Stand Out: Building Your Personal Brand in 2025 with Rhona Barnett-Pierce | Ep. 12

Standing out in today's job market is challenging, but building a strong personal brand is essential for success. This episode dives deep into the nuances of personal branding—why it matters and how to shape it effectively.

- Discusses the importance of personal branding for job seekers in 2025
- Explores the difference between personal brand and personal branding
- Provides actionable tips for leveraging LinkedIn and social media platforms
- Offers methods for showcasing expertise, even without extensive experience
- Highlights community involvement as a key aspect of branding
- Identifies common mistakes in establishing a personal brand

Connect with Rhona:

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce/

🌐 Website: https://perceptiblestudios.com/

🎙️ Podcast: https://www.throwouttheplaybook.com/ 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhonabpierce/

Chapters

• 0:12 Welcome to the Transparent Nature Podcast
• 29:59 Importance of Building Your Personal Brand
• 3:18:27 What is Personal Branding?
• 7:45:34 How to Leverage LinkedIn for Your Brand
• 14:09:54 Showcasing Expertise with Limited Experience
• 21:32:19 Common Mistakes in Personal Branding

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey and welcome back to the Transparent Nature podcast, where we bring real conversations to help you navigate your career and workplace challenges. It's your host, prince Tate, and I'm super excited that you are here. If you've been enjoying the show, please make sure to subscribe, share it with a friend and leave us a review. It really helps us to continue to bring you content to support your career and workplace success. Today's episode is all about building your personal brand standing out in the job market. We've got a lot of great insights coming your way and I'm excited to introduce our guest. My guest today is Rona Barnett-Pierce, founder of Perceptible Studios, where she helps talent acquisition and HR leaders scale their impact through video and content creation. Rona is also the host of her own podcast called Throw Out the Playbook Podcast Reimaging Recruiting for Modern TA Professionals. Rona, welcome to the show. How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:22

Thank you so much for having me. I am doing great. I'm so excited to be here today.

Speaker 1: 1:27

Thank you so much. We're on this journey and I feel like you're my sister in podcasting, even though we just met. But you've been supporting me on LinkedIn. We've been engaging a lot and I'm super excited for this moment right here. So thank you for accepting and just coming on the podcast. Rona, before we get started, tell us a little bit about you outside of what you do professionally Maybe something fun vacation, a place you love to go to, or something.

Speaker 2: 2:06

That's a great question. So for fun, you know why I can't think of what I do for fun?

Speaker 2: 2:16

Because I've been stuck in my house this past week because it's been snowing. But when it's not snowing here and my car can actually leave my house, I love doing CrossFit. That's what I do, and I also love traveling. I am from Panama, in Central America, so I love, love the beach. I live in Oklahoma now and there's no beach. So anytime I get the opportunity to go to a beach, I am there Like my bags are packed. People tell me it's like oh, would you ever consider moving anywhere else? I'm like my bags are packed. Trust me, anywhere with a beach, my bag, I'm ready to go.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Yeah. So let me tell you something interesting. You say you're from Central America. My mother is from Belize, and so I'm half African-American, half Belizean, and so you know we have, I have some roots in Central America. So I knew, I knew we were, we were close, right, like my sister, right? So, man, that's awesome. So let's get into our main discussion. Today and again, we're talking about building your professional brand so you can stand out and be a great candidate in this market. So, rona, can you share with us and for our listeners what is personal brand and why is it so important for job seekers to have this focus or have some insight into their personal brand in 2025?

Speaker 2: 3:45

So there are many many definitions out there, insight into their personal brand in 2025?

Speaker 2: 3:50

So there are many, many definitions out there of what a personal brand is.

Speaker 2: 3:52

I love one from Jeff Bezos, actually, and he says a personal brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. And I love that definition because it's true and it's not to be confused with personal branding, which I like to define as the intentional steps you take to teach people what to say about you when you're not in the room, because, whether you want to or not, everyone has a personal brand. Look, everyone talks about you when you're not in the room, but what they say can be guided by how, what, the intentional steps that you take to teach them what to say about you when you're not in the room, and that's personal branding, and it's important for job seekers and for anyone. Really. It's 2025. More people are going to meet you online than in person. More people are going to meet you before they actually meet you, so you want them to have the correct idea of who you are, and not whatever story they make up in their head based on something that they see out there, and that's why personal branding is important.

