assess okay is the person that is interested In this particular type of context, I really who I want to be talking to, is that person going to put, you know, money into my business? Like, is it helpful to me or profitable to me in any way. And you know, finding that balance and not just chasing metrics, or any kind of outside validation from the internet, but rather, really staying true to exactly what your purpose is and what you want to be known for, and the goals that you have, and taking every little step to continue moving into that direction.

Christy Bowie 15:29

And I think that's kind of so important that you share that thinking about who the right audience for you is. And obviously, that's not everybody, there are so many people in the world. And when I work with clients, I kind of remind them, you need like point O 1% of people in this world to like you and buy from you. In order for you to have a 678 figure business, you don't need everybody in this world to like you. And you don't have to create a quote unquote, persona that everybody likes. That's going to burn you out.

Kate Terentieva 15:58

Right, exactly. And in like the human realm, we call people like that people pleasers and nobody really likes people like that.

Christy Bowie 16:06

Because yeah, recovering people pleaser here.

Kate Terentieva 16:11

Exactly. Yeah. And we're confused, like, what is it that you stand for? What is it that what are your values, I was recently just talking with somebody about the new selling the OC show on Netflix. And we were saying how in reality TV, obviously, everybody gets positioned in a certain way. And producers want to think of somebody as the villain, and somebody is like the pushover and whatever. And she was the person I was speaking with was mentioning how there definitely seems to be a trend across like selling sunset and selling the OSI of the production team, kind of positioning somebody as the villain, you know, we've seen them selling sunset, Christine Quinn was doing that. And she was the kind of villainous character and they definitely have their own kind of version of that on selling the OC. And so my friend mentioned, she's like, you know, I find it incredibly inspiring that Christine Quinn was positioned as like the bitch on selling sunset. And instead of trying to prove people wrong, and being like, no, no, that's not me, or I think that things were misconstrued. She, like, turned it into a business. And she was like, Okay, well, you know, I understand the kind of people that would relate to that. And so I'm gonna write a book about it, I'm going to open my own real estate firm, I'm going to leave the Oberheim group, I'm going to lean into, like my fashion, Persona and interests. And it definitely created like a, I would say, a more recognisable brand than some of her other co stars, not saying that this is the trajectory everybody needs to go in, or that I agree with everything that she's doing. But it's just yeah, it's understanding that like, Okay, I don't need to please everybody, because at the end of the day, I will please no one, including myself. And it's more so just, you know, being in control of who it is that I'm really talking to, and what those people believe in, and if they share my values, that's great. And if they don't, the doors always open and they're welcome to leave.

Christy Bowie 17:58

And I love that example you gave because you said she was positioned as the bitch like the villain. And I think she kind of reframed that as like, No, I'm powerful. No. And she took some of what she was already perceived as, which is exactly what you were saying. And she just shifted the narrative. She didn't try to do a 180 and say, well, oh, my gosh, that's not who I am. I'm a sweet little angel, because we would never believe that. But it is a lot more believable to say, Okay, you were viewed as the villain, but it makes sense. They put you out as a villain because women in powerful positions are commonly perceived to be a bitch, or to be a villain. And I don't know, I kind of love that she dug into that. And for me, I'm like, yeah, go you, I don't really care that you are going to be a villain or, you know, do mean things to other people. If you are the kind of person who gets things done. I love you.

Kate Terentieva 18:53

Right. Yeah, exactly. So it's really just understanding your strengths and understanding that, you know, you're not going to be for everybody. And that's okay. I think that that's something that people struggle with, and they start putting themselves out online. They're like, Oh, my God, I'm gonna get bombarded by haters. And then I always ask, Well, I'm sorry, does everybody like you in real life?

Christy Bowie 19:13

know, not everybody doesn't like me. So sorry.

