CEO of You 2.0

By: ​Katie Pavlick

In this session, Jason Mollica discussed the importance of personal branding in his session titled “#CEOofYou2 Personal Branding, Digital Analytics and Your Future Success.”

Mollica started the session with the quote: “Don’t sacrifice your trust or your ethics for a quick win. It will be a loss that last forever.” He then talked about how important it is to stay true to who you are. There is no gain from pretending to be something that you are not and there is nothing greater than remaining genuine.

When you create your personal brand, there are three things that your brand should represent: trust, transparency, and ethics. These three concepts are also important in the field of public relations. As a public relations professional, your brand should also represent these things.

The first thing you should do is define your brand. Mollica says, “when you grab hold of your personal band, it is yours to shape.” He then discussed how your personal brand should always be a work in progress because you should always be evolving as a professional.  In a study, 91% of people believe employers value personal brand. If people believe that employers value a brand then we all should as professionals.

The next step in a personal brand is to analyze. When you are analyzing your personal brand, pick your analysis tool, audit yourself and invest in your brand. “Auditing yourself shows where you stand on social networks,” says Mollica. You do not need to invest thousands of dollars of on a website to invest in your brand. It’s important to find ways to make yourself visible online. Your personal brand should not be something that makes your look like a robot. You want your brand to show personality and show how you would fit into a company’s culture. “Your brand should echo how you want others to feel about you,” said Mollica. It’s also important to look at analytic platforms and be aware of who is viewing your information/ brand and who is interacting with it.  

Mollica used the quote, ”give yourself permission to care and don’t be afraid of your passion. You have two lives: the second begins when you realize you only have one.” Throughout this session and the conference in general, speakers talked about the importance of finding your passion. When you realize what you are passionate for, it will show through your work. “Our jobs are important, grades are in important. But at the end of the day, you only have one life,” he concluded.  

After the session, the floor was open for questions. One student asked about posting on social platforms. He questioned how much someone should post about certain topics on social media. Mollica responded, “what would annoy your audience if you talked about it too much? If you were to talk about politics or religion, or anything, –as long as there’s a balance and not too much of it, you will be okay.” Many people often find it difficult to separate their professional and personal lives.  
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Mollica ended the session stating, “our brand, our life, is very short. Take the time to show people what you mean. Show people that you are the best at what you do”