Build Your Personal Brand Now ft/ Goodstory's Gina Clementi

Personal branding isn’t about LinkedIn clout—it’s about career clarity, visibility, and opportunity.

In this episode of Your Work Friends, we’re joined by Gina Clementi, founder of Goodstory, to break down what a personal brand actually is—and why it’s becoming one of the most critical career assets in today’s job market.

As layoffs rise, AI reshapes work, and careers become more fractional, being good at your job is no longer enough. You need to be known for something.

In this conversation, we cover:

• What a personal brand really is (and common misconceptions about LinkedIn and “thought leadership”)
• The difference between competence, visibility, and being remembered when you’re not in the room
• Why professionals without a personal brand miss out on jobs, promotions, and opportunities they never even see
• The psychological cost of corporate “shape-shifting” and hiding behind company identity
• How to build a personal brand while staying in a corporate role
• Practical advice for introverts, skeptics, and people who hate posting on LinkedIn
• Why AI makes authenticity, judgment, and humanity your biggest differentiators
• How networking, digital presence, and personal brand now matter more than resumes alone
• What the future of careers, fractional work, and professional identity looks like heading toward 2030

Whether you’re navigating a career transition, exploring consulting or fractional work, building leadership visibility, or trying to future-proof your career in an AI-driven economy, this episode will help you get clear on the story people tell about you—and how to own it.

🎧 Listen now to learn how to build a personal brand that opens doors, attracts opportunity, and actually feels like you.

About Gina Clementi: Gina Clementi is a global brand strategy and storytelling veteran who's built emotional and business impact for brands like Nike, Adidas and Micron. She helps individuals and business forge deeper consumer bonds through narrative driven creative, strategy and digital experiences.  

Gina's LinkedIn

Goodstory 

About Unleash:

REINVENTING HR.
TOGETHER.

MARCH 17 – 19, 2026
CAESARS FORUM LAS VEGAS

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. We are not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.

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Transcript

Why Personal Brand Matters Now

SPEAKER_03 0:00

When you start to post on LinkedIn, the cringe starts to go away. Eventually you stop giving a shit.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Yep. Yeah. And everyone sucks at the beginning of everything we have. I sucked.

SPEAKER_04 0:11

I said we all suck.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

I came out glowing, you guys. I don't even know what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome to your work, friends. I'm Francesca. And I'm Mel. We break down the now and next of work, so you stay ahead.

Meet Gina And The Core Idea

SPEAKER_00 0:36

And today we're talking about why you need to build your personal brand now. Here's the deal: being good at your job keeps you employed, but being known for something that gets you reached out to. And that's the core idea from our latest guest, Gina Clemente, who is the founder of Good Story. Your personal brand isn't posting online or even just thought leadership. It's literally the story people carry about you when you're not in the room.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah, most professionals already have the competence, but the differentiator now is clarity on who you are, especially in an AI-saturated market. If your work is strong, but your presence is vague, you're invisible to the opportunities that are waiting for you. So we want to open those doors. With that, here's Gina.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Gina, how are you? I'm great. How are you guys? Living the dream. Doing great. We're here today to talk about personal brands. And Mel and I have talked about this for a long time. One of the best investments I think people can make with their time and sometimes even with their money is really investing in your personal brand. But a lot of people have wildly different misconceptions about what personal brands are and why you need them. So I want to start by asking like, what the hell is a personal brand?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

A personal brand is your personal story. A personal brand is not someone that's going to go out and post a bunch of selfies. It's not becoming an influencer. It's not gaming the algorithm. It's figuring out what is that story that you have going on in your head and how do you articulate it to people. This is basically like the leap behind when you leave a room. This is the story you want people to know about you. It's like an emotional shorthand for who you are as a person.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

One of the things you've talked about a lot with Good Story. And if you don't follow Gina on social media, you totally should because she has so many insightful posts about corporate brand, personal brand. And one of the things that you've talked about a lot is the importance of people building their personal brand now, whether or not you're in corporate or you're outside of corporate. Why do you think it's so important for people to build a personal brand?

SPEAKER_03 2:57

So I thought about this a lot. I spent over 12 years at Nike. And this kind of also led up to me creating my own thing. I had an individual development plan. I had goals for myself. And I thought if I did the work and showed up, it would be enough. And I think in today's world, it's not enough. You have to think about what your personal story is because your personal story is the handle that people carry in the room with you. So it's the thing that you leave behind, it's the thing that they know about you, it's the thing that helps you get called out in rooms that you're not in. And it's authenticity to who you are as a person. If I did it all over again, I would probably invest more time in defining my own personal voice and getting super clear on what that was. And it probably would have benefited me in the long run had I still stayed there or moved on to other roles outside of that. I don't think there's ever a wrong time to start it, but I don't think it's ever too early to start creating your own personal brand and really developing it.

unknown 4:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

What do you think are some of the costs of not developing one professionally and maybe even psychologically?