Kate Terentieva 19:19

You've ever been more like mean to you in real life? Yeah, I'm sure most of it probably behind your back. Most of it. You don't see on the internet, you see all of it. So it's just a different reframe of it. But yeah, figuring out exactly who it is that you're talking to, and keeping that person in mind at all times, not worrying about what other people's opinions are. If they're not your target audience, they're not your target audience, the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, trying to make money you're trying to build community around something you're trying to serve a specific audience not looking to serve everybody or convince everybody as to why it is that you, you are their choice. We're not friends with everyone in real life. We're not going to have everyone buy from us in our business to so it's completely horrible,

Christy Bowie 20:00

totally. And I love that you also brought up not only is that more beneficial for your business, it's more profitable for your business to operate like this. One of the most expensive things for business is client acquisition. And if you especially if you are someone who works with clients consistently, maybe you have a retainer model, maybe you have long term clients, if you are attracting the wrong type of clients, and you're constantly having turnover, or you are constantly attracting clients who are not going to then go out into the world and be a referral for you, then you are wasting your time working with these clients and wasting your money to attract these wrong type of clients. So building a strong personal brand actually is more profitable for you in the long run, because you are facing less toner turnover, and you're actually working with more aligned clients who are then going to go out into the world and be your own personal advocate.

Kate Terentieva 20:53

Right. We often also say that client acquisition is the hardest thing to do client retention should be one of the easiest, if you don't build a very clear personal brand. And I'll position yourself very clearly as to who it is that you're for, not only will you not have a client acquisition, we are going to be retaining clients at a much slower rate than people tell you that you will, because there's no clear audience to find that's like if you were to see any other traditional brands in existence, operate with no target audience in mind, they would shut down immediately. And so it's the same thing with people. I'm an art director in the advertising industry. And so for me brand identities within the traditional brand, personal brand identities, they operate the exact same way except as a person, you have a bigger advantage because you already can make human connection. Whereas brands have to invest significant more amount of money in order to figure out a strategy, whether that's through influencer marketing, or through you know, the Instagram strategy of making their CEO into a personal brand as well. That's also time and money and effort. Whereas if you are a smaller entrepreneur, or somebody who is reliant on on your personality in order to to make your business successful, then you already have that, like human element that that brands crave to have, if they admit is what makes them so successful, which was why we see influencer marketing being such a successful marketing tactic.

Christy Bowie 22:18

Yeah, that's perfect. And actually exactly what I wanted to ask you about next, because influencer marketing is very clearly an expert point of yours. So I kind of want to talk to you about when we are building a bigger brand when we are ready to start leveraging things like influencer marketing and more in depth advertising and marketing strategies like that. What do we need to be looking to to make sure that that is still remaining authentic with our own personal brands? Yeah, I

Kate Terentieva 22:46

mean, influencers should be a representative of who your target audiences for your business, right? Otherwise, the influencer gets into a scandal and then you as a business owner, get into a scandal. So an influencer is somebody who is the representative of your target consumer, and it just works very well organically. If you were to send an influencer product, or pay them to create some sort of content for you, it's a lot easier for them to do that, if they would already purchase from your business, if they would already be a client of yours, if they've already believe in your values. And what it is that you're trying to do with your business is very clear for them. So the most important part is figuring out with everything, this is a common thread your target audience who does that you're talking to and then finding an influencer, that would be representative of that if you have a bigger budget for somebody like a celebrity or a larger public figure, then that person would be great more so as okay, if my business were to be a person, or were to be a celebrity, or would be inspired by some sort of like, you know, we all have that. Those people in mind of like, who wouldn't be if our business could be a public figure, like what kind of personality would they have? Who would they be and so then you can literally find that person and work with them in some sort of capacity. There is a plant based chicken nugget brand I cannot remember the that for the life of me the name of it. So it's the D that recently worked with Kourtney Kardashian Barker and Travis Barker. And it was like a very seamless partnership despite the fact that like do they frequently get the reputation of being sellouts or like people that kind of take any partnership for any reason? It was a very organic partnership because they both are more so interested in like sustainable food options and things like that. And so it felt very natural to have them be the face or the ambassadors of their of the campaign for this brand. But yeah, I think it's also determining like KPIs and in your goals as a business. Are you trying to drive awareness are you trying to convert and not all influencers are made alike? Unfortunately, I know as brands we expect conversion all the time. But some influencers are better at just raising awareness, then converting