Speaker 1: 5:13

I love how you talked about the difference in brand, your brand and branding. Actually, I didn't know there was a difference, and a lot of people in my world, in the HR space world, in the HR space they know me from social media, via LinkedIn. I could go to an event that's regarding HR or you know something career related, and I would have individuals just walk up to me and say, hey, daniel, even though my podcast name is Prince State, even though my podcast name is Prince State. They'll say, hey, daniel, and you know, hey, I'm just so excited to meet you and I'm like I have no clue who they are and they'll share their name in somewhere in between where we're talking. I'll try to find, okay, who is this, who is this person and, believe it or not, I've already had a conversation with them, maybe two years ago, right. And so again, as you talk about personal brand and branding, what are people saying about you when you're not in the room? And then, even, how do you let people know what your brand is and how they should talk to you?

Speaker 1: 6:23

I just went to an event on Friday and I sit on the HR board here, our local chapter, and one of our board members, actually he's the past president.

Speaker 1: 6:38

He was introducing me to someone and, believe it or not, he started introducing me and just hitting all the right, all the right words, and as I was standing there listening to him introduce me, I was amazed at how he views me and just the way he talked about me. I would have never talked about me the way he did. Right, you know you got to have a sense of humility, but you know, the way he talked about me, I was amazed and I left after that event with just a wow on my face because, again, I think some people are intentional and some people create fake branding Right, but for him it was true, it was authentic, right. And so, again, as we're talking about personal brand and branding, I think this is a really great conversation for us to have today and really give our listeners insight into. You know tips and tricks. So how can job seekers use LinkedIn and other social media platforms to build their professional brand?

Speaker 2: 7:55

It's simple Create content. There's so many people on LinkedIn. There's billions of people on LinkedIn and only like 1% of the people with a LinkedIn profile create content. So just the fact that you're creating content makes you stand out. But also, again, you're teaching people what to say.

Speaker 2: 8:16

That story of yours is so powerful because imagine if you didn't have anything out there and someone introduced you as, let's say, I don't know. Let's say they said, oh, this is Daniel, he works in HR compliance. And you're like no, I don't. Do you say that right there? No, like it's awkward. And that happens because this person, for whatever reason, one day saw you do one compliance thing at work and they decided that you're the compliance person. You're like no, I was just covering for Jan, who was out that day.

Speaker 2: 8:52

So you taking those steps, you creating content, you sharing what you stand for and who you are, and what you do professionally is how you can stand out. And then also, look, I get it, Everyone isn't a content creator, Everyone doesn't want to create content. Everyone doesn't have the time, the desire, the skills. I get it, Although the skills you can post on the content that other people create is also an amazing way to get visibility to you, or like saying like thanks, oh agree, Great. Like that's not the type of comment I'm saying. I'm saying you saw a post about something that you really have an opinion about, or you think that the way the person explained it was amazing, was great. Go post, say that and say like I really love how you you position this because I usually see it this way. I love how you position this because I usually see it this way, but you've opened my eyes to this way.

Speaker 2: 10:09

That type of comment, that shows that you understand what the topic is about, you have an opinion and that you're adding value and bringing a different perspective. That's the type of content that is great for your professional brand. What's the type of content?

Speaker 1: 10:25

that is great for your professional brand. You know, there are times where I'm able to go back to my college, where I graduated from, and speak with undergrads. You know those individuals trying to get into their careers and actually in my undergrad I learned about LinkedIn. I had no clue what LinkedIn was and I still have notes to today from that meeting that I went to and they talked about LinkedIn. So I said you know what? Let me create my own profile. And from then it started.

Speaker 1: 10:58

So a lot of people they think like oh, daniel, you're going to have to teach me how to use LinkedIn. And I tell people all the time. You know, this just didn't start yesterday. It took time right to develop and learn how to use this software, this tool to help my brand and branding. Often I would share with undergrads.

Speaker 1: 11:21

You need to create a LinkedIn profile. However, it's not just good enough to create the profile. You need to engage, you need to add value, you need to bring awareness right for that skill or that industry that you're trying to get into. If you're going to conferences, meetups and if you're simply in class, you know, maybe you just you know take a picture of yourself in the class and just talk about wow I learned today, or my professor was talking about X, y and Z. But this is my approach Simple things. It's something that you don't have to really the environment that you're in just utilize where you are to create content. So people get to know you a little better and, believe it or not, I'm going to tell you this.

Speaker 1: 12:19

That's how I got my first full-time HR job. I was still in college and this guy called me. Well, he didn't call me, he messaged me on LinkedIn and then we had a conversation and I was a little weary because I was like I don't qualify for the position that you're talking to me about and he said don't worry about that. And I was like what do you mean? Don't worry about it. It said I need one to two years of experience and I'm only an intern right now. And he said don't worry about that because your work is on LinkedIn. And that blew my mind Right, exactly Because people knew who I was. And again, I don't. I didn't even know who this guy was, right, but he found me because of me being on social media LinkedIn no-transcript manager.