Costs Of Not Defining Your Story

SPEAKER_03 4:17

I think psychologically, it's exhausting if you don't develop it because essentially what you're doing is shape shifting into whatever corporate speak that you need to speak, and you start to lose a little bit of yourself in that process. Professionally, I think it closes a lot of doors if you don't start doing it. And when I say it closes doors, it's closing doors that you don't even know are possible. One of the things I always tell people when I worked at Nike, I was in it. I was so excited to work there. It's Nike. And of course. Yeah. Who wouldn't be excited? And I would get phone calls from recruiters, and I never took the phone calls because I thought that this was going to be the thing for me. But it's what I tell people now is take the phone calls, start to learn about who you are, understand what opportunities are there. I'm not advocating to step outside of your career necessarily, opportunity presents itself. But the thing with a personal brand is if you're not investing in what your voice is and being super clear on that, those recruiters may not call. You may not get approached for speaking engagements. When they start to think about new roles within the company, they may not start to think about you because they you don't have that uniqueness and that authentic personal brand showing up.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Do you need a personal brand if you're not leaving your organization?

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Yes, you absolutely do. And I think that for me, when I think about hindsighting of things I could have done differently, when I was at Nike, what I had done is I had created my IDP. I knew exactly what my career trajectory was. I knew what I needed to do. What happens when you leave the room? You hope your work speaks for itself. And it could be really strong work, but there are things that make you super unique. And you want to make sure that story about you and what makes you unique, what your fingerprint is left behind when you leave that room. And you don't know what that could do in terms of opening opportunities, whether it would be within your brand and they could promote you. They could find a new project for you that is amazing. You could get phone calls about speaking engagements, you could get job opportunities present presenting themselves. You could have a simple empowering feeling from even just owning something that's truly yours. And I think it unlocks a lot with people when they start to feel that empowerment piece.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Good sense of uh self-worth and even just a sense of self. Who am I? Oh, a hundred percent. Francesca and I are official media partners with Unleash America, the conference coming up in Vegas, March 17th through the 19th. Over 200 speakers on 17 stages, rethinking HR together. And we'd love to see you there. We have special discounts for our listeners. Hop on over to LinkedIn, reach out to us if you're an HR and you would like to attend that conference. We'll be happy to share a code with you.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Okay, I want to get into some brass tacks here because you run the gamut for working in brand with corporate clients and building people's personal brands, and you have a framework called the brand of you. How do you even start to think about your personal brand?

SPEAKER_03 7:38

If you're working with me, because I do think that sometimes to create your personal brand, you really do need that outside perspective.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Yeah.

Do You Need One If You Stay

SPEAKER_03 7:44

And I needed it. I actually worked with someone as I started to do this. You need that outside perspective because we get so stuck in our heads and you need that encouragement and that coaching. I approach developing personal brands much like I would an actual product or another company, with the exception that I don't start with your consumer or your audience. I start with who you are as a person and get to know you and start to tap into the things that make you special, things that drive you. One of the things I like to do is poke around a little bit to find out what is that thing that really gets the person fired up in life. What is that? And you can see it when you hit that moment with them where they start to light up. And then we figure out from there, like really truly, what do you want? What are your goals? What do you value? And start to craft that mission statement for them. And that mission statement is not a tagline, it's not a name for whatever they're doing. It's that guiding principle of what they're setting out to do with whatever they're building in their personal life.

unknown 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

So it's a little bit like working with other companies and other brands, but I don't start with the consumer. I start with them because we need to dive deeper into who they are and really figure out what is your fingerprint.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

I love starting there though, because it's going to be authentic. It's going to be genuine. It's who they are, it's what lights them up, as opposed to forming you into something that you're not going to be able to embody as you're working with anybody. That makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

I think in today's world, it's even more important because we start to think about the prevalence of AI taking over so much that if we can figure out what is that human piece within someone and that authentic piece, it's going to really differentiate people in that market too.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

When you're thinking about crafting that mission and that who are you piece, is there like one big ass question that people really need to think about? The one prompt.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

