Embark on an enlightening journey with Emma and myself as we unravel the intricacies of personal branding in the professional realm. Discover how to cultivate an authentic presence that transcends mere aesthetics, and learn why it's crucial to take charge of how you're perceived. Our discussion ventures beyond the typical color schemes, exploring my own evolution with Catalyst Development, and offers up tangible strategies for refining your brand. Find out how even nuances like the shades of green and pink you choose can reflect your core identity.
In this digital age, your online persona can speak volumes before you've even entered the room. Emma and I delve into the art of building a personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn, where sharing your expertise can propel you into thought leadership status. We touch on the power of timely blogging and consistent imagery to bolster your professional credibility. Plus, we stress the importance of keeping your digital touchpoints pristine, from social media profiles to email signatures. Prepare to receive insider tips on conducting personal audits and documenting your evolving profile for effortless updates.
But personal branding isn't all business—it's also about the harmonious blend of your passions and professional life. As we reminisce over high school band memories and their lasting influence, we spotlight innovative fundraising efforts like 'rock stars' and 'Art That Blows.' Reserve your spot for our vibrant July 12th event honoring personal branding virtuosos. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, our conversation is packed with anecdotes and advice to help your personal brand hit all the right notes. Don't forget to peruse the show notes for further information on connecting with us and sharing your branding journeys!
Connect with Emma: https://katieervin.com/contact/
Support Band of Angels Art that Blows: https://one.bidpal.net/artthatblows24/browse/donation(details:item/13)
Follow Catalyst Development on LinkedIn @catalystdevelopment, @drkatieervin, @jennascott
Embark on an enlightening journey with Emma and myself as we unravel the intricacies of personal branding in the professional realm. Discover how to cultivate an authentic presence that transcends mere aesthetics, and learn why it's crucial to take charge of how you're perceived. Our discussion ventures beyond the typical color schemes, exploring my own evolution with Catalyst Development, and offers up tangible strategies for refining your brand. Find out how even nuances like the shades of green and pink you choose can reflect your core identity.
In this digital age, your online persona can speak volumes before you've even entered the room. Emma and I delve into the art of building a personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn, where sharing your expertise can propel you into thought leadership status. We touch on the power of timely blogging and consistent imagery to bolster your professional credibility. Plus, we stress the importance of keeping your digital touchpoints pristine, from social media profiles to email signatures. Prepare to receive insider tips on conducting personal audits and documenting your evolving profile for effortless updates.
But personal branding isn't all business—it's also about the harmonious blend of your passions and professional life. As we reminisce over high school band memories and their lasting influence, we spotlight innovative fundraising efforts like 'rock stars' and 'Art That Blows.' Reserve your spot for our vibrant July 12th event honoring personal branding virtuosos. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, our conversation is packed with anecdotes and advice to help your personal brand hit all the right notes. Don't forget to peruse the show notes for further information on connecting with us and sharing your branding journeys!
Connect with Emma: https://katieervin.com/contact/
Support Band of Angels Art that Blows: https://one.bidpal.net/artthatblows24/browse/donation(details:item/13)
Follow Catalyst Development on LinkedIn @catalystdevelopment, @drkatieervin, @jennascott
Hi everyone, welcome back to the Path to Leadership. I am so excited. So last week's podcast, I was like, oh, here's someone on the podcast who hasn't been in forever. And so we had Jenna, and now I guess my right arm, left arm, I'm one of these days, but the other part of our wildly important team. Hey, emma, how are you? I'm good. How are you, katie? I'm good, I'm a little slap happy. We were just talking before. We've done a lot and it's been busy and we're all ready for naps.
Speaker 2:
Yes, definitely. I am an afternoon nap girl, so I will be heading towards one soon. Well, and so, being a nap girl and then an introvert, it's like, um katie, you have drained life out of me this week yes, too many social events and networking events and I I like it, but I definitely have a limit as an introvert and I have gone way over it this week well, and, and so we will keep it succinct when I say that.
Speaker 1:
And then we're going to like, the beauty of us is we're talking about stuff that we're both so passionate about. We're like, yeah, we'll keep it short, and then we're going to get wild energy because we're going to be doing some wonder and some enablement and all kinds of fun working genius stuff. Um, so Jenna and I talked last week on the podcast about, you know, our theme for the month, which is, you know, about decluttering our lives at work and at home, and, um, what we're going to talk about today is really about how to polish your personal brand, and we have this conversation quite a bit with people.