Speaker 2: 13:35

So they trust me to a level. But when I can back it up with look at this person's profile and what they were talking about, what they just shared, plus this is what I found from them in the conversation then they're like okay, let's talk, let's see that opens doors.

Speaker 1: 13:54

So yeah, so I talked a little bit about this, but from your perspective, what are some ways to showcase expertise and credibility, even without years of experience?

Speaker 2: 14:09

I love that you touched on it, because my number one tip is always learning in public. Learning and building in public is one of the most powerful ways for someone who doesn't have a ton of professional experience to showcase that they are, what level they're at with their learning or their skills right. So, yes, you're in college. You're learning something. Talk about that. Post about that. You're working on a project. Give people the behind the scenes. Look.

Speaker 2: 14:41

Everyone in this world is nosy and people who say they're not nosy are lying. Everyone's nosy. Everyone wants the behind the scenes, even the recruiters and the hiring managers. When you're sharing what you're doing and how you're doing it, and if you share video, look, I'm not saying this because I own a video marketing agency. I own a video marketing agency because I believe in the power of video. It's helped me in so many things in my career. But if you're doing building in public, learning in public, and you have videos showing how you're doing it or a little quick recap of what you learned, that builds trust. Video is the easiest way to get a stranger to trust you. So not only are you talking about it or posting screenshots or things like that, but you're talking to them face to camera, sharing it. They can see it, they can really understand who you are, what you bring to the table, even if you don't, on paper, have a ton of years of experience.

Speaker 1: 15:46

Yeah, yeah, man, that's some good stuff there, so let's talk about this now. You know, we talked about LinkedIn and we talked about engaging right, and when we talk about engagement, we're actually talking about really networking on LinkedIn. So how can networking as well as community involvement how can that enhance a person's brand?

Speaker 2: 16:16

is community involvement. How can that enhance a person's brand? At the end of the day, like we said, a personal brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. Right, the more people you connect with, the more people are talking about you. When you're not in the room, the more people are like oh, you're looking for someone with so-and-so skills. Oh, I know of this person, even if they don't know you.

Speaker 2: 16:36

There's been so many times I've been referred to a job from someone that I've only met on LinkedIn. We've never met, we know nothing about each other other than comments back and forth and DMs back and forth, but they're like I think Rona is the person for this, because I've seen it and we've engaged. It's not enough. We're all about community and in this day and age, really getting a job is not so much about what you know, it's about who you know, and we all don't have these amazing hugely connected networks.

Speaker 2: 17:16

I learned this the hard way when I moved. I moved from a place my parents are very connected back home. Just one phone call would get me interviews and things like that from my parents. Here I didn't know anyone, and my husband's in a totally different industry. His family is too. So I had to go out and network and talk to the people in my industry, but I don't know them. But then when you start for me at least it's much easier to start these relationships online. It's also important to remember that relationships are at the center of most business transactions, and getting hired is a business transaction. So, yes, networking and nurturing those relationships and who you know and who knows about you and your skills is really what opens doors.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Yeah, one thing in regards of the community involvement aspect that I kind of want to speak to is, even if you are volunteering whether that's at church or volunteering in your community, you know helping other workers. Or or even you know going to high schools and helping high schoolers understand what a resume is. High schoolers understand what a resume is. I think those are different things and and you know, I don't want our listeners to think like, hey, you know, just share everything that you're doing. No, I think you need to share things that really add value, right, um, and so simply volunteering and saying, hey, this is how we give back to our, this is how I give back to my community, I think that adds value because people see that you know you're compassionate. People would see, like you know, that's the type of person I want to work at my company, whether you have the skills that they're looking for or not, right. And so I think that community involvement is important, right, and so I think that community involvement is important not just for Gen Zers or millennials, but even for other, you know, baby boomers and Gen Xers, right, like, we all need to see, like you know more than just beyond your skill set, but we also want to see compassion, and do you have compassion and are you able to give back, even sometimes when you may not be receiving right? So I think that's an important aspect as well when we're talking about community involvement.

Speaker 2: 19:46

Yeah, for sure, that's an important aspect, and I also understand that everyone doesn't have the ability, maybe, to volunteer their time, because maybe they are studying, they're working, they have bills to pay. You don't have time. But you can also give back and have that community involvement on LinkedIn. Now, there's lots of people out there posting about things and they need help or they have questions. You can always do like, hey, let's get on a quick call, I know about this topic that you're wanting to know about.

