I am pleased to be moderating a great panel focused on personal branding at the upcoming Digital Hollywood conference October 23rd. Thank you Victor Harwood and Lori Schwartz for adding the very valuable Women’s Track to Digital Hollywood! The official name of this track is: Women’s Entertainment and Technology Summit. If you are in Los Angeles, I hope you will be joining us!
My moderation style is to interview each of the panelists before a panel. I find this allows me to ferret out stories in advance and enables me to lead a quick moving interactive panel with meaty content. It also allows me to get to know some pretty terrific people. This panel is an example of that. Each one of our panelists is fascinating.
Our panel has some hot topics in store:
– Personal Branding
– Gender issues, female empowerment, women in the workplace
– Startups, entrepreneurial branding
– Why you should write a book
– The benefits of being a contributing author to a high profile blog such as Huffington Post or Forbes
– Transitioning your personal brand as interests and circumstances change
– Why you should be building social media networks in your name
– The benefits of private networks such as Lean In and YPO
– The power of mastering a foreign language
– Rebranding a company
– Controversy, including: Should a company have experts and strong personalities as social media spokespeople for the company. Many Social Business experts say yes. Two of our panelists say no and their reasons are worth listening to.
How To Find Our Personal Branding Panel
When: October 23, 10:45am
Where: Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey, The Ballroom Terrace
What: Women Entrepreneurs: Building the Brand, the Personal and the Company Identity – Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
Sharing on Social Media: #DH2013 appears to be the hashtag of choice. #DigitalHollywood is also in use. Some are using #DHWomen for the Women’s track. #DHFall is the hashtag that we got with the speaker package and also in use. For Twitter: http://bit.ly/pbDH13 is the short URL for this post. All of the panelists’ Twitter handles are below.
The panelists
Debra Fine, Partner, Fine Line Companies
@DebraLynnFine LinkedIn
Debra Fine’s leadership participation in YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) is an important element in her personal brand. Because this private network is private, there is little that we can see except for their public Facebook Page. Debra is a leader with the WIN (Womens’ International Network), a small part of YPO (because of the small percentage of women). WIN has it’s own Lean In group. I highly recommend that you take a look at YPO, if you think you may qualify.
Qualifications for YPO
Basically, under age 45, CEO of a company that has over $12 Million in revenue and $1 Million in payroll and letters of recommendations. Most members run companies that have revenues of $100 Million or more. Debra’s company had $35 Million in revenue and a $3.5 million payroll when she qualified for YPO.
Debra is taking her career and personal brand from marketing executive with Disney, VC, CEO of start-ups, with particular expertise in children’s media and toys, marketing advisor and speaker to recent CEO of a non-profit called Project Access, mentoring girls with disorders, book author and her own Fine Line Foundation for inspiring communities to solve issues leading to violence. She is also pursuing a personal passion for music, and has been invited to participate in The Voice in October 2014.
Debra Fine CEO FineLine Media
Saundra Pelletier, CEO, WomanCare Global; CEO, Evofem
@SaundraWCG SaundraPelletier.com LinkedIn
Author of: Saddle Up Your Own White Horse
Columnist on Huffington Post
Thinking about doing a website for your personal brand? Be sure to take a look at SaundraPelletier.com. Saundra clearly communicates there the three important elements of her personal brand: Dynamic Leader; Passionate Activist; Respected Author. Distilling down everything you want to say about yourself to three elements is not easy. But it is something important for us all to be able to do. Saundra is the founding CEO of WomanCare Global. Their mission is to provide affordable access to high-quality reproductive health products for women and girls around the world through a sustainable value chain, empowering them to make and act on safe choices.
San Diego based
Saundra Pelletier, CEO WomanCare Global; CEO Evofem
Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, COO, Hawthorne Direct
@HawthorneCastro Hawthorne Direct LinkedIn
Hawthorne Direct grew up as a company centered on the fame of her father, Tim Hawthorne. Jessica is rebranding the company and at the same time creating a new conversation about what Direct Marketing is. In Jessica’s introduction, you may be surprised to hear the advantages that direct response TV ads have in terms of media pricing. Jessica’s father lured her to his company from her successful career as a television literary agent for William Morris Endeavor. At Endeavor she also packaged key elements necessary to develop TV shows including “Entourage,” “The Office,” “Heroes,” “24” and “Law and Order.”
Los Angeles based
Jessica Hawthorne-Castro COO Hawthorne Direct
Julie Spira, CEO, Cyber Dating Expert
@JulieSpira CyberDatingExpert.com LinkedIn
Los Angeles based
When it comes to Personal Branding, Julie Spira is a star. She created and owns the Cyber Dating Expert moniker. From Valentine’s Day to the latest tech breakthrough, when the topic is online dating, the press calls Julie. Social media marketing is an important element of Personal Branding and Julie has that down. New authors would do well to see what Julie has done to make her book, The Perils of Cyber Dating a success. Julie writes for Huffington Post This visibility has led to many great things for her. Her social media influence is also a factor: She is one of the “Top 10 Columnists to Follow on Twitter,” was named “One of America’s Ultimate Experts” by Woman’s World magazine, and ranks in the “Top 3 Most Influential People in Dating” on Klout. Julie’s branding has resulted in her becoming a Spokesperson for Clorox, a dating expert for Facebook, (Julie created Facebook Love Stories) and a relationship expert for Bloomingdales for special events.
Julie Spira, CEO Cyber Dating Expert
Silvia Davi, VP BMI
Vice President and Head of Strategic Corporate Communications and Marketing, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)
@SilviaCDavi BMI LinkedIn
New York City based
If you look at Silvia Davi’s LinkedIn summary, you’ll see at a glance that she is very clear what her Personal Brand is. Silvia’s 8 years at Nasdaq give her insights into startup branding. Silvia shares my appreciation for the power of mastering foreign languages and spending time overseas. At BMI, Silvia’s leadership facilitated the launch of a new corporate positioning brand campaign that positions BMI as the industry’s premier global music rights organization.
Silvia Davi, Vice President and Head of Strategic Corporate Communications and Marketing, Broadcast Music, Inc.
Leena Pendharkar, Film Director, Raspberry Magic
@LeenaPend LeenaP.com LinkedIn
Leena’s latest work is Overly Attached Andy on her So Natural TV YouTube Channel. Leena’s personal brand is serious and techie, while her So Natural TV is comedic.
Los Angeles based
Leena Pendharkar, Film Director, Raspberry Magic
Moderated by Linda Sherman co-founder of The Courage Group, Personal Branding Coach
@LindaSherman LindaSherman.me LinkedIn
Kauai based
Related Articles and Posts About This Panel:
Unfortunately the Digital Hollywood session agenda with extended bios of the attendees link is no longer available. Sadly, some things must have been lost when Digital Hollywood renovated their website.
Press release by Hawthorne Direct
Update: As promised during the panel, I added to the resources here.
Resources:
Reinventing You by Dorie Clark
Defending Your Personal Brand Online – When Should You Respond? a Forbes article by Dorie Clark
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
I’d Rather Be in Charge by Charlotte Beer
When Everything Changed by Gail Collins
APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book, by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch
Wage gap between the genders
Thank you Liz Kelly of GoodyPR for these two photos from our panel:
Panelists Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Debra Fine, Saundra Pelletier, Julie Spira, Leena Pendharkar and Silvia Davi with Moderator, Linda Sherman
Saundra Pelletier showing her book, Saddle Up Your Own White Horse, and talking about why you should write a book.
About Linda Sherman
Speak Your Mind