Happy and honored to be featured here in a spotlight article from the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership. Both the school and this department gave me so many wonderful opportunities, and I’m very grateful to have had the chance to share my thoughts here on my career, the development of ELISION, personal branding, the crossover skills between solo and chamber performances, and my experience with Eastman’s Arts Leadership Program.
CLICK HERE to read the full article.
“Before talking about my personal brand, I think it’s important to understand what those two words actually mean. Many people think that a personal brand is just a fancy logo, but it runs much deeper than this. A personal brand is essentially the means by which people remember you, whether it be your personality and the way you interact with others, the way you dress from day to day, or your logo and color schemes. These are all recognizable brand elements that paint the overall picture of what it means to be you. They are your Nike Swoosh, the expected John Mulaney suit, the mission and cause of TOMS Shoes, or the cadence and pacing of a Barack Obama speech.
The keys to effective personal branding are self-honesty and consistency. Self-honesty means identifying who you are and what you can offer in order to capitalize on these in ways both natural and strategic. If your message is honest, it becomes easy to naturally reinforce, but if your message is deceptive, it becomes forced and easily spotted. Once your honest message is established, it is important to remain consistent so that these brand elements begin to take hold and become recognizable.”