Patterned Kneesocks: September 2013

Every brand has a story, and the one brand you will ultimately work for and represent for your entire life is your own. People have always needed to know who they are, what they stand for and their values, but in a digital world, it's even more important because all of your information is out there. Combine that with the fact that people have less than a 9 second attention span, and you really need to find a way to tell your personal brand story quickly, and in a way that people enjoy listening to.

I was puzzled when first asked to think of my brand story. I've only been in the "real world" for 4 years, and my entire life I was known as "the swimmer" - but then I realized, my swimming story is still who I am today.

When most college students graduate they fear the future of responsibility and that they will never have fun again (no more $2 Tuesdays at the bar and sleeping through a Wednesday morning class). I found myself in a different position upon graduation, I was not worried about fun or responsibility, I was worried about whether or not I'd be able to survive on land.

I was a competitive swimmer my entire life and captain of my college swim team, and that was what I felt defined me. Without swimming, what would I do at 5:30 am when I no longer had swim practice? Without my teammates given to me, how would I make friends? Would I get fat? After all, I had exercised between 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week since I was 10 years old.

What I quickly learned was that who I was in the pool translated very well to the workplace, and I quickly found myself loving and exceeding at my first job.

Who was I in the pool (and out?) - I'll tell you:

A leader. As captain, I was used to meeting the expectations of my coaches, as well as my more junior teammates, and knowing how to balance both. This skill translated well to working with a boss and learning to manage those working under me.

Leading my team in cheer as captain senior year

Creative. Swimming laps up and down a pool for 4 hours a day is not exciting. Sometimes I needed to make it fun by having everyone in my lane wear pink, or sing songs. Thinking outside the box helped me come up with creative solutions for my company's advertising clients.

Fun practice gear got us through our intense training trip in Hawaii in 2011

Disciplined. I learned through swimming the difference between giving 100% and 110% - I saw first hand that extra hours and practice helps you to win or get a best time.

"Fairfield" would have been much too complicated to spell, this was hard enough.

Team Player. Although everyone thinks swimming is an individual sport, it really is not. Winning my own race meant nothing if in the end my team lost the meet. I learned how to inspire others to do their best while working as work as a team to get the win.

"A" relay team at MAAC Championships, 2008

Risk Taker. The first risk I took was being the only one of my high school friends not to go to Penn State - I was going to Fairfield to swim. I knew no one at Fairfield, and had to learn to adjust to a new setting. I was a backstroker my entire life until my senior year of college when my team needed a butterflyer, and then I took on that role. Trying new things made me willing to move from a sales team to a research team and then ultimately to a marketing team. I embraced each change excited to figure out just how good I could be at the next challenge.

Hiking a water fall on our 2009 training trip in Puerto Rico

I may have spent 12 years jumping in to a pool, but what swimming really taught me was not to be afraid to jump out.

I had an unhealthy obsession with Barbie as a child. To the point I continued to play with Barbies long after my friends had stopped, and I would hide my Barbies when my friends would come over so they wouldn’t know.

There are a few reasons I think I was possessed by the hot pink wearing blonde. First, I had a wild imagination as a kid. I never was interested in TV, but with Barbies I could create my own stories for their lives and entertain myself for hours. Secondly, my best friend since pre-school, Kari, also had this addiction so I had someone fueling the fire. Third, I loved and still love the color pink. Fourth, I could never get bored! Barbie always had a new car or a new job, the story kept changing. And lastly, my mom had built me a house for Barbie and a school for Barbie. There was just no reason to stop.

Eventually, I did get bored with Barbie. Probably around middle school. But, when you love something you never truly let it go. My mother continued to buy me collectible Barbies, which I keep in the box. I always was interested in what Barbies my younger cousin had, and then digital marketing came around, allowing me to keep up with Barbie’s life (in an age appropriate manner) all over again.

November 2012 Birthday Gift from mom: Election Barbie with brown hair and green eyes, just like yours truly

Barbie and Ken got back together in a huge Valentine’s Day campaign in 2011. Naturally, my mom bought me the limited edition dolls. This was when I first discovered Barbie was back, and in my opinion, better than ever.

Photo from make. see. do. eat. blog

Fast forward to today when I have a more collectible Barbies and the Barbie Twitter handle is the only non-human on my “pals” Twitter list composed of my friends. Yes, that is correct. Her tweets are just that great.

The genius behind Barbie’s online success is that it’s not pushing a product, it’s bringing to life a person or perhaps even a celebrity, which pulls fans in. She tells you about her dates with Ken, selling her dream house, shopping with her sisters and asks for help deciding which outfits to wear. Mattel didn’t choose to promote products or reasons to buy the dolls, they chose to make a human connection with their consumers.

I could rave about Barbie’s digital marketing strategy forever. But instead, I’ll show you: