What do you do if you want to build a personal brand for a sustainability career?

If you're looking to build a personal brand for a sustainability career, start by defining your values. These values serve as the foundation of your brand identity and help differentiate you in the competitive job market. By clearly articulating your commitment to sustainability, environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and ethical business practices, you can establish yourself as a credible and trustworthy advocate for positive change. Incorporate these values into your online presence, professional communications, and networking efforts to effectively convey your personal brand and attract opportunities aligned with your passion and expertise in sustainability.

Defining your values is important because sustainability is a broad topic. Brainstorm areas that excite you and where you have existing knowledge or experience. This could be anything from renewable energy or sustainable agriculture to eco-friendly fashion or circular economy practices. Focusing on a niche allows you to target a specific audience and establish yourself as an expert.

Our actions make some sort of contribution to the planet and people around us, whether it's conscious or not. Be becoming more conscious of why we do what we do, and how we do those things, we can start to have the impact we want on the world. A great place to start is by asking yourself: - What do I stand for? Why? - What values resonate with me today? Why? - How do I live and breathe those values today? - How can live more in alignment with those values in the future? When it comes to sustainability, defining your values then empowers you to take action in alignment with them. It gives you clarity when it comes to making decisions. It also means that people will understand you better when you understand yourself.

If you wish to create a self brand you need to start climbing the ladder from bottom by acquiring the knowledge base..both theoretical and practical knowledge. Once you have desired knowledge base then next step is forming the right connections and promoting your brand to right audiences.

I feel this technically will be last step may be just before adopt and change, as gaining expertise is most difficult, require time & continue efforts to learn the subject matter more in depth.

Ways to gain credibility in the sustainability: 1. Do your own research and explore areas of interest. I personally started watching lots of documentaries like True Cost, Cowspiracy, and Before the Flood as I find the visual picture of the impact on our climate sticks with you and becomes a force of motivation. 2. Get experience working on sustainable projects. While working within the corporate world at ASOS and Farfetch, I sought out specific projects that would allow me to learn more about sustainability. Start with your current workplace for opportunities. 3. Form your own point of view and opinion. It's great to consume materials and then you want to pulling those together to create your own insights and beliefs.

Alone we can achieve a lot, but incomparably more if we join forces. Networking is very important, not only in developing our career and brand as an expert, but also in terms of making a real difference.

The concept of networking has such negative connotations and for some might feel like a forced way to create connections. A more healthy / valuable way to think about it might be seeing it as making friends who share the same interests as you. I've found in my experience that in the sustainability space, there's a less competitive vibe, because we're all in it together and there's a shared mission. I've made friendships with people who might be considered my competitors in other industries. I strongly urge anyone in this space to see others as community not competition.

What unique perspective do you bring to sustainability? Are you passionate about educating consumers? Do you excel at developing practical solutions for businesses. Clearly communicating the value you offer and educating others about sustainability positions your brand for visibility and influence.

Cancel culture and the way we jump on people that say something 'wrong' online undoubtedly creates a sense of fear for those who might want to voice their opinion on sustainability, to build their personal brand. It's important that you communicate clearly so you can position yourself as someone who knows what they're talking about. It's equally important that we all stay open to learning and the fact our views might change as we gather more insights or perform our own research. It's worth experimenting with different types of communication to see what works best for you e.g. you might love the short form nature of reels on Instagram or you might prefer writing long-form newsletters on Substack. It's up to you how you use your voice.

For me, this is absolutely fundamental. Just walk the talk. It's very hard to build a meaningful career in this area if you don't actually believe in these activities. And don't practice them in your daily live. I sometimes encounter the view that there is no point in focusing on small changes, only important and big projects count. But I completely disagree with this. A drop drills the rock, and our small actions can yield big results. And they prove our authenticity

How you do the small things is how you do the big things. And that applies to sustainability too. Someone once said to me that you're not expected to overhaul your whole life and change when you become more conscious. It doesn't work like that. Take each area of your life, one bit at a time. We're all learning and figuring out what actions we can take or believe fit with our lifestyle and goals. One thing I advocate for is that we don't judge others for their actions even if we feel we might be more evolved in how we live out our values around sustainability. The last thing we want to create is a sense of us vs them.

📌Leverage Social Media and Platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter to connect with a sustainability-focused audience. 📌Share your expertise through blog posts, articles, social media content or even videos. Offer practical tips, highlight success stories, or discuss current sustainability challenges. Informative and engaging content is key to building brand awareness. 📌Use relevant hashtags, participate in discussions, and engage with other influencers in the online space. 📌Let’s face facts, building a personal brand takes time and dedication. Be patient, keep learning, and focus on creating a positive impact. With time you'll attract opportunities to make a real difference in the world of sustainability.

Two extra points to consider here if you want to build a personal brand in sustainability: - first, try to expose your brand with stories in your communication. People always relate and remember stories. This will bring identification. - second, try to connect to brands, groups, associations and people that leverage your reputation. If you are associated with people or brands that align with your sustainability goals, it will help people with the same sustainable purpose to want to be associated with you as well.

Sooner or later, you'll have to create thought leadership. Consider where your people are connecting with each other (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc) and start building a following. Give more than you take from these communities to build trust. Eventually, it's also a good idea to start a newsletter so you can reach this audience directly without algorithms impacting your success. This control is key if you're ever going to launch products, write a book, etc.