Embrace Your Authenticity: Navigating the Intersection of Identity and Branding for Marginalized Entrepreneurs
Deciding to open a business or begin any project that requires branding is an exciting opportunity where authenticity meets entrepreneurship. Society and capitalism often reward us for conformity. They sell the idea of individuality, so long as it’s one of their pre-prescribed flavors. What I hope to teach my clients, and you here reading this blog, is this—being authentic in your branding is a radical act. Bringing the fullness of your identity to work every day is a radical act. Encouraging others in your community to do the same is transformational.
This unique journey invites marginalized business owners to authentically represent themselves through the intersection of identity and branding.
Being authentic can feel vulnerable. It’s a lot easier to cope with your brand not doing well if it doesn’t reflect you, but when you’re daydreaming about your business and you see your own name on the sign, it’s a lot harder to overcome the idea of failure that might creep in. This often leads folks to have a skewed perspective of the branding process.
But I encourage you to see authenticity not as a vulnerability, not as a weakness, but as a powerful competitive advantage. No one is better at being you than you! There is an intricate balance required to make your branding fit all of your criteria. In my opinion, good, successful branding follows these guidelines:
It speaks in a visual language that your audience also speaks.
It easily, quickly, and accurately identifies what it represents to your audience.
It’s accessible.
It encompasses your entire brand, even if that means leaving room for future growth.
It feels evergreen, not trendy.
These are just a few, but definitely my top criteria when I ask the question, “is this good branding?” In order to take this one step further, authentic branding requires you to understand your unique social location, background, and life experiences. A deep understanding helps you understand others better, therefore you’re able to connect with completely new audiences.
Identifying labels have been historically wielded against marginalized folks, but more and more people, mainly Gen Z, are increasingly interested in genuine and transparent connections with brands. It's about discovering the strength within your unique intersections that offer insights into unexplored issues, concepts, and audiences you can tap into just by being you.
In this journey, I ask you to reflect on who you are and what your business truly stands for. You can take a minute to jot down 10 words that represent you and 10 words that represent your business. Hold on to those, look at them over time. As your identity expands over time and maybe you grow into some new values, these words and their expression might change.
From sustainability and anti-racism to disability justice and the global community, the spectrum is vast. Craft a mission and vision that not only resonates with your brand’s values but also your own. It’s not about using your identity as a quick meal ticket, it’s understanding that you’re multifaceted and each part of you might resonate with someone different.
Moving beyond the surface, another facet of this work is trauma-informed branding. This isn't just a set of strategies; it's a mindset. Recognizing the diverse needs of entrepreneurs, this approach delves into creating strategies that accommodate different abilities and work structures. From addressing trauma triggers to navigating imposter syndrome, we need to understand the myriad of ways that our trauma will come up in our work as entrepreneurs.
We do not have to replicate things like micromanagement in corporate America, which is a remnant of chattel slavery. We can create new systems and strategies that integrate our needs. This shows up in branding when we decide how present your name, face, and personal identity are in the brand. For folks who have experienced things like childhood trauma, domestic violence, or sexual assault, it may be an insurmountable mountain of activation when navigating things like social media or “about me” pages on websites. Does this mean those people’s brands will be any less successful? No! We just plan around that, because health and safety always come first and that includes your mental health. It’s completely unsustainable to create a branding strategy that triggers you every time you look at it. No marginal percent of increased recognizability is worth that trade-off.
Crafting your brand story goes beyond visuals—it's also about understanding your target audience and seamlessly weaving bits of you that they will identify with into your branding. Doing so authentically is the key and takes practice. But with a little introspection and maybe some feedback from your community, you’ll create a just and fair representation that resonates with your audience.
As the journey unfolds, you can begin to be a bit more creative after learning what works and doesn’t work with your audience. If interpreting this data or doing the research isn’t your area of expertise or interest, that’s okay! Part of understanding your brain is knowing your strengths and knowing what you’d rather outsource. If you need more guidance on this, I offer free inquiry calls and 90-minute one-time strategy sessions.
My sessions encourage self-assessment, reflection, and the identification of your unique brain so we can create sustainable strategies, but you can try to do this at home by yourself! Make a list of tasks you enjoy doing, tasks you don’t enjoy doing, and tasks you find resistance to doing. Investigate each list and ask yourself what about the list might be a unifying data point? For me, I have trouble executing new projects when the notes are given via email. I need to meet with the client via video to study their expressions and reactions when I ask them certain questions. This helps me gauge their responses and better understand them when creating a second draft. Knowing this means I can tell my clients from the jump that our sessions will be via video. They appreciate the ability to prepare and I don’t have to worry about asking for that later. TLDR: I work best when I can deeply connect one-on-one to my clients so I can get a better understanding of them. This is a unique selling point of my brand!
Take the insights gained through this exercise and develop a comprehensive branding plan targeting your audience’s unique social location through a lens of your own. Understand the role of design elements and aesthetics in authentically representing your brand to that audience and the world at large. Leverage your unique identity and lived experiences to craft a compelling online and offline presence that truly reflects who you are. Aim for strategies that market your brand authentically and ethically, ensuring your it is not just seen but truly understood.
In the final stretch of this transformative journey, collaboration and support take center stage. Engage in group activities, share and receive feedback on branding strategies, and collaboratively problem-solve with the people in your circle. The power of collective wisdom and shared experiences becomes a driving force in shaping your unique entrepreneurial path. Whether it’s your friend, neighbor, or local Librarian, as the people you trust to weigh in—it’s all data! And don’t forget to ask them follow-up questions. What did they think of your design? Why do they think that? Where does that belief come from?
I wish you lots of luck in this process! Be patient and kind to yourself in the process. For those of you who need to explore this work with someone else, get in touch. Your authentic entrepreneurial journey awaits!