Speaker 2:
All the time. It's one of our most frequent topics, I would say that people request when we come in to speak. Everyone is curious about personal branding. They hear about it a lot in the media and I think a lot of people have a little bit of a misconception. They hear the word brand and they think, well, that's like brand, as in big companies. They think of Target and Nike and McDonald's and big companies. But a personal brand is something that everybody already has. So, whether you think you do or not, you have a brand. It's just a matter of being able to harness it and have control at least some degree of control over how other people see you.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I think it's fascinating and I think in the back of my head I knew I had a personal brand, but until I really met you and we have done a lot around this, it's like, oh, I didn't even really realize you know cause you talk about you have one, but now you got to figure it out. So there's some really cool tips and tricks you've taught me that I thought we could share with everybody else about. You know really how to lean into your personal brand, sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean it is kind of funny and it has been really cool to watch your personal brand transform over the last few years, since we've known each other and since you have, you know, released your book and you've started this company. And your personal brand is definitely intertwined with Catalyst Development, but it's its own thing and it has a life of its own, and everybody knows Katie when they see her out.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, well, recently we were at the NAIA convention and I have some good friends from the higher ed days and our good friend, one of our good friends from Park University, was like I knew you were in the room but I couldn't find you. And our good friend, one of our good friends from Park University, was like I knew you were in the room but I couldn't find you and I just looked for the swath of green and then I just started walking towards you and I'm like that is genius. So not everyone knows this If you don't see me all the time that I wear green all the time, but it's. It's one of those things where, when you grow up in higher ed, you wear their colors forever. And so when it was like now it's my own company, it's my own, I'm going to wear my own colors. I'm not going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, I'm just going to go into my closet and pull out the green stuff.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, which is so fun. I'm so glad that you were honest about what you wanted to use for your color.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and then what is also funny is and then we'll stop talking about colors. But I love green, but I also love that you authentically show up in pink all the time, and to the point where people are like the Barbie movie and you're like, no, she, she stole my, my look, uh. But you and Jenna will show up places and people will be like, oh, you're not in green, why aren't you wearing green? And it's like, no, green is Katie's colors. Yes, it's Catalyst, logo colors and book colors and everything else, but we don't have a green uniform.
Speaker 2:
No, yeah, and there will be times when I do wear green for company stuff, but a lot of times, like similar to you, if I open up my closet, there's a lot of pink and as part of my personal identity and personal brand, just as you opening up your closet and seeing a lot of green. I think we're all really authentic in that way. And, of course, jenna loves her neutrals. She does love her neutrals. It is not all about colors. I don't want everyone to get the impression that color is branding, but it is. It can be a part of what you choose to make your branding, and we'll talk about other ways that you can develop a personal brand without the visual part. It doesn't even doesn't even have to come into a part of it, but for us it has been.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, and Doesn't even have to come into a part of it, but for us it has been yeah, yeah, and that's the cool part, and that's what I love of you all even staying true to your personal brand. So let's talk first about doing a personal brand audit, because I knew some of this stuff, but again, until we really started talking about this, a whole lot it's like oh, we as professionals, not just our companies, need to do this, but we as just professionals need to be doing it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so, yeah, when we do a workshop I always have. The first thing everybody should do is figure out what's out there already. What is your personal brand? I always preach you already have a personal brand, okay, well, what does that look like? So I always have folks pull up a incognito window or a private browsing window, depending on whatever browser you use, and do a Google search of yourself. That's the first, you know.
Speaker 2:
Step one search your name and if you don't know what a private browsing window is, you usually it's just when you're in your browser. You just hit file and then there will be an option to do new private browsing window or incognito window and what that does is it just takes away all of your cookies and all of the things that you've previously searched for. So that doesn't influence your search results. So it's just as if someone who's never been in your realm or in your circle what would they come up with if they just typed in your name? So it's kind of a totally clear way of searching and you search your name, or you search your name plus your industry. If you have a common name, or your name plus your company or your name whatever, try to put in some keywords to get yourself to come up. And once you do, then you look at the results and see what you see, see what's popping up and the good, the bad, the ugly.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah. And it's so interesting because I did not know, like the first time we did it, we really talked about this. You were like make sure you do a private browser. And I'm like, what is that? Gen X are in me, what does that even mean? And so, yeah, that is really, really important because we want people to do this and not take that step. And they're like, yeah, okay, here's what's out there. And then when we show them how to do that private browser, it's like, oh, that's a whole different scene.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, either not as much stuff shows up, or maybe there's stuff that you know you would never click on yourself, so Google didn't show it to you. So it is important to do that step. So what you'll see when you do that is any number of things, but usually, for most people, the first thing that comes up is at least one or two social media profiles. The first thing that comes up is at least one or two social media profiles. So, depending on how much work you've done on your own SEO for your own name, most of the time you'll see LinkedIn, you'll see Facebook or Instagram. Those are all very Google-friendly websites, and so if you type in your name and you use your full name on those websites, that's the first thing that will come up, and usually your picture from those sites will come up as well.