I like to ask people what they think what is broken and what can what needs to be fixed. It's asking probing questions to figure out what are those things that really light someone up and get them fired up. What is that one thing out there that they think is truly broken that they need to fix? If they could. And it could be like totally abstract. It doesn't have to be like a widget here or some social issue. It could be, it could be. It's but what is that thing that they that drives them, that motivates them that they could fix? Not within themselves, just in the world.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Oh, that's fascinating. Yeah. There are things where I start talking about it and you can see probably like a whole change in me and my body and how I carry it.

unknown 10:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

So how do you find that thing with that person that changes their whole body composition where you can see them light up about it?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

I love the idea of starting with that mission and finding who are you when you're bringing yourself to the work. And I find this with a lot of people, they might know who they are, but they can't put it into words of what they offer to people or their positioning statement. It's like the words of when I say who are you, Francesca? And I'm on a 20-minute diatribe about my brother and everything else. So I'm curious about how do you move somewhere one from like knowing who they are and their mission to then putting it into a brand statement or a positioning statement? What's the next step there?

Conference Partner Announcement

SPEAKER_03 11:11

We start to craft it. A lot of people think about that positioning statement as they will come into a room and say what their skill set is or what's on their resume. And what I want to make sure I do with people is the positioning statement says who you are and what you do. And you can walk in a room and just say, I'm a brand advisor. And that could mean a billion different things. So when we start to craft it, I figure out what is that differentiator for that person. And make sure that you're developing a statement for them that actually articulates who they are and leaves that fingerprint behind for them. And it's it's not vague because vague is safe and you don't want to be safe. And if you're safe, no one remembers who you are. And that is a problem.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yeah. I think people fall into this a lot where they're like, oh, I do culture work or I do brand, and you're just like, but if you're talking to someone that could be a potential client or could get you to your next promotion, having that descriptive statement is important. What would be an example of a good one?

Gina’s Framework: Start With You

SPEAKER_03 12:22

A good one. Okay. I work with early stage founders on helping them take their story and turning it into a growth engine. Or I work with early stage founders helping them to take their scattered marketing messaging and turn it into a revenue driver for them.

unknown 12:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

That would be a little bit more specific versus me coming in and saying, hey, I'm a brand advisor.

unknown 12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

A brand advisor could be anything. I could advise on anything.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, I that's the thing. That's the thing. I once heard someone say that the riches are in the niches. And I feel like that's that statement. But that's the thing too. When you give me that statement, I automatically know who you work with. And in my mind, I'm thinking, do I know anybody that does that? Because I can connect you with people that are early stage. I know somebody who needs that work. It's a lot easier for me as a listener to connect the dots for you. 100%. Let me ask you this. What's the smallest action they could take in the next 30 days to move the needle towards their personal brand? Start posting.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Okay. Maybe twice a week. Do not farm it out to AI. So do not have Chat GPT write whatever it is that you want them to talk about. I'm not saying you don't need to use AI. You can still use AI, but do not farm it out to them. Post minimum two days two days a week. Do a couple posts, test out. Also start engaging with people. And when I say engaging, it's not just like commenting on a post, love it. It's hey, I really love this concept that you're doing and having a point of view and start expressing yourself. And starting to test to see what kind of works, especially that engagement piece and like engaging on people other people's content and having a point of view, you'll start to see a little bit of a lift start to happen. Do any of us like LinkedIn?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Necessary evil.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

But if they're like, they're feeling, oh, I don't want to be cringe or how do I even get started? What advice would you give to them?

Mission To Positioning Statement

SPEAKER_03 14:48

So I was there. The first thing I always tell people is I don't know a lot of people that really love LinkedIn. You have to get over a cringe factor of starting to do it. So when I started Good Story, I wanted to actually invest in my personal brand because I realized I couldn't separate me from Good Story. I wanted to make sure that I was finding people that understood who I was as a person and wanted to align themselves with me. And if people don't like the way I think or my opinions on things, then they're not the right fit for me. So for someone that's afraid of posting on LinkedIn, I think there's a couple things. Number one, and this is a lot of the advice that I got when I started doing it, if you want to start posting and you're scared of posting on LinkedIn, you can always try on other platforms to start to kind of work out some of the keys. Number two, when you start posting on LinkedIn, you have to think about the amount of content that people are getting throughout their feeds. And if you have to post something absolutely horrific for someone to be like, whoa, hold on, wait a second. And I one of the people that I met with when I was starting to think about my personal voice, she told me, she's you just have to do it. And eventually the muscle gets stronger as you're doing it. And if you post something horrific, it'll be fleeting and no one will notice, unless it's absolutely horrible. And she used the analogy of someone used a picture of a urinal to create a thought leadership piece. And she was like, that has always stuck with me. So it has to be really bad. But if you think about the pace that people are putting out content, you have to think about like it'll float by at some point. You have to show up, you have to test and learn. And it's developing a muscle. It's just like working out. When you go work out, you start to get stronger. When you start to post on LinkedIn, the cringe starts to go away. Eventually you stop giving a shit.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yep. Yeah. And everyone sucks at the beginning of everything like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