Christy Bowie 25:00

So I want to go back a little bit and talk about something you had previously mentioned. You had kind of talked about how personal branding, we've talked about a lot of it on social media and from appearance standpoint. But what are the other aspects to your personal brand that aren't just what I post on Instagram?

Kate Terentieva 25:16

Yeah, so a lot of it is I'm going to talk about misconceptions I think people have about personal brands that we work backwards. So one aspect that Pete you may see a lot of personal branding agencies or strategists say about personal brands

Christy Bowie 25:31

is rolling her eyes right now, if you are not watching this on video, so just so you understand,

Kate Terentieva 25:37

Oh, I think it's just a problem for me specifically, because something ambiguous like personal branding that is very like niche and industry specific. Oftentimes, people can take advantage of the fact that the general public may not know about personal branding. And so it just ends up turning into a bunch of scammy businesses, for lack of a better term. But most of the time, if there are misconceptions about personal brand is that it is mostly all the content that you post online. And that's what it is. Or there's the misconception of like a fake persona. Or the other thing is like your personal brand is a website and a colour palette and a logo. And in some cases, yes, people have used fake personas to create a personal brand around it has almost always crashed and burned. So that is not an avenue I recommend. And then social media content is yeah, one part of a personal brand and a completely optional one, because you can establish a personal brand. Without social media content, if you choose to. Like there's a reason why people are friends with you. There's a reason why people choose to work with you like the way that you even behave in the real world as a person and the things that you're known for without having to go on social media, that still also is a personal brand. That's why I say that if you have influence in real life, it translates online. However, if you have influence online, it doesn't always translate to real life influence. So it's really centred in like who you actually are in real life. And then the other aspect is like, oh, a personal brand is my logo, my colour palette and my website. And that's just a visual representation of your personal brand. So if you are obsessed with black, it makes sense that maybe some of your logo is blog, or whatever part of your website is like a dark mode vibe. It doesn't necessarily inform like your emotional appeal as a person, it just kind of communicates and marketing. So a personal brand is very much centred in like you and your values and like the things that you believe in and things that you're passionate about things that you know about, and assessing, what is it that people really come to you for? Where is it that you have expertise? Where can you kind of carve out your own space, and that usually starts again, with real life. So those are things that you your, your friends and family and other people that even you may not know, may come up to you and ask you about a really great indicator that you may have a strong personal brand, is if you are often complimented about your energy, I have a theory that like that is the complement that predicts influential people. So if somebody's like, I just really love your energy. That's a great indicator that you just said that to me, right? That's what you're saying to me. By the way I do I very, like energetically aligned with you. But it is a it is a way of somebody essentially saying that they kind of get what you're about, they understand who you are. And they resonate with that. And so a lot of it is very much value centric and mission centric and purpose centric. So clients of mine who do personal branding strategy with me often describe this as like a therapeutic experience, because we start diving, really figuring out who you are, exactly. And like being self aware, really of those things so that when you have self awareness, and you've done that introspection, whether or not on your own or with a therapist, or you know, whatever, you are able to then understand what is it about you that is so interesting and magnetic and you're able to look at it from an objective perspective. Not just I'm great and or my mom tells me I'm great. You're looking at it from the perspective of like, Oh, I see why people are drawn to me. Like I see that I resonate with them on an intellectual level, or they think I'm funny, or they can come hot, like some people's personal brand is just that and that then allows you to extend into different verticals. So for example, Winnie Harlow is a great example of a personal brand that is very stereotypical of most models. Nothing wrong with it. There's just a very predictable personal brand. I'm an attractive looking person, but there's something different about me. So let's combine the two and create a son care brand And from a model who has vitiligo make sense, like any business moves that you decide to make, as a personal brand, they have to make sense based on how you've positioned yourself. So somebody who is an influencer, like hello taffy, who has done commentary on celebrity news, and is basically like her entire Tiktok is basically like, a giant documentary of pop culture, it would make sense for her to be a red carpet host.