Speaker 2:
So what I always recommend is that you choose one or two social media profiles that you are going to allow to be a part of your professional personal brand and really beef those up and make everything else private, so that that way you have more of a degree of control over what people are seeing when they Google you. And just to note that, if you decide, okay, I want my Facebook to be private, and so you make it private. Sometimes your picture will still show up on your Facebook your picture and your name. So just be aware of that. Sometimes it will still show up, but it'll say you need to be friends with this person to see anything on their feed, but still they'll see your picture. So just keep Googling yourself, even as you make these changes.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I think the other interesting thing that I didn't realize is Facebook and Instagram made a change, I don't know a year or two ago, and so if you don't change your settings, whatever you post on one will then feed to the other and I don't think a lot of people either know that or pay attention to that. And then also, even when you make things private locking down like if someone links you to a picture things private locking down.
Speaker 2:
Like if someone links you to a picture. That's really important too. Yeah, I have my Facebook set to. If someone tags me in something, I have to approve it before it ever goes to my feed or for anyone in my network to see it. Just because I just want to have a little bit more control over what I'm being tagged in and what my personal brand reflects, over what I'm being tagged in and what my personal brand reflects.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, so let's say so. You Google yourself and you either don't have a presence or you don't have the presence you want. Maybe you find some things that you're tagged in, that you like go back to your friends and be like hey, can you untag me from that, from like, or why don't we just delete it, cause that was 15 years ago, like, let's just get rid of that.
Speaker 2:
So the next thing you would want to start to do is building up your personal brand in positive ways. So, once you've removed anything you don't want and there's lots of ways to do that even if sometimes there's like weird things that pop up like old websites that you haven't used in forever, and they just come up because SEO is weird and you might have to actually contact that company and say, hey, can you remove my profile? I don't know how to sign in anymore. So it can be a little bit of a challenge, and if you don't want to deal with that a lot of times, the easier way to go about things is to just have a lot of positive things popping up at the top, and so one of the ways you can do that is building yourself a professional website. So, particularly if you're an entrepreneur or if you are some kind of freelancer or something like that, you might benefit from having a professional website, even if you're not using it to generate new business.
Speaker 2:
Sometimes it's nice just to have like a little corner of the internet that's yours that you have control over.
Speaker 2:
You have control over the design, you have your contact information and the ways that you want people to reach out to you. Another way that you can start having new things pop up at the top is by using features on LinkedIn, for instance, starting a blog. Linkedin has an option to write an article now. So when you go to post on LinkedIn, you can actually, instead of making a post, you can just write an article, and that's a way that if it's something about your industry that's very important to you know, I don't know let's say, you're a real estate agent and you want to make a post about the state of your city and you know what real estate is like this spring in 2024. Well, that's a really timely thing that's going to be popping up in SEO, in Google searches and things like that. So it's a great idea for you to establish yourself as a leader in your industry and in your city by maybe writing a little article about it, putting it out on LinkedIn and sharing it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think that's so, so important. And um in in so often we'll have people say well, I'm not looking for a new job or I'm not trying to do this or that or whatever, I'm just trying to stay consistent with my brand. But you can post on LinkedIn, you can have these blogs, you can do all this kind of stuff, maybe not to be like this hardcore TikTok influencer, but just to be seen as an expert in the field you're in. You don't have to be looking for a job to bulk up your personal brand.
