Episode 95: Why Every Biotech Professional Needs a Strong Personal Brand

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Serving the entire Gulf South, but recorded in the heart of New Orleans. Hello and welcome back to BIO From the Bayou. I'm your host, Dr. Elaine Hamm, executive resident at Tulane University School of Medicine, and of course with me I have my co-host.

Oh yeah, hi, I'm James Zanewicz, and I work with Elaine and I do what she tells me until I don't, and then she gets mad.

And then the cycle repeats.

It does, but also I work at Tulane School of Medicine.

Oh, where you've built an amazing brand, which is the topic. Oh, did you like that? I worked on it forever.

That's not even written down, look at you.

It's like I've done this before.

I know.

Well, today we're going to be talking about the importance of building a personal brand and why it matters, especially when you're collaborating in not just the biotech space, but any kind of space. And I got to say, honestly, this is something that I have ignored and I thought was fluffy and unimportant because I was a very serious science girl. And I didn't think that my science—

With a serious science girl voice?

Yeah, I did.

That was my voice. That sounded more like Science Woman voice to me.

Science Woman.

Yes.

I like science. Nope, that's not a woman. But I really thought this was, you know, my science will speak for itself.

Speak for itself. Oh, every scientist I've ever met.

Precious baby, that's not how this works. And you're quite good at the branding piece of it. And really working with you over the past million years, I've understood this of like, oh, this is incredibly important.

You just called me a million.

I called us a million.

That's like a hate crime. I lumped myself into that. That's fair. Okay.

So what— okay, what the heck is a personal brand?

Let's talk about that. Yeah, well, so I'll say a lot of this goes back to, and I'll be honest, my days at XTRA.

XTRA.

XTRA.

That brings me back to a lot of hotel rooms.

We went through rebranding there and I saw what brand does and what rebranding does and how you do it. that and all those kinds of things. And then I will say early on in my days in tech transfer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, shout out to the Illini.

Yeah.

But I started working with Jane Muir back when she was at Florida. And Jane was one of the only people who was like Dale Carnegie marketing trained and all this stuff working in innovation at that point, because everyone was very serious science people and you patented it and people would come to you and license it.

Obviously.

Yeah, they would just come because it was amazing.

Because it was good.

But Jane actually marketed it, but part of her marketing was you are your brand and everything you do in every day speaks both to your personal brand and your institution's brand. And they are inextricably twined. And that's day, night.

And unfortunately entwined sometimes.

Yeah, that's cocktail parties. That's after receptions when you're trying to make a manatee smoke a cigarette. It's whatever it is. But it's all your brand.

To be fair, that was pretty on brand for me.

No one said it was you.

Uh-oh. Oops.

But your brand really is. It is how people— Perceive you, how they feel about you, and what you put out in the world. It's all those things, to answer your question now that we've finally gotten around to it 5 minutes later.

But that can be really hard to know. I mean, that sounds great, but how do you find what is your personal brand?

I mean, I think you have to figure out who you are as a person.

That's a harder question. I mean, you really do have to think. I mean, to be honest, as a scientist, I read a book about it, of figuring out what my value is. What do I care about? What's my voice?

How did that help you find your voice from reading a book? What are some of the tips you picked up that helped you find your voice?

Of just like, what do I— what are my touchstones? Like, what do I value? And I, and I can narrow it down to very specific things. And I will say that it changes based on the company sometimes that I'm working with. I mean, so my wine bar brand and how I, you know, position that, what we believe in, is very different than, you know, my MS company brand. And so I do have to think about that. But then I have—

That's your value proposition. What are you offering and what do you bring to what you offer? Why do you care about it?

It really is that. The value— what's your value What do you bring to the table? I look around a table and what does everyone have that I don't? And then what do I have that everyone else doesn't have? And, and really figuring out like, oh, that's what I bring to the table. I do XYZ and I do it better than anyone else.

And that really does help you clarify because we're Bio from the Bayou. So we're all about biotech, medtech, healthtech, all that stuff. But what is your niche in that area?

