This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm reporter Andy Takele and this is my friend Linda. Hi, I'm Linda

Perolta. I am a personal brand and networking coach. I also teach marketing at George Washington

University. Linda's worn a lot of hats over the years. Invent her and beauty entrepreneur,

project manager, dog mom. When I think of Linda, I think of her big laugh and her big ambition and

her fearlessness. She's a real go-getter, you know? If you were to ask people what they say my

personal brand is, I hope that they would say that I am ambitious. I do a lot of cool things

and that I really just like to have fun, which sounds kind of silly at the end of it, but that's

actually totally on point. If I had to sum it all up in a word, Linda's brand to me is inspirational.

She walks the walk and gets you excited about your own goals. Her confidence and adventurousness

are contagious. And that's all by design. On Instagram, for example, Linda's profile tells the

title, Storytelling for Leadership and Authenticity. Her bio invites viewers to, quote, learn to tell

better stories about yourself and create community in an authentic way. And she also has this real cute

peachy pink aesthetic running through her grid and her wheels. That's super professional looking.

But a strong personal brand is not Busy Catch Races or Pretty Logos or a personalized IG filter.

That is the opposite of what a good personal brand is. A good personal brand is when someone

thinks of an opportunity that's perfect for you. At the end of the day, that's really all it is.

Similar to how I got this interview is you say like, oh, we need to do something about networking

and you thought of me. The thing about personal brands says, Linda, everyone already has one.

That means me and you too. We might like to think personal branding is work reserved for

influencers and entrepreneurs. But in today's social media age, that's just simply not true.

That's the big shocker that even if you are not aware of it, people have thoughts to share about you.

And there are opportunities that I'm not being invited to because no one thought of me for that.

...