Speaker 2:
No, because there's a lot of reasons why someone might want to have a good personal brand beyond just I'm looking for a job. First of all, you never know, Maybe one day you will be looking for a job and you have years and years of established credibility in your industry. That's a great thing. Established credibility in your industry that's a great thing. But also even within your current company, let's say, let's say you want to move up, or let's say you want to be seen as someone who's worthy of a raise. Well, that's a good way to be seen. When everyone looks to you as sort of a leader or as someone who knows a lot about the industry, that can only be a good thing for your brand, even within your own company.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and one of the things at the beginning of the month you encouraged everyone to do kind of this mini audit, and one of the things that I know better but hadn't done is like even going in and looking at your like social media headlines and descriptions and titles and is everything up to date and you know your email signature, things like that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. Those are a lot of things that we look at every day and so it's easy to just sort of become blind to them. You know, you don't really notice that they've actually gone a little bit out of date or, you know, maybe you changed your phone number or something. Whatever the case may be, take a look at your email signature. Take a look at the very top of your Instagram bio. Like, what does it say? Do you even know? If you don't have any idea, you probably should go look at it right now.
Speaker 2:
So it's just one of those things that, if you can stay on top of it as your personal brand evolves over time, it's good to make sure that every single one of your profiles aligns with those evolutions. And you know, another thing is like your profile picture. All your profile pictures should be of your face. They should be a nice picture of your face, should be of your face. They should be a nice picture of your face. And you know there's a case to be made that every single one of them should be the same picture, because then it's really recognizable from one platform to another. People look you up and they realize okay, this is the person I'm looking for.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and that makes me think too. One of the other things when I have the private feature on is even going in and clicking, not just like the initial Google page, but even like Google images and videos and things like that. What's popping up there as well, and it's not something that I would have thought about back in the good old days.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, for sure, the Google image page can get you.
Speaker 1:
It can get you. The other interesting thing that happened at a networking event the other day is so we use Popple P-O-P-L, which is our digital cards, and other people use dots and things like that. There's all kinds of others and so I pulled it out and I'm talking to this guy and rubbed my card on his phone and he said you know, I have one of those, but I can't remember the login. And I gave the card to someone and they scanned it. And then they I saw him at another event like a month later and they're like you're totally ghosting me, like I've all you know I've called, sent emails. It's all his wrong information. So even on your digital cards, you've got to pay attention to that.
Speaker 2:
So true? Oh my gosh. Yeah, we live in an age where everything's so easy to update and yet there's so many things to update that it's hard to remember. You could even like I don't know, maybe you could keep a little file on your computer or in your phone, little notes app of these are all the profiles that I have that I need to make sure are updated, and anytime you get a new headshot or you whatever the case may be you get a new phone number. I don't know why I keep using that as an example. People don't get phone numbers very often, but if something changes in your world, it's nice to have that note to look back on and say oh yeah, I totally forgot that.
Speaker 2:
I'm on, you know, the academia. What's that? What's that website where you can upload your papers to the academiaedu? I think it's academiaedu. Yeah, so it's like I forgot. I had a profile on there and you know I'm a good example. I have a profile on there and I have my papers uploaded from my academic days because I think they're good writing samples and I still like connecting with people who are interested in the same academic subjects as me. So I like to have it, but it's one of those websites that it's easy to forget about, and so every once in a while I'll come across it and I'll be like, oh, my headshot's totally out of date, or the profile just doesn't really match up with who I am. Somebody might not be familiar with where I am in my career now, and now people are not sure if they're looking at the same person.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I think that's so important. The other thing I think is important that you talk about is you know when we're starting to set new goals and think about who we are. You know make sure we're thinking about our personal brand and you know as that evolves you talk about. You know setting new professional goals and aligning them with your personal brand. So can you talk a little bit about that and how, how you do that?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So I like to say that your personal brand should be as ever evolving as you are. It should not be a static thing that you set once and forget it. We all know we've seen those people on LinkedIn who have the same headshot that they've had for 25 years. You know that's not the vibe. We want to make sure that it's evolving and that it looks like us, and so, as you change, you want to make sure that you are building your sort of portfolio, building your resume, building your just building yourself up as a professional, and so that means learning new skills. You heard that there's a new certification in your industry. Well, you know, maybe it's time to think about getting something like that pursuing relevant training or certifications, because this adds to your expertise and it also, when those kinds of things pop up, it signals to everyone in your network that, hey, I'm committed to staying at the forefront of my field and I am committed to being someone that you can come to when you have questions about these things.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think that's important too, as we're thinking about it, because you know Jenna says all the time you know the time to look for a job is not when you have a job or when you need a job. It's, you know, it's that networking, it's that connecting, it's building your brand, it's, you know, being that thought leader. It's it's building your brand, it's being that thought leader, it's adding value to people. And as we do that through the years, then you gain that reputation and then you're not desperately and unfortunately sometimes you are desperately searching for a job because something happened that was out of your control or something like that. So I acknowledge that, but still, if you network and connect and build relationships, that's less likely to happen.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and aside from looking for a job, there are other reasons to have a good, strong, robust network and to be seen as a leader.
