Melanie, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming an expert in personal branding for leaders and entrepreneurs?
Melanie Borden: The journey started in a moment of uncertainty. During a time when people around me were losing their jobs, I realized I needed to build something I could own: my personal brand.
For years, I created marketing strategies for employers across tech, retail, and high-growth startups. When I applied those same strategies to myself, everything shifted. My platform grew, my reach expanded, and eventually, I built The Borden Group into a personal branding agency that supports executives and entrepreneurs at every stage of visibility.
Today, that lived experience is what sets my work apart. I don’t coach from the sidelines; I advise and execute alongside leaders. My team combines strategy, content, design, and community management so that executives, founders, and organizations can go to market with confidence.
The results speak for themselves: clients have sold out conferences, raised capital, launched books, landed board seats, and built the kind of visibility that changes careers and companies.
That’s why I believe personal branding isn’t optional anymore. For leaders and entrepreneurs, it’s a business strategy, and when done right, it creates opportunities and impact at scale.
What were some of the pivotal moments or experiences in your career that led you to specialize in helping established professionals build their personal brands?
Melanie Borden: During a period of layoffs and instability, I realized I needed to build something I could control: my personal brand. I took the years of marketing leadership I had gained, including my experience as a VP of Marketing in automotive, and applied that playbook to myself. It worked. My platform grew, new opportunities opened, and momentum built quickly.
With proof in hand, I formalized the system into an advisory + execution model and launched The Borden Group. What started as a personal experiment evolved into an agency that helps founders, C-suites, and executives replicate those results by aligning real-world expertise with a visibility engine. Today, as Founder & CEO, I continue to refine that framework and lead a team that blends strategy with hands-on execution.
My focus now is making executives the obvious choice in rooms that matter. The outcomes speak for themselves: sold-out conferences, positioning for exits, board seats, accelerated pipelines, and book and speaking launches that create new revenue streams. Every result is built on lived experience, not theory, because when visibility is treated as a strategy, it scales careers and companies alike.
You mentioned that many of your clients have built successful careers but feel something needs to change. What are some common signs that someone needs to focus on building their personal brand?
Melanie Borden: Some of the most accomplished leaders I work with have impressive résumés, strong track records, and thriving businesses, yet they feel a gap. That gap is usually visibility. The signs often show up in subtle but frustrating ways:
- Opportunities are going to others who are more visible, not necessarily more qualified.
- Speaking invitations, media coverage, or board seats pass them by because no one knows their story.
- Their company brand is strong, but their own reputation outside the organization is almost nonexistent.
- They’re constantly asked, “What exactly do you do?” even by people in their own network.
- Or they realize that most of their career has been built on word-of-mouth, and that won’t scale to the next chapter.
When these patterns appear, it’s not a question of competence; it’s a question of presence. A personal brand doesn’t replace what you’ve achieved; it amplifies it. It takes decades of expertise and makes sure the right people can see it, trust it, and act on it. That’s usually the moment leaders realize: it’s time to stop relying on chance and start treating visibility as strategy.
Many successful professionals are incredibly busy. What would you say to someone who feels they don’t have time to build a personal brand?
Melanie Borden: The most common objection I hear is, “I don’t have time for this.” And I understand it; successful professionals already feel stretched. But here’s the reality: if you don’t make time for your personal brand, you’ll eventually feel the cost of missed opportunities.
Think of it like any other growth initiative. You wouldn’t delay raising capital, preparing for an IPO, or launching a new product because you were too busy. Visibility works the same way. It’s not a “nice to have,” it’s a business strategy.
The good news is, building a personal brand doesn’t mean spending hours posting every day. When done right, it’s about clarity, consistency, and a system that works in the background. With the right support-whether that’s an advisor, a team, or smart tools-your presence can scale without adding another full-time job to your calendar.
So the real question isn’t, “Do I have time?” It’s, “Can I afford not to?”
You emphasize the importance of authenticity in personal branding. How can someone differentiate themselves and showcase their unique value without feeling like they’re being inauthentic?
Melanie Borden: Authenticity isn’t about oversharing or trying to be “relatable.” It’s about alignment. The leaders who stand out aren’t the ones copying trends; they’re the ones who know what they stand for and communicate it with clarity.
The first step is defining your non-negotiables: values, expertise, and the lens through which you see the world. From there, your job is to translate those into stories, insights, and perspectives that show people how you think, not just what you do.
The fear of being inauthentic often comes from watching others and assuming you have to mimic their style. You don’t. Your differentiation is already built in-your career path, your lived experiences, and the problems you’ve solved are unlike anyone else’s. The key is to package and share them in a way that feels natural to you.
When authenticity drives your brand, you’re not manufacturing a persona-you’re scaling trust. And trust is what opens the doors: board seats, media coverage, speaking opportunities, and business growth.
What role does vulnerability play in building a strong personal brand, especially for executives who may feel pressure to maintain a certain image?
Melanie Borden: Vulnerability has become a buzzword in personal branding, and often it’s misused. Many assume it means sharing every detail of their lives or writing endless “I” statements about their struggles. That kind of oversharing doesn’t move the needle on business goals-and it can actually weaken credibility.
The real role of vulnerability is strategic. It’s not about centering yourself; it’s about centering the reader, the viewer, the decision-maker on the other side of the screen. The question isn’t, “How much of my story should I tell?” The question is, “What part of my story helps someone else see themselves in it?”
When you share experiences in a way that allows others to imagine themselves in your shoes, that’s when vulnerability builds trust and connection. It gives your audience a window into your leadership, resilience, and perspective-without blurring professional boundaries.
For executives, this is especially important. You don’t need to strip away authority to be relatable. You need to show enough of the human side that people can connect with you, while still making it clear that your vision, values, and expertise are what guide the way forward. Strategic vulnerability creates credibility, trust, and influence-without sacrificing the professionalism your role demands.
You’ve talked about leveraging AI in personal branding. Can you share a specific example of how someone can use AI to enhance their online presence without losing that human touch?
Melanie Borden: AI should never replace the human voice in personal branding-it should amplify it. One practical way to do this is by using AI as a first-draft partner. For example, a busy executive can feed AI their meeting notes, speaking transcripts, or articles they’ve written, and let the tool turn those raw ideas into draft posts or thought-leadership outlines.
The human touch comes in when you refine it. AI can capture structure and speed, but only you can bring the lived experience, the specific examples, and the nuance of your leadership voice. That final edit-the intentional story, the choice of words, the insight drawn from years of experience-is what makes the content credible and relatable.
In other words: let AI do the heavy lifting of formatting and ideation, but never outsource the essence of your perspective. The best personal brands use AI as a multiplier of clarity and consistency, not as a substitute for authenticity.
How do you measure the success of a personal branding strategy? What are some key metrics or indicators that someone is on the right track?
Melanie Borden: The first step is clarity: success has to be measured against your goals. Are you aiming for board opportunities? New clients? Media presence? Speaking engagements? Without a goal, numbers are just noise.
Most leaders start with obvious KPIs:
Visibility & Reach → profile views, search rankings, and website traffic.
Engagement → comments, shares, and conversations that show resonance.
Network Growth → quality connections, subscriber growth, and relevant followers.
Outcomes → leads, referrals, speaking invitations, or capital raised directly tied to visibility.
But the metrics that matter most often live in the shadows-what’s called “dark social.” These are the signals you won’t see in an analytics dashboard, but they tell you your brand is working.
Private Support: DMs, texts, calls, and emails from people you know who say, “I saw your post” or “I’ve been following what you’re doing.”
Public Advocates: People who openly celebrate your work, amplify your message, or tag you in opportunities.
Silent Observers: The ones who don’t engage, but quietly watch until the day they need you-and then reach out with, “I’ve been following you for months.”
FUD Creators (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt): People-sometimes peers, sometimes competitors-who question, critique, or try to create skepticism about what you’re doing. Ironically, this is also a signal of traction: if you’re creating conversation, you’re creating impact.
These signals don’t show up in a report, but they’re often more powerful than impressions or clicks. They mean your brand is alive in conversations you’ll never see-and that’s when you know it’s working.
The best measure of success? When visibility stops being about vanity metrics and starts driving recognition, trust, and opportunity-both online and offline.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who is just starting to build their personal brand, and what is one thing they should avoid doing?
Melanie Borden: Too many people jump right into posting without first defining what they want to be known for. Before you write a single post, get clear on your positioning: Who are you speaking to? What do you want to be recognized as an authority in? What problems do you solve that matter to the people you want to reach?
When you lead with clarity, your content has direction, your message has weight, and your audience knows exactly why they should listen. Visibility without clarity is noise. Visibility with clarity is influence.
Now here’s what to avoid:
Don’t try to be everywhere or everything at once. I see professionals spread themselves too thin-posting randomly, chasing trends, or trying to sound like someone else. That’s the fastest way to burn out and blend in. Instead, choose one platform (for most leaders, that’s LinkedIn), commit to consistency, and build from there.
A brand isn’t built overnight-it’s built brick by brick, with intentionality.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Melanie Borden: Play the long game. Personal branding isn’t about one viral post or a few weeks of showing up. It’s about consistency over months and years. That’s where trust is built, doors open, and real opportunities come.
Most people give up too quickly because they don’t see instant results. But your brand is like compound interest – the more you invest steadily, the bigger the return later.
So if you feel invisible at first, keep going. If the comments are quiet, keep going. If it feels like no one is paying attention, keep going.