Yeah. And then you also have to figure out what's natural to you because there's sort of that voice piece of it that is I think intertwined with brand. I mean, would you say that's fair?

Absolutely. Because if it's not genuine, then it's fake.

And I think as we get into the world of AI and everything is ChatGPT, and you can tell when someone uses ChatGPT beyond the use of hyphens and emojis that they love to put in there so much. But like, I think that that voice piece is more important than anything right now.

Well, I think that it kind of leads to one of our next sections, which is, you know, you want to have that professional polish, that kind of ChatGPT-written thing, but you want to have that personal authenticity.

How do you do that? And I'll tell you my cheat code.

Yeah. What do you do? So when I want to like have ChatGPT help me comment on something, like I posted 2 articles this week that were describing amazing science at Tulane and 2 of our amazing researchers. And I threw it in ChatGPT and said, hey, here's something I've written myself. Model your prose after this.

Yes.

And you know, it's something I've written personally before that I was proud of. So it reads very genuine. There are less typos when ChatGPT does it for me. Right. They use big words. Ian's dying over here. He's like, oh my gosh. Way less typos when James uses ChatGPT or didn't. If I'm ever kidnapped and send a note and there are no typos, they'll be like, yeah, it's not him. Figured it out.

But that kind of brings another question, like, what do you decide to post to build that credibility? Because you can have your voice and your brand, but if people don't care about it and they don't think that you're bringing a valuable conversation to the table, like, how do you do that?

Well, I think it can't be about you. It has to be something that you're passionate about is the way I view it. Occasionally there are things You know, if you get an award, it's okay to post about that. But, you know, I always, on the rare occasions when that happens for me, I try and use that to leverage and highlight other people who have helped me to get there.

No, that's true.

You know, it very much for me, I think my brand, and I leaned into this forever ago, is about connectivity and building community.

That really is your brand.

It's natural and organic. But most of what I post is about that and about trying to highlight others and connect others who I feel can help each other move forward.

Yeah.

And I think figuring out what it is that cranks you, I mean, I'm mission-driven, and I'm driven by helping people connect and And whatever they're passionate about, help it move forward, because I was not the best scientist. Lasted very briefly, made paint, washed it dry, hated it, got out. But I still love science. I love medicine. I love healthcare. And people who love that, like Ian's dad James, or Lisa Maricci, his work spouse, Dr. Lisa Maricci, or Dr. Hedwynn Brooks, or Dr. Sarah Lindsay— I can name millions here, but it's why we do what we do.

I think that's a really great example of how you have taken your passion and you've overlaid that to something that you're also very good at and what you truly believe in. So those are also interconnected. So when you do post something, you're not thinking like, is this on brand? You know it is.

Or yeah, I hope it is.

Well, for me, it's, am I funny or did I curse? And that's, sometimes I try too hard on both, but I think that you really do have to make sure that it's what you naturally can do because otherwise people, again, that authenticity piece is really hard.

Well, we mentioned LinkedIn and I think that for folks in this space, It used to be somewhere you would leverage, and now I think it is the place to leverage.

It really is. Yeah. And you touched on this, which I really loved, of the, like, the types of content. Like, you can post that you made an award, but honestly, LinkedIn is full of that crap. And I'm gonna say crap. I mean, I'm just gonna— I mean, how many times have you scrolled down the feed and you're just like, oh, I'm so honored to do blah, blah, blah. You know, what are people getting out of that? And I think like what you do is you bring something to the table when you post on LinkedIn. So how do you get people to think about What do they bring to the feed?

Yeah. And I think figuring out like, what are you interested in? Because odds are, if you've built a community, a tribe, a group of people around you, they probably care about a lot of the similar things. And so a lot of times it's not even something that I've done. It's something that I've read that someone else has done that I just think is great. And I'll just reshare it with like, hey, I found this really interesting. If you're into AI and healthcare, if you're into immunology or whatever the thing may be, Check this out. Just trying to highlight somebody or something I haven't seen before.