Speaker 2:
You know, a good example is currently I'm in the middle of a fundraising situation. I became a rock star for Band of Angels and now I'm reaching out to everyone in my network and saying, hey, would you like to be a part of this really cool organization? Would you like to donate? Or whatever the case may be, I think it's important to give back to your community and that's one of the ways in which I have found it valuable to have a good, ways in which I have found it valuable to have a good, strong network. But there are other examples too. Maybe you I don't know maybe you're doing some kind of event, or maybe even within your current job, you're going to be looking for I don't know a business partner or sponsorships or something. It's always good to know people and to give back to them and for them to give to you, because that's what relationships are all about, and I think that if you invest in that, you'll find that there are a lot of valuable reasons to do it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I think so too, and one of the things I think you're really good at is that mentorship. I know you're mentoring a young woman right now who's in our leaders program and she's awesome. I just met with her. But you're really good at that mentorship. You know, from top to bottom, like to those that are, you know, younger in career than you, and you know you're constantly mentoring me and managing me and people who maybe have more time in career.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I really believe in mentorship. More time in career yeah, I really believe in mentorship. I always have. I was, probably ever since, you know, one of my first jobs. I was in charge of the interns in our department and I just really found a lot of joy in it and watching them go through one of their last semesters of college and seeing them get their first jobs and move forward in their career, and I've stayed in touch with many, many of them. But mentorship can be so rewarding on both sides, and having seeing someone be guided through their next career phase or for you, you know, having someone else who can mentor you is also really rewarding.
Speaker 2:
I have, I think I told you this the other day. I set a goal for myself in 2024 that I want to have a good, close friend in every decade. So I want to have a friend in their twenties and a friend in their thirties and a friend in their seventies or whatever. I want to have friends at all levels because I think that we can learn so much from each other when we're at different stages in our careers because there's just so much that you don't think about when you're so stuck in or when you're so focused on the place that you're in right now.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I think that's so cool to be doing that and to be open. I think it's so important to be open and and to learn from others and to to grow from others, and especially when it comes to you know some of this type of stuff those of us that are a little older in our careers we never had to worry about this, we never had to think about it. You just went in and you head down and you didn't always like it, but you just grinded away and did it and you don't have to do that anymore.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely. You can always find people who are willing to be a part of your story and help you out, and most people are happy to do so. I mean, I love it when we have one of our you know, sometimes like we worked with the a question and I thought you might have the answer or I thought you might have some advice that would help, and I'm always overjoyed to help someone who's younger in their career than me and to give them some advice. Everybody likes to be asked their advice.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and on that note, I'm really excited because you're a certified coach and you've done the work. You're certified, plus you have the experience and you're now starting to offer these branding calls. So will you talk about what that? What even is that? Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:
So I've had a few people reach out to me over the past several months just asking for a one-off. Can you look at my personal brand? Can you just give me some advice on how I can improve it? Can you brainstorm with me on what else I could add to make myself look more qualified or like more of a thought leader? And I thought, well, maybe I should just offer this as an actual product for Catalyst and so on.
Speaker 2:
Our website now is a branding call that you can have with me and it's just on zoom. You send me your name and your industry beforehand, I will look you up and I'll look at your personal brand, and then we'll have a 45 minute to an hour call where I just kind of rapid fire, we just really have a focused session where, on your personal brand, and I give you lots of ideas of how you can improve it, content ideas, all sorts of things, and it's been really successful for those who have done it before. And so I thought, well, we're just going to offer this. It's only $144 for a single session and we'll put the link to that in the show notes. But I think it's really beneficial just to have a second set of eyes and I do have a lot of branding and marketing experience, so you just have the opportunity to have me put my eyes on your brand and give you some feedback.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and that's what I you know, watching you do this with the NAIA convention these past couple of weeks, you know, walking around we did this whole workshop, this whole LinkedIn and personal branding workshop, and I mean just how quick you are to come up, like they would be like Katie, what should I put here? And I'm like just a second, let me grab. Let me grab Emma. Like I can answer 80 other questions, but when it comes to that creativity and that like real point pinpoint branding, I think you're so good at it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I remember one person asking me. They're like well, I have a job right now and I want to incorporate it into my headline, but I don't know what to put. And they were like I don't know, there's, we have these brand pillars, Maybe I should incorporate one of those. And I said, well, do you have a favorite one? Let's incorporate that one in. And so we crafted a little title. That was all about her. But also she was incorporating in her favorite brand pillar from her current job.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's cool, that's cool. Well, it wouldn't be a podcast with you if we didn't give them homework. So what is a homework nugget for our listeners to work on?