I sucked. I still suck.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

I came out glowing, you guys. So I don't even know what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

I sucked. So I started posting stuff and I was trying to figure out what my thing was and how to really work the system. And I think this is what happens with a lot of people when they work within a brand is you start to have this like corporate speak and you start to translate things into a way you think you need to show up. And there's a lot of people that show up on LinkedIn writing posts and saying things because it's LinkedIn friendly. For me, I have people that I consider my personal board that are friends and colleagues and family members that are able to give me insight. And I was out with a girlfriend having drinks one night, and I've been trying to post stuff. And she said to me, She goes, Gina, I love you. But what you're posting on LinkedIn, that shit's sound really uptight right now. She wasn't wrong. She knew me well enough to know that she could be blunt with me like that. And I totally received it. She said, You do really well when you have a clear opinion and you call shit out. And some of my highest, highest performing posts were the ones where I just got fired up and I was like, This is my this is what I think. And then I put it out there and to see the reaction that I get from people, I'm like, okay, I'm onto something. Being me is working here.

Concrete Examples Of Clarity

SPEAKER_01 18:12

I think people get into that trap. You're in an organization, you get onboarded, they're like, put this banner on your LinkedIn, and then they send you the social to post out, and you get in that cadence of posting for your organization versus posting for yourself. There's real risk and like losing. What is what do I really think here? And do I even agree with this point of view? And people start to get scared. Can they have a dissenting point of view from their organization, potentially?

First Steps: Post And Engage

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Why couldn't they? There are people that will drink the Kool-Aid of their company and they're in it. And they think their company's in it for them too. And so they start to say the exact same things that the company wants them to say, and they start to speak in that corporate language. But inevitably, and I never wish this on people, but inevitably we will realize that we're line items with the company. We have a skill set that they do not own. And when we leave that brand, you take those skills with you. And you may learn stuff at that company that you take with you into your next role. They don't own that, you own that. So how do you tell your story in a way that people understand what you do? And the things that make you unique and move you forward in life.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

That leads to some of these common myths that I think people either think or hear or repeat for themselves. When you hear being good at your job versus what you're known for, I love what you said. It's what people say when you leave the room, but sometimes that might not align either, and could just be that's the job you do, but you're not actually known for what you'd like to be known for. So what's the difference between being good at your job and then being known for something?

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Being good at your job keeps you employed. Being known for something is a thing that gets you reached out to. One is competence, the other one is clarity. Most people have the competence, and I think for a long time I had the competence. But the clarity is, I think, the big unlock for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Get that on a bumper sticker. Yeah. Embrace the suck. Yeah. Something I often hear, because you and I spoke about this. We both have coaching clients. I work with a lot of folks in career coaching. And it was a barrier I also had to get over. Francesca, I hope you don't mind. I'll go back to our early days. We sat at your dining room table for two hours, afraid to post that we were starting this podcast. Because it was such a departure from the corporate lives we led publicly on LinkedIn. It's totally refreshing. And I think high performers can often get stuck in, I want to be humble. I don't want to brag about myself. It feels like I'm being a braggard. Who am I to think I'm special? I hear these things all the time from my clients. But is that hiding hurting us? I think so.

Beating The LinkedIn Cringe

SPEAKER_03 21:05

We confuse communic bragging with communication. And communicating about your work is not bragging. It's giving, as I mentioned before, it's giving people a handle to carry you with. If your work is strong and your present doesn't reflect it yet, that is an issue. People will not remember you when you leave the room. I think there's a lot of us that we think that the work is going to speak for itself. And when you leave the room, you want to make sure that people know what your story is or who you are or the thing that makes you unique. Your brand is your fingerprint in what you do. So that is what you leave behind. And I that's how I view it. I've spent years in my career making sure that I was not bragging. I think I spent a lot of my lifetime doing that. And I think we as women get in our heads a lot more. More than men do when it comes to this piece. And once you get over that hurdle of realizing it's just a lack of communication, it's so freeing and empowering. But we're also so afraid of doing it because we're so afraid of judgment. And we shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

What advice do you have for the person who's really struggling with that judgment? You need to start doing it.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

And it's scary. You guys sat at the table for two hours thinking about posting your first podcast. The first time I created a video and put it up on LinkedIn, you guys should have seen how many cuts that I have. It's incredibly scary. Take that first jump. Now you guys are putting out podcasts and you probably don't even think twice about what you're doing. It's so easy to do. So you just have to make the jump to do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

What do you think happens to the future of resumes in the future of work?