But that, I think that goes to like what you're also very good at, which is really good at connecting and networking in a genuine way so that like you're not trying to get something out of somebody. Like you're not— so that when you go and talk to someone, it's not transactional.

I'm trying to get a laughter and fun. I'm trying to get you to laugh.

You're trying to feel pretty. It's fine. We get it. But like that networking piece is, you know, the how you've built a relationship. It's not the business card you exchanged one time.

It's, hey, I thought of you and And my memory's not always like I'll remember a face more than a name a lot of times. I'm like, I know we've met and I'm sorry, I'm terrible. And as I get older, it's worse and worse. Well, you know, I'm very upfront about it, which I think is also part of my brand. It's like, hey, I know you and I will hug you and I might need to ask you your name for the 47th time and I'm really sorry.

You are a hugger, but you're a very good hugger. So also your brand.

Well, true. So beyond hugs and I loves you.

Yeah.

Beyond beyond hugging and connecting. Yeah, that's big. She better love you to say it.

I think part of my brand was building on the fact that I'm not a hugger.

But okay, so you have a brand, you have a voice, you figured it out. Wait, are we like matter and antimatter? Is that what you're saying?

Well, we're not supposed to be in the room for very long with each other or bad things happen.

Poor Ian. Yeah, I scheduled this podcast recording, I'm like, uh. It's our energy, you're welcome.

Okay, so you've established your brand, you know who you are as a person, you've figured out your life journey, you know how to network. How do you then grow your audience? How do you become Just more than a voice, you start really branching out.

Well, so I think that is, A, you've built your network in person, B, you followed up with them and connected on LinkedIn.

So important.

Because that is where you do things. You've made those networks, that network, you're not just randomly requesting people. Ugh, I hate that. Or people, you don't have to have met people if you've read something they've done or watched a podcast they were on, or watched, watched, listened to, I guess podcasts are video now, could be watched, or you saw them on a panel and you say, hey, I really enjoyed this, would love to connect. I will connect with anyone who actually—

Sends a note.

Listened and references something. If it's just a, hey, I'm expanding my network, I'm like, I don't know you.

I don't know you.

But so, you know, and that part is part of your brand too. Like, do you actually take the time to go visit Miss Manners and be like, hey, here's how you do a note to somebody.

Yeah, crazy how that works. Damn ChatGPT, you can figure out a way to connect with someone beyond just like, I wanna expand my network. You know how many requests I get for that? Like, you're just gonna be one of thousands on that.

I'm not passing. Do you bother to delete or you just leave them unread?

Just leave them unread.

So that is also Elaine's brand. But also, I'm guilty too. If I don't know someone, I'm like, wait, 'cause when you build that network, there is that value, and there's that value in keeping your network, I think, safe and secure as well, where if you connect with somebody, then they get access, and they become a first-degree connection. And part of your brand you want as well is that you don't wanna be exclusionary, but you do wanna make sure that it is folks who make sense to have in that circle.

Well, and it's kind of embarrassing when someone says, hey, I saw that you were connected to so-and-so, can you give me an introduction? I'm like, I don't know them well enough to do that, Or I don't know who that person is that I just accepted their connection request forever ago and I don't remember.

In 1914.

Yeah.

Who knows what happened back before LinkedIn was even a thought.

Back in my day. But yeah, that's such an— you don't want to be a connection whore.

Yep.

And there's so many of them out there.

Well, because again, we talked— we referenced this earlier, but that all becomes part of your personal brand and who and what it is. And that is a direct corollary to your organizational brand.

Oh yeah, definitely.

Because what's the key thing people want in folks, Elaine?

Money, power, time. Trust. Oh dang it.

I was giving her the tea and she's like, time.

Candy. Tea.

Time. Topanga Canyon. No, trust, right?

Trust.

Yeah, that's true.

Maybe for you.

Elaine's like, I don't got to trust you. If you want to invest in my company, call me.