Speaker 2:
So I would say you have to get off this call. You cannot get off this call without seriously doing a real brand audit of yourself and really searching your name and trying to figure out what. Look at it as if you've never seen it before. If you were someone that you don't know and you saw your profile, would you want to connect with you Really? Do yourself the favor of looking at it with fresh eyes and saying, okay, what is out there and what do I want to be out there? How do I want to be seen by people who I'm trying to connect with? And do that personal brand audit. Go through the steps that I outlined, where you Google yourself and you look at your social media and you make the decision on which ones you want to be out there. That's really step one, and so if you can get that done, that's a really good hurdle to get over.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah. And for the love of everything, please for people that network all the time, change your profile picture. Like, I always look at someone's LinkedIn before I meet them for coffee or something like that, and then they walk in and I'm like, oh, that looks nothing, what? So please update your picture. It doesn't have to be. There's fantastic people in Kansas City who do the headshots and I'm sure if you're not in Kansas City, phenomenal people do headshots. But I mean, even the most basic cameras on phones these days will give you a good shot. Have a friend take a picture.
Speaker 2:
It's better to have literally an iPhone portrait photo that's current than it is to have a really professional photo from 10 years ago, because, truly, I'm with you, katie. I look up people before I meet them and it amazes me how many people have drastically changed their hair but didn't update their profile picture. In fact, we need to remind Jenna she's kind of changed her hair.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I see her every day and I'm still shocked she's blonde. I know it is very funny.
Speaker 2:
But yeah, I definitely. I met with a guy one time that his profile picture showed him with salt and pepper hair. So I was looking for him and he had started dyeing his hair and I was like, change your profile picture, because I'm looking for the salt and pepper guy.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, oh, my gosh, I love it so much. Well, thank you so much. So we will put in the show notes um how they can reach out to you to um get the branding appointment. Also, we will put in the show notes your band of angels, your rock star campaign, which is really exciting, and we want to invite everyone. So art that blows is in Kansas city and it is July 12th.
Speaker 2:
Can we just say real quick what band of angels is, Cause I don't think I really said. Band of angels is a great Kansas city based organization that has so much impact on kids in our community. They connect refurbished musical instruments with the kids who need them, and so you know, much like every city in the world, there are lots of instruments sitting in closets all over Kansas City that are just collecting dust because, you know, somebody played them for a while and then now they're not being played anymore. People bring those in to Meyer Music and they get refurbished and then they get given to a kid who otherwise wouldn't be able to play in their school band or whatever. So it's an amazing, phenomenal organization that is changing kids' lives and giving them something so meaningful to work with in the future. I mean, I was just saying this morning I can't imagine how my life would be different if I didn't have access to a guitar when I was 12 years old. I just can't imagine.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I can't imagine you not having a guitar at 12 now. So for those people that as soon as the podcast is over, like you turn it off, listen to the end, because Emma's music is at the beginning of the end and it's it's. I mean, the song walk is my favorite song in the whole wide world, like, and I I've been around, I'm 48, I've been around a long time, but still that song I will just be bopping, dancing and sing. But I love band of angels as well.
Speaker 1:
I'm on the board and the reason I'm on the board is both my kids were in high school band and to see the sense of belonging and connections and relationships and and just the creativity that um and in music and instruments can can give and the confidence. So I love it. And then I love that that they do the rock stars, which is a peer to peer fundraising, um and then art that blows is just this really fun party that we all get together Um July 12th and the rock stars get honored and celebrated and we just have drinks and people have taken instruments that couldn't be refurbished and then they turn them into art. I have seen some really small to big, like I don't know who has a space for a giant like standup base, like cabinet, but it's gorgeous, yeah, I mean, if I had space it would be here.
Speaker 1:
I love it, so we will put all that information in show notes. Please feel free to connect. Let us know if you have questions about any of this. We can't wait to hear how personal branding has worked for you.