SPEAKER_03 23:00

I think it's still important, but not as important because people are gonna Google you and they want to know who you are and what they can find. That's even more valuable than just having a resume. And I'm not saying don't do a resume. Absolutely have a resume. But the investment from my lens that's more important is what is your footprint that you're leaving digitally behind? How can people find you and how can you differentiate yourself? So the resume is important, but not as important as really figuring out your voice and putting yourself out there digitally.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Sure. What's one thing that people think shows up as authentic, but it's actually just oversharing? What's the line?

SPEAKER_03 24:10

I've seen some pretty bad stuff out there. I've seen people having some hot takes that I'm like, did you actually think about that hot take? I saw a guy just recently post about how he's a better writer because he's not married. And he was like low key bragging about how the wife wouldn't come in at 11 and bother him when he's writing. And I'm like, really? That is okay, that's what you're going with. Interesting choice. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta think about that one a little bit.

Your Story vs Company Script

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Can I tell you mine? Yeah. I still am not over it. And I'm not gonna name who this person is, but I saw on LinkedIn this person was a coach, like an executive coach. And he was talking about the issue of men having to schedule sex with their wives because they're so busy and they have to schedule what he called the monthly insertion. Ew. This was a post on LinkedIn. There's a level of being authentic, and then there's a level of actually me being like, I don't want to hear that from you, bro. I really don't want to hear that from you. And I'm not a prude.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Yeah, yeah. That's definitely oversharing. That's weird. That's oversharing.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

How pissed would you be if you were his wife? Yeah, no kidding. I would be livid. Divorce town central. Yeah. I'm all for v being vulnerable and sharing things. Yeah. But the insertion time, I don't want to know about people's sex life on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

I don't either. I don't, I'm sorry. Like, I'll hear about it. You hit me up on the gram. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

It's not on LinkedIn. The post where the guy was writing about how he's a better writer because he can write in his underwear and drink whiskey at 11, and no wife is going to knock on the door and nag him. I was like, wow, that's a bold take to take right now.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

But I can smell the parts right now. What's the most underrated personal brand asset someone can have?

SPEAKER_03 26:07

I jokingly say the most underrated thing is dogs because I'm not married and I don't have kids. But I have a fur child and her name is Olive, and she's my chief marketing officer. And she has FOMO and she shows up. And so one of the beautiful things that happened when we started going into remote work is you get some insight into people's lives. And I think that is one thing that, as you were saying, is a benefit. For me, like Olive will always show up on calls. Yeah. That's one thing that you could bring to the table within some of the content is like, what are those personal things that make you need me? I'm a crazy dog lady.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

I'm okay with it. How do you know when it's really strong? If you're not in the room, so you're not there here if people are talking about you. So what litmus test can someone do to see if it doesn't line, if it is strong?

Good At Job vs Being Known

SPEAKER_03 26:53

I think you're gonna see it with the engagement that you get. And that engagement isn't necessarily a like or a comment, but there's also what I dubbed passive engagement. I get a lot of feedback from people within my world that will give me feedback on the stuff that I'm doing and reinforce what I'm doing as being authentic to me. That is how I know it's working. When people start showing up and engaging with me and reinforcing what I'm doing. One thing that happened to me when I started doing this, when I started to put myself out there, I have a a VP that I used to work with that I love her. I've always like put her up of I want to be a leader like her. And one day she actually stopped me and she said, I've always wanted to do this, but I'm too scared to do it. I knew my personal brand was working when she said something to me. So little moments like that kind of reinforce what you're doing. And at a certain point, too, if you're being true to who you are, do you actually care about the people that are gonna judge you?

unknown 27:53

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

No, no, they're not worth your energy anyway. They're probably not someone that you want to work with. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

You're not in alignment if you're stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah. I think that was one of the hardest things when we started the pod and getting very social is the idea that you actually should repel some people. Yeah. And I'm okay with that. And I think a perfectionist and someone that has a massive fear of rejection, that was hard, but I'm not for everybody, and that's okay. I'm definitely not for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

And so if I'm working with someone, I like to do a fit call beforehand. And part of that