Speaker 2: 20:21

And yes, it might not be this public thing of like, hey, everyone, look, I helped Daniel or I helped so, and so it's like it doesn't have to be that. But the people that you help always, always remember and I always go back to something that my dad told me many, many years ago when I was starting my career it's like what makes you successful isn't what you know, how much money you have, it's who you know and how you treated them when they first met you. So community involvement goes back to that Give back, help people. If you can volunteer at a charity, at a church, 100% do it. But maybe it's just one person that you help on LinkedIn that you saw that needed help, or on Instagram or anywhere. We're talking about LinkedIn because it's where both of us hang out, but there's community in many, many other places. There's discords, there's Slack. There's so many communities for like-minded individuals. That's also a way of enhancing your professional brand.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Yeah. So I want to talk about this, like okay, I think certain people they just do too much. I'm just being transparent, right, and we were talking about branding. So what are some mistakes common mistakes that professionals make when trying to establish their brand?

Speaker 2: 21:45

First big mistake that I see people make is not being authentic. You can't create content or present yourself in a way that you can't back up in person. To me, one of the funniest things anytime I go to conferences, I meet people out there. They're like you're just like you are on LinkedIn. Well, how else would? I can't keep up this act. No, I'm exactly who I am. Are there things that I don't say on LinkedIn that are reserved for the group chat? A hundred percent. But who I am and how I present myself. I would never present myself as this person who never cusses. I cuss a lot. I'm surprised I haven't cussed at all and we've been talking for almost an hour. So it's like that's who I am. I cuss sometimes on LinkedIn. I do. That's just who I am.

Speaker 2: 22:33

So not being authentic is a big thing. Not having a plan or goals clearly defined, that's a big thing, because that's when you look at people's content and you're like, ooh, this is hot mess express Like one day you're posting about this, the other day you're posting about this. It's like who are you? Remember, you're trying to guide people to have that experience that you had where someone introduces you and you're like, wow, they hit the mark. This is exactly who I am and what I do for work. That only happens if you're intentional about what you're doing and you have a plan and you have goals. And I'm not saying you have to spend hours and hours on strategy. I'm just saying know who you're talking to and what you're talking about and stick to that. And it doesn't mean it can't change because I'm the queen of pivots, right? I've changed.

Speaker 2: 23:31

I talk about software engineering and tomorrow I talk about recruiting, choose a lane for this period in time and talk about that. And the other big mistake that I see people make is chasing virality and like vanity metrics instead of building relationships. Likes and follows do not pay the bills, and I say this as a content creator who has brand deals and sometimes does get paid because of likes and follows. However, likes and follows aren't what get those brands to come to me. It's the relationships that I've built, it's the engagement that they see on my content, and also most people aren't out there trying to monetize their brands. So if you're most people and you're not trying to monetize your brand, vanity metrics should not even be on your radar. You should be targeting relationships.

Speaker 1: 24:43

Man, I love that. And it's all surrounding being authentic, right, being yourself you talked about. You know, just being yourself, that you know you're honest, like, hey, you curse a lot, right. And for me, you know, I'm on the opposite end of that Like I don't curse at all. That's just my belief. That's how I grew up, and when people meet me, they're like, hey, you don't curse, and I'm like, no, what you see on LinkedIn, that's how I am all the time. And you know that I've been working. You know there's been tons of networking opportunities, meetups, dinners, and people would ask me, hey, you don't drink. And I'm like, no, I don't Just give me some Sprite and put a lemon in there. Or you know like, you know I don't want to act like I'm not a part, but you know, I think for me, like I'm intentional on my values, and those are things that again, being authentic. And you know, if people don't like it, then hey, at least you know that you're true to yourself, right?

Speaker 2: 25:52

Exactly, and they're not for you.

Speaker 1: 25:55

Yeah, because I think some people think like, oh well, you know, yeah, you're this person on camera. I think some people think like, oh well, you know, yeah, you're this person on camera, but outside of this, you know, you may be somebody else. And I think that people expect that a lot because of celebrities that they see on shows. But, believe it or not, a lot of these celebrities, they don't really own themselves. You know they don't own themselves. They're tied to a contract. You know they don't own themselves, but they're tied to a contract. You know they have to, you know, be a certain weight for this amount of period or they have to. You know they can't do this, so they can't do that because they're doing it for the money.

Speaker 1: 26:32

But I think when you talk about your brand and you talk about being intentional in your brand is okay. What are you trying to do? What impact are you trying to show or give in whatever you're doing? Right, and I think that's really important. Let me ask you this what may be not a caveat, but a pet peeve of yours? When you talk about branding, you see other people, you know, trying to create their brand. What is a pet peeve of yours that you like? Oh I just. It irks my nerves just seeing this.