Give me monies. Give me monies. Yeah, no, that's true. It can be really hard to build trust. And that's I think that's what you bring when you post things is that people trust your opinion. You've established that credibility. You have a good connection with people. You're very genuine about things and therefore they begin to trust you and you become a source.

Same for you and I'm always shocked because people will— I went to a conference last year that I was speaking at and I had 3 people go, I signed up for this because I saw you were here. I was like, why would you do that without calling me? You don't know, maybe they offered me money. No one's offered me money, but if you want to offer me money to come speak with you, talk. Seriously, I was blown away. away. I was like, wait, what? You showed up because you saw me here?

Yeah.

Why?

Well, how do you— but that's imposter syndrome, right? Right.

1,000%.

Like, how do you get over that? Like, it's so hard. It feels like you feel kind of gross. No.

Yeah. Alcohol helps.

Yeah, that's true.

But bourbon James is super James.

Definitely. Yeah. But that's hard to figure out. Like, am I at the point where I am credible and that why should someone listen? And you feel a little bit gross when you're starting to promote yourself too.

I mean, I still, I still being, what, 55 years old, still have imposter syndrome. And I'm like, why do people think this about me? And I know you struggle with that sometimes too.

100 billion percent.

And I often sometimes wonder if you ever don't feel that, does that, does that mean you're too full of your britches? I don't know.

That's a good point. Like, I think that's a—

Because I don't think I'll ever get past it. I don't know.

Yeah. Like, are you— yeah, you might be a little too full of yourself on that, at that instance.

Maybe not.

Yeah. I think there's things that you probably don't feel like you're an imposter and then Some, yeah, you absolutely do. I mean, it can be challenging though, but you have to start somewhere. But I think it goes back to like, what can you authentically do? Because that way you don't feel like you're pretending to be something you're not. Like, if you're not funny, don't be. You don't have to be.

Or don't try.

Yeah, yeah, it's cool.

Be the person who has the dry sense of whatever in the corner.

Yeah, exactly.

People like, oh yeah, it came out.

And if you're not an emoji person, don't use emojis. I mean, I would communicate only in GIFs or GIFs, whatever you want to say. I won't get into that debate.

Choose Ebombs, choose GIF.

But if I could only communicate in that, I would be a happy girl. But you know, there's— you just got to figure out like what is the thing that you can naturally resort to.

Yep. And that helps you become that key opinion leader, which I think is one of our final topics for the day, is that really helps you get to that space. And we talked a lot about LinkedIn and personal networking, but I think, you know, put yourself out there. If there are podcasts you like to listen to and you have something to say, say, hey, I'd be happy to hop on as a guest. Comment, you know, the comment section. Don't beat people up and be mean and cruel, but definitely, you know, it's okay to engage in debate. Just do it in a civilized way.

Yeah.

You read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team if you need to know how.

Well, and we read a book back in the day called U-Turn. And I think that that book was Y-O-U.

Shout out to Ashley Stahl. Ashley Stahl. Still one of my favorites. Changed my life post-COVID. Love you, Ashley.

But she definitely helps you think of like, what do you care about? And so like, really take some time to figure that out. And that's your true north. When things are chaotic and and terrible, or you don't know who you are. If you know what your brand is, you can always use that as a touchstone.

And do you know what Ashley is doing with her brand now? I don't know if you've seen this because she's pivoted again. She is coaching people on how to be keynote speakers.

Oh, that makes a lot of sense.

Which makes so much sense because she's kind of grown from just coaching in general to here's how to become a KOL and build your personal brand. And we had not planned to talk about that.

Well, and I know Ian is giving us the wrap it up signal, but at the same time, like, I think this is a good point. Like, your brand can change.

Yes. Evolve.

And should. Yeah, absolutely. As you change, as you evolve, as you move into a different career or stage of your life.

As Elaine makes you grumpier and craving being at home and watching TV alone versus going out.

Oh, you're right.

She'll text me, she's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm on the couch watching TV.

And I'm so very proud of my baby for being on the couch out there late.

