Who are you? - The Importance of Personal Branding

    Who are you? What are your values? Both are just some questions that help create your personal brand. With experience in pageantry, I've had to develop a personal brand before, but I didn't answer all these questions. While deciding on my brand I primarily looked at the surface layer of my life. I never had this deep introspection into my "why," so I wanted to take a deeper look at each of these questions and how they can apply to my personal brand as I prepare for nationals. 

    Who am I? On the surface I'm a college student with straight A's. I'm a cheerleader, performer, and choreographer while also working as a performer at a princess party company and the Education Assistant at the Renaissance Theatre. I showed alpacas my whole life and owned an alpaca until his passing. While all these pieces of my life are true, they are simply activities I'm involved in. None of these define who I am. Without these I would still be Cassandra, so who is that? I'm a perfectionist and an overachiever. I feel the need to compensate for my flaws by doing all that I can to succeed. I'm my own worst critic, but I am everyone's biggest cheerleader. I find that watching people grow and succeed brings me such joy that I'm inspired to teach. While there are days, I stay reserved to myself, most of the time I have boundless energy. I love staying active, having impromptu dance breaks, and singing down street. Along with my abundant energy, I love embracing this side of me through my clothing. Ranging in the forms of bright colors, sparkling appliques, ruffles, and fun accessories, I find the more eclectic the outfit, the better I feel. To me, that's who Cassandra is deep down, crazy outfits and all. 

    What are my values? I found in thinking through this question I wasn't sure what is considered a value. Upon reviewing my textbook there were a couple examples that immediately jumped out to me. Authenticity, creativity, growth, happiness, and humor were the five that I connected with the most. Being involved in pageants has this negative stereotype that we are mean, self-absorbed, and fake. I've always believed as a titleholder it's your job to show the girl beneath the crown. I love sharing my fun poses or the behind the scenes because we're not made up for stage all the time. We run around hotels filming silly TikTok’s, have karaoke parties, and live a regular life. To me, authenticity is the most important value I hold. Creativity and growth work hand in hand for me. I'm constantly looking for new ideas to share my messages and I've watched my ability to innovate grow over the years. As for happiness and humor, I find these are the pieces that bring me the most joy. There are moments that happen behind the scenes where I might be yelling "DRIVERS START YOUR ENGINES," modeling in Panera bread, or dancing to no music. While these aren't the "picture perfect moments" I find they are some of the moments where I was the most joyful. 

    While there are far more pieces to create a personal brand, I just found these two provided me the most insight into myself. These two questions have forced me to reevaluate what I thought I knew about branding. So, I have to ask, who are you deep down?