Speaker 2: 27:14

I think a pet peeve is for me is that when it doesn't match who the person is like, you'll see a post and it sounds one way, and you see a comment and it sounds the other way and it's like wait, who is this? And now, with AI, there's so many times where I was like you did not write this post because I've spoken to you, I've seen your comments, this is not how you speak, so that disconnect. And then sometimes you meet people in person and it's like this is not who you are and it's like no, and, like you said, it's like imagine if you got on LinkedIn, because it was cool with a picture of a drink, and then someone sees you in an event and you're not drinking, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with not drinking, so don't present yourself as that, because you think that that's what you need to do. So my pet peeve is that when it doesn't match, because it's always like wait, who is the real person- Right, right, right.

Speaker 1: 28:16

There's someone I'm not going to say who, but there's someone and actually it's multiple people on LinkedIn because people believe it or not, I get at least one to two followers a day on LinkedIn and it's continuing to grow because of the podcast as well. But there's people that I see on LinkedIn and it's they're trying to add value and create a brand, that they're this expert in a particular field. And they may be an expert, but it doesn't come off as authentic. And when I say that you mentioned AI, like instead of you, like, I know you have a master's program, a master's degree why are you using ChatGPT on every single post, like every single post? I know it's ChatGPT, right, and it's like just say what you got to say in your own words without using AI. And now, there's nothing wrong with using AI, but you don't have to use it 100% of the time, right?

Speaker 2: 29:23

And when you use it, you don't. I use AI all day. Look my job. All I do is create content for other people, including myself, and sometimes I just get mentally drained and my creativity is gone. It's like I don't even know what to say. I tell ChatGPT I want to talk about this, give me a post. It gives me a post, and there's absolutely no way.

Speaker 2: 29:43

It's like I don't even speak that way, but it gave me like an idea of like this is how I can present it, and then I polish it up and change it and make it sound like me.

Speaker 1: 29:53

That's how you use AI, but I would never copy and paste exactly what chat GPT told me, because look somebody they've pasted, you know, on chat, gpt it'll say you know subject here and on the bottom it may say how does this sound?

Speaker 2: 30:10

I believe that, and people leave that on, it's like, hmm, who are we talking to?

Speaker 1: 30:16

Yeah, like, how is this, does this capture your audience? And I'm like you may want to check your post. I will do that because somebody's helped me in the past. It's like, hey, you have a misspelled word. And I'm like, oh shoot, you know, sometimes if you're texting, it's just that's why I don't like texting. But you know, hey, you know I'm very transparent. They're like, hey, you know, there's something wrong with your post, you may want to look at it again. So, rona, we got to get out of here. This has been such a fantastic conversation. I would ask you for my last question what are some last tips that you would share, just high level, and how can people find you and connect with you on social media? High level.

Speaker 2: 31:00

And how can people find you and connect with you on social media. So my final tip is really stark Put yourself out there, have a goal. The main way to get that goal is just think about what you want to be known for and who you're talking about. Once you have that in mind, and then think about the problems of the people or the companies that they have. So if you're targeting a specific company and you know that these are the problems that they have, talk about that, Talk to them and the problems and how you solve those problems and that's really your personal brand is really not about you.

Speaker 2: 31:40

It's about what you can do for other people. So, again, how they talk about you when you're not in the room, if you talk directly to them, if you talk about the problems and the things that they care about. And it's not all about me, me, me, me, me. That's how you win at this. And I'm on LinkedIn. I post almost every day. Rona Barnett Pierce. My company's website is perceptiblestudioscom, and I'm Rona B Pierce on every other platform. So Instagram, YouTube, Threads, Blue Sky, everywhere.

Speaker 1: 32:19

Rona, thank you. I always love to end on an encouraging note. So, as we talk about building your personal brand and letting your strengths shine, I'm reminded of this verse in Matthew 5 and 16. It says in the same way let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. When you build a strong, authentic personal brand, you're not just advancing your career, you're creating opportunities to impact others positively. So let your light shine and let your brand reflect the unique gifts and talents God has placed in you.

Speaker 1: 33:02

Rona, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing such valuable insights. I hope today's conversation has inspired our listeners to take actionable steps in building and refining your personal brand. Remember, your brand isn't just what you do. It's how you show up, how you treat others and how you make people feel. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the Transparent HR podcast. Share it with a friend. Also, leave a review. It helps us to continue to bring transparent and practical HR insights straight to you. I'm Prince Tate, and until next time we'll see you on the other side.