So they kind of relies on you having to do some self awareness work and ask yourself like, what is my vision for myself? And like, be delusional about it? Do I want to be a speaker? Do I want to write a book? Do I want to be on TV? Do I want what your wildest dreams are? Exactly? And like, what is your purpose? Like? Where do you want? How do you want to serve people. And that will determine the moves that you make both and how you show up, whether that's online, or to your employees or to your team, and also the business moves that you make, whether that's founding your own brand, or business or investing in other people.

Christy Bowie 31:09

So what I'm kind of hearing you say is like, all of these components of personal branding are really just external representations of what you're feeling and hoping and dreaming.

Kate Terentieva 31:18

Yes, exactly. It's your emotional appeal. It's the thing that draws other similar minded people to you. And they think, oh, yeah, I, I could totally benefit from her, you fill a void for certain people, basically, just like you do for your friends, except it involves monetary compensation after a certain point, hopefully. So yeah, it's really about putting your vision and your purpose out there. And, you know, understanding that you may not be accepted by everyone, like we talked about, but the people that should be accepting you are the people that you are exactly speaking to, you're hoping to serve them anyway. So yeah, it's about you know, an externalisation of your of your values. And that's the part that is selfish, so to say, but where we connect the dots is like, Yeah, I'm externalising my values, and I'm sharing those those that mission, that story with the world. But the purpose is so that it serves a specific person. And so it does require some some self awareness work. But it also requires an understanding of like, what is that person that you're hoping to target? What are what do they need? Who do they need? And usually, that starts with asking yourself, well, who did I need when I was younger? Or who did I need when I was last experienced, or I didn't know about these things. So that kind of also determines what kind of transformation you make for that person and your way of serving them.

Christy Bowie 32:36

So Kate, I know you have a very interesting story and pass, would you feel comfortable sharing some of your personal brand journey with us?

Kate Terentieva 32:44

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I don't ever think I actually shared this on the internet before. But, um, my take? Well, I mean, I plan to eventually, but better, better sooner than later, I guess. Anybody who doesn't want to spoiler alert if you know me in real life, maybe don't listen to this. But I so I sorted my personal case is actually my personal brand. My real name is Katerina Kate has not fought for it. I just I was bullied in high school during the era where cyberbullying became a real, real hot topic. It was an emerging style of tormenting other teenagers. And so I was one of those teenagers and I just didn't really like anything about myself, I hated myself, I hated my name, I hated the way I looked, I hated everything, because of how other people made me feel and how I internalise that. And after I left high school, I, you know, started college on campus, new people new completely to me society. And so I decided that I was going to like, start over, I wanted to become a more confident version of myself. And I didn't really know how and I don't actually even know where I got Kate from, I truly believe that I opened like a magazine cover or magazine that were online publication or something, and probably saw Kate Moss and was like, yes, she's amazing. She's competent. That was their inspiration. And I was Yeah, and I even introduce myself as such, sometimes, especially in a noisy place will be like, what's your name? And like Kate like Kate Moss? It just immediately goes, Okay, got it. Um, and so yeah, and I feel like at one point it at the very beginning, it was like Katarina trying to become Kate. And then after a certain point, I was like, Oh, I don't really know who I am. Because I feel like I have two sides to me now. And then after a while, it just kind of like, merged and you know, I just kind of used that character to step into a more confident position and feel like I can just walk into any room leave my insecurities and feelings at the door, like a wet umbrella and just walk in with confidence and feel, you know, like happy as You're who I am and who I'm becoming. And so that's kind of where I started my own personal brand and left behind, you know, some of those feelings about myself that I maybe didn't like and not saying I don't have any insecurities. Now I'm not perfect, but it just kind of helped me be a more confident version of myself and really take control over like who I am. And I think that's why it's so inspiring to me to help other people do that, maybe not on the same kind of scale, but just stepping into their own story and their own power and feeling like, Okay, I know exactly like who I'm trying to be what I'm trying to do you know how people perceive me. And instead of letting other people control your narrative, whether that be haters, or a publicist, it's you taking control over your narrative, and you're able to really guide that as well. So yeah, mine just, it was more so rooted, like in incompetence and feeling more empowered as in my own skin, because at the end of the day, I can't really change yourself, unless you're like Kim Kardashian, you have a tonne of money, but that's not where we're at.

