Build Your Personal Brand

[00:00:00.000] – Zahiyya

Welcome to the Designers Plants & Coffee podcast, where we discuss how to succeed as a designer while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we love. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.

[00:00:12.060] – LaTisha

We have Robin Kenyetta, a photographer and also a brand expert. First of all, what is your definition of brands?

[00:00:22.190] – Robin

Well, branding is a bit of everything within your company. So your identity is connected to your brand. And you build that based upon your brand story. What is the story of your company? It could be everything from your logo to your visual identity. Everything is your brand. And a lot of people forget that they are their brand.

[00:00:40.140] – LaTisha

That’s what I really wanted to get to, that we are our brand, but also how you have been helping companies rebrand themselves to make sure they’re current with today’s culture.

[00:00:51.200] – Zahiyya

So what is it exactly that you do for companies and individuals?

[00:00:55.420] – Robin

Well, I own a full service branding agency. We do everything from brand creation all the way to video production, reels, and commercials. So everything that it takes to build a brand, we offer it. I’m a photographer myself, and I’m the lead photographer and founder. Our company is called the Reflective Edge.

[00:01:10.480] – Zahiyya

How did you get into it?

[00:01:11.590] – Robin

I used to take a lot of pictures, and people would be like, Wow, you should be a photographer. You could take a picture. And I’d be like, whatever. And then I entertained it, and I bought a camera, and I said, Well, if I’m going to have a professional camera, I’m going to teach myself how to use it manually. And so I started teaching myself how to shoot. Most of me teaching myself was on the I started shooting people who were unhoused, and I wanted them to see themselves, and then I would show them, and then I would see their reaction. The branding portion of it, I think because I do shoot more lifestyle, that it just morphed, and I noticed that that’s what people were asking me. And so I was doing a lot more branding sessions. But then it was like, I don’t want to do a branding session, and you can’t use these images properly. What about the rest of your story? And so I found that I was always referring them to the other creatives I knew, the other consultants I knew. So I said, Well, why not create an agency where we all can work under one and you still have your respective businesses, but we all have this agency under the Reflective Edge brand.

[00:02:10.800] – Robin

And we can offer a wrap-around service because here in DC, you could get this portion or you can get this portion, but the in between was missing.

[00:02:17.170] – Zahiyya

In terms of photography and branding, what other services do you offer?

[00:02:20.700] – Robin

We have a stylist. With most of our clients, he ends up doing a closet audit, and then he will let them know what they need, what they may be missing. My branding sessions are planned planned out. I am planning it out based upon the colors of your website, your brand guide, what your brand colors are. Everything can be cohesive when you’re using your imagery. Some of the clients, he’s able to get that together for them because you’d be surprised how many people have every color you could think of just thrown at their site because they didn’t pay attention to making sure that it all flows.

[00:02:50.080] – Zahiyya

If someone was to come to you and they didn’t have all of that together, you provide that for them?

[00:02:55.360] – Robin

Yes, we provide all of that. I have a branding consultant, and she meets with them first so that they can understand their brand story. Build that out, figure out what their pillars are, what story we’re trying to tell, because I don’t want to take pictures if we don’t have a direction. Then within that, then we start with the imagery. But everything begins in your story first.

[00:03:12.980] – Zahiyya

If someone wanted to get into this type of thing, how would you, just to get started?

[00:03:16.510] – Robin

Depending on what side of branding they want to do, I would say if it’s more of the creative and the visual aspect, I would tell them to learn their craft, master their crafts, figure out their styles. I would tell them that if they’re ready, say, a photographer, that the first thing they would need to do is to understand what branding is first, and also know what it is that your clients need, because there’s nothing worse than a person paying a branding photographer for images that they can’t use because it doesn’t match their brand.

[00:03:46.040] – Naima

They’re starting from the bare minimum, and they’re putting all of their paycheck into their brand. How would you recommend they brand themselves until they can hire somebody?

[00:03:55.530] – Robin

I would solidify myself as a subject matter expert first, because if you’re When you’re starting out, you have this business, you have this thing that you’re trying to do, if people don’t feel like you’re the expert at what you do, it’s hard to convert those people into customers and into clients. There’s so many ways you can do that. I mean, on LinkedIn, you can write articles. I’m not a big component of lives, but you can host a Facebook Live. You could join groups. You could offer input. Whatever it is that you would like to do, there’s a way for you to do that and make it so that you look like you know what you’re talking about. That’s the first thing I would do. The second thing I would do is think about what is your brand story going to be? If your approach is all about esthetic, then you need to focus on that. But whatever it is, you need to know what that story is, and nothing you put out should go against your story.

[00:04:40.930] – Zahiyya

When you talk about story, which story are you telling? Are you talking about the story of how your company got started or who your customer is? What goes into a story?

