Cresa Leads Powerful Insights for NextUp Mountain: Defining Your Personal Brand

On June 12, 2024, NextUp Mountain hosted an inspiring event at Venture X South Denver, bringing together growth-minded individuals to explore a transformative approach to career acceleration: defining your personal brand.

Cresa Denver’s Kai Solcum, event planner and volunteer, is passionate about NextUp’s mission of advancing all women in business, and crafted a power-packed panel discussion who delivered invaluable insights into how one’s personal branding serves a powerful channel for personal development.

The highlight of the event was a power-packed panel discussion featuring industry leaders:

• Jaime Zawmon, Founder and CEO of Titan CEO;
• Derek Lott, SVP at Catalina;
• Andrea Bordenca, CEO at Desco;
• Jenny West, VP of Workplace Solutions and Project Management at Cresa; and
• Moderated by Melissa Regan, Executive Coach at Blue Horizon
  
  

Each speaker brought a unique perspective on personal branding, sharing their experiences and strategies for building a brand that stands out in today’s competitive landscape.

Key Takeaways

• What is a Personal Brand?
  
  Personal brand is a distinct combination of skills, experiences, values, and personality traits that uniquely sets someone apart in their professional and personal life. It’s essentially your reputation and how others perceive you.

• What Tools help Identify your Unique Personal Brand?
  
  Utilizing personality assessments like DISC, Caliper, and Myers-Briggs can help define one’s value proposition. Once identifying your own traits, you can make a gameplan to celebrate this you’re your external brand.

• Professional Goals Influence Your Personal Brand
  
  Your professional goals shape your personal brand by providing a roadmap for the skills and qualities you need to develop. For example, aspiring consultants should emphasize their problem-solving abilities and success stories in their brand narrative. As your career evolves, so should your personal brand. Continuous development and adaptability are crucial to keeping your brand relevant and aligned with your aspirations.
  
  

The panelists emphasized that a strong personal brand is characterized by authenticity, consistency, expertise, visibility, value addition, emotional connection, credibility, differentiation, and impact. By focusing on these elements, professionals can effectively communicate who they are, what they stand for, and the value they offer.

The practical tools and strategies inspired attendees to take proactive steps in defining and refining their personal brands.

In summary, a personal brand is not just about standing out; it's about aligning your professional presence with your true self, values, and goals. NextUp Mountain’s event at Venture X Denver was a testament to the power of personal branding in career acceleration and unlocking one’s true potential and make a lasting impact in our careers and communities.

Photos by Libby Martin.