Christy Bowie 36:07

With enough money. So I'm glad that you shared that and really just kind of how you gave the illusion of you stepped into someone who you want it to become, it wasn't necessarily a fake persona for you. But it was a persona that allowed you to become vulnerable, when you know, Katarina wasn't wanting to feel vulnerable. But But Kate could, because if somebody attacked Kate, that wasn't necessarily you as a human being at that point. And yeah, exactly.

Kate Terentieva 36:34

It's kind of like, I kind of compare it to, you know, you have Nicki Minaj. But then you have omega, right? So like, it's, it's kind of it was, it became initially like a stage name for me. And then after a while, I was like, No, I, I like feel confident showing up as this person and not having to, like, introduce myself as someone different, but really be aligned with this version of who I am. And yeah, it's definitely, you know, a personal brand can do wonders for you, if you just start looking into yourself and figuring out who you are. I think a lot of us don't really want to go there.

Christy Bowie 37:10

A hard place to go sometimes. Yeah.

Kate Terentieva 37:13

But if you have a bigger purpose, and you want to help other people, and you want to impact other people's lives, you know, self awareness is a really important piece of that and understanding like, what is it that you really can do for them? How is it that you can to help them in big and small ways. And so for me, that superpower was personal branding and letting other people kind of tell their stories and using my kind of love for empathy and giving a voice to other people. And for anybody listening, that might be something completely different, you know, for Jeff Bezos, it started out as like selling books online, which was a revolutionary concept. And now it turned into like, a company that's apparently ruling the world. And just just a little bit, you know, and everybody has that superpower that they can use, and they're probably already using to impact people's lives in their community and their friends. And so if you want to make a business out of it, you can you just have to do some challenging things, which is, you know, looking into yourself and also, figuring out a game plan for like, being comfortable that you may be exposed online to haters, or you may be put into a public scrutiny that you maybe didn't sign up for it didn't expect and so it's easier to navigate that when you do have control over your own narrative.

Christy Bowie 38:35

I love that and thank you so much for sharing. So if our listeners want to have a little bit more help with personal branding, or to find you on social media, where can they find you?

Kate Terentieva 38:44

Oh my gosh, you can always find me on Tik Tok.

Unknown Speaker 38:47

I love your little series about the brand partnerships with celebrities. That makes sense. So you can get a little bit more insight and into Kate's inner thinkings,

Kate Terentieva 38:57

yes, you can definitely do that. And if you want to book some time on my calendar to talk through your own personal brand, you are more than welcome to do so I will send Christy links. And she can attach them either in the notes of this episode. Or however it is that you decided to share that with lovely listeners. And I'm here to help. I'm not here to take control over your narrative here to empower you to do that for yourself. And so that then later down the line if you do decide to hire people to help you with that, whether that's a social media manager or publicist or an agent, that person is being hired by you to help they're not taking control of it and running with it and you have no idea what's happening. This is your story and you should have the power over it.

Christy Bowie 39:40

Perfect. I love that. Yes, that will all be linked in the show notes if you guys want to hang out with Kate