[00:04:51.250] – Robin

All of it goes into the story. What also goes into the story is you have to say, when a person see my imagery or when they see my words, when they see my copy, any of that isn’t showing what I want to say. Can you see that? That’s the story. You shouldn’t have to tell a person your story for your company. Say a story might be, I’m a stylist, I’m hip, I’m also conservative, then that’s something that your story should be telling. So your Story would be imagery that’s more conservative but also hip. You wouldn’t necessarily have Cardi B twerking on your page or twerking on your website, you know what I mean? And then say, I’m a conservative, but hip stylist, because those two things don’t match. And a lot of people don’t know what their story is. So today they do this, tomorrow they do this, the next day they want to do this. And sometimes I can’t even help people if they don’t have their story together because I’m not going to take your money. I tell people more often than I’d like, this is a portion you’re not ready for. But yeah, your story is a little bit of everything, but it should be consistent.

[00:05:49.570] – Zahiyya

I’m glad you’re talking about this because a lot of people think just branding is just visual.

[00:05:53.250] – Robin

It’s definitely more than that. And it’s also you. So you can’t market yourself as a super outgoing person and everything punchy and wild and all these things, right? And so then you have an excitement brand. And then your ideal client meets you and you’re shy and timid and not confident. And now they’re confused.

[00:06:11.750] – LaTisha

I will say that Robin did my first headshot, and she also has Headshot Weekend every month. So when we get to her information, make sure you all check out that website because she’s pretty good. I want to talk about the Reclaim and Rebuild project.

[00:06:27.720] – Robin

So Reclaim and Rebuild is a movement and documentary on returning citizens, people returning from incarceration. We’re doing an episodic documentary on that that we’re currently in the process of shooting and raising money for and doing all these things. Then we’re also aligning with agencies and people and lobbyists who are pushing initiatives to change the way that people reenter society, and also to change the way that people look at people who have been incarcerated. Because what if you were judged by the worst thing you’ve ever done? What if you stole a pack of gum at 12 from the corner store, and you were forever a thief because you sold that, or whatever the case may be? And so we want people to give us grace and understand that we can have second chances, and everybody deserves that. So we are pushing to try to change the way that people see people coming from incarceration. But not only that, change the way they reenter society, because a lot of people are not receiving any resources. There’s no rehabilitation. We already know that in the justice system, so that once you get out, there’s nothing to catch you.

[00:07:27.830] – Robin

If you’ve been incarcerated for 10 plus years, when you come out, the word is a lot different. Not only is it a lot different, you need more resources to be able to move than you did before. If you don’t have guidance or anything like that, you can find yourself right back in the same situation.

[00:07:42.050] – Zahiyya

How did you get involved with that?

[00:07:43.260] – Robin

I was with a really good friend of mine, and we were at a family friend of hers, Corket. The day he was petitioning to be resentenced under the JRA in Maryland, which says that if you were incarcerated as a youth, and you served 20 years or whatever, the sentence amount is, that you could possibly be resentenced or released, depending on how much time you’ve done. This particular person had been in prison for 24 years. He was incarcerated at, I want to say, 16. As we know, the thinking is different. He was petitioning the court to have him resentenced so possibly he could be released. And there was an organization in the courtroom, they were petitioning that he’d be released to them. And it was a nonprofit reentry program called T. I. M. Beautiful organization. And they were talking to the judge about why he should released to them. And then they just tell their JRA clients they’ve had a zero % recidivism rate. And I thought to myself, what is this agency doing that they have a zero % recidivism rate? And I found that I listened more. I had someone from the program come in and he testified.

[00:08:46.470] – Robin

He talked about how everything was provided for him upon release, everything. And not only was everything provided for him, including housing, but he was not pressed to find employment immediately because they specifically deal with your mental health. They dealt with the trauma that got him locked up, whatever he experienced before he was incarcerated. But they also deal with that trauma from being incarcerated and deal with the programming, the conditioning to make him be able to acclimate in society. Then not only that, but he’s acclimating with other people who understand, not just the family home plan, because we don’t know why he’s sitting in a new room all day. He’s with people who can understand. I wanted to do something, and I wanted a love offer. I walked up to them and I offered to do head shots initially for all of their clients so they could put them on their resume so they could be humanized when they applied for jobs. I told my partners about it, my business partners, and they were like, Hey, I want to do this. Then it just grew and grew, and they had ideas, and everybody brought ideas to the table, and it turned into a national documentary.

[00:09:44.210] – Zahiyya

You said you’re currently working on a documentary. It’s not released yet, correct?

[00:09:48.530] – Robin

No, it’s not released. We still have quite a bit more filming to do. It just became really expensive, so it’s taking us a lot longer.

[00:09:54.340] – Naima

Do you have a funding source or GoFundMe or something like that where people could donate Yes.

[00:10:00.490] – Robin

We’re partnering with a nonprofit so people can receive tax incentives for their donation through the nonprofit that we’re partnered with called Leadership & Arts Coalition. Some of their young people are working with us, so we are able to offer a tax break. We do have a donation page that allows you to also get the receipt for your taxes.

[00:10:17.720] – Zahiyya

That’s it for today’s episode. I’m Zahia from Region Design Lab.

[00:10:22.120] – LaTisha

Kishe Weston of Keeping You In Snitches.

[00:10:24.070] – Naima

Naima from Fearless Thread.

[00:10:26.030] – Robin

Robin Kenyetta from the Reflective Edge.

[00:10:28.150] – Zahiyya

Thank you. We’ll see you next time. Bye.