I was like, but will you pour a drink at your house and then I can pour a drink at my house and then we're not drinking alone.

We can be out buddies together.

It's like we're out together, but we're not since now you've made me a hermit.

I mean, hermit lifestyle is the best lifestyle. But, you know, I will say like it does— you will change over time. I was the go-getter, you know, wanting to shake hands and kiss babies when I was 20-something. But now, mm-mm, I'm not gonna do it. I realize that's not me.

You kiss less babies. You invited a few babies to the house tonight.

Well, and you know, a lot of people don't want their babies to be kissed because yeah, it's honestly crazy.

They could start the next pandemic.

Like, why are there so many babies around me right now? This is weird.

Ian is 25 now. He's a quarter century. He's not a baby anymore.

I'm not a baby.

He's a baby.

He's baby.

He's Susan's baby. I always will be.

But you know what? I think that I realized I am not the kissing baby kind of person, and I embraced my not a hugger. And that's cool. I leaned into that. But it took me a little bit to figure that out. And it became easier. Until you broke me. Exactly.

But anyway, speaking of breaking, Ian's going to break us in a second if we don't wrap this up.

Any last-minute thoughts on personal brand? No.

But for folks out there who do want to connect, tell us you listen to this podcast.

Yes.

One thing you learned from it and connect with us on LinkedIn.

100%.

And then you can kind of watch what we do and I will be happy to share with you. And we should actually do a whole just LinkedIn podcast, I think, at some point.

Yeah.

We talk about— there are several in— I don't know if they're influencers, what you call them now, but people who are sharing a lot of information on how to do this on LinkedIn. And I follow them and like, oh, ChatGPT can do that. Perplexity can do that. Like, there are so many tools that can be helpful.

You just got influenced.

Just on LinkedIn. Oh, thousand percent.

That algorithm knows you well.

Was I got influenced? But did Ian just like throw a finger at me or something? He's like, shut up, wrap it up. Elaine, Elaine, do you want to finish this so I stop talking?

Be you. That's horrible. That's so da da da da da.

Just do you. Be yourself. Be yourself. Be yourself.

Be yourself. Nope, nope, that's not.

Oh no. Singing every time. I love the singing. The wrap-up of the whole podcast.

Yeah. Yeah, no, but that's also genuine.

You missed my get down with PPP. Now you know me for public-private partnerships.

I don't think that should be your brand. As your friend and therapist, that can't be your brand. Anyway, figure out who you are, figure out what you want to do.

And if you don't know, ask your friends. That's one of the things we learned from U-Tune. Yeah, ask 5 friends, what are 3 words you think of when you think of me? That is a way to figure out your brand, and that's That's an excellent point to leave people with.

I love it. Nothing else to say there. All right, guys, join us next time.

And when should they join us in October, Elaine?

Ooh, they should join us for Bio on the Bayou where you get to see our brand on display. That can be a threat. Yeah.

Oh, wow. Live and in person.

Live and in person. Please join us. It's a great opportunity to learn about science and maybe learn about yourself so you can get your personal brand.

And if you're attending and you want to start to build your brand and you have some topic in biotech to talk about, Reach out to our producer Ian. Tell him I'm attending BIO on the Bayou. I know you're producing a few podcasts there.

And we can interview you.

I'd love to make a pitch. He's a tough cookie. You gotta get past him and convince him why he should wanna write a panel packet about you, but he's willing to do that.

He's very bribable, I think.

Yes, definitely. Bring me food and I will let you on the podcast.

Oh, I thought it was gonna be money. Oh, okay, great. I mean, money too.

Money second. So your brand is Taco Bell? Is that what your brand is? Yes, exactly.

Hey, live modestly.

I mean, we tried Taco Bell before. Taco Bell, we're open to sponsorship, please. We love you.

Oh yeah. James, I just ended on the perfect phrase ever. Live moss. I mean, that could have been the outro. Hey everyone, live moss.

Thanks for joining us for Bio from the Bayou, and we hope you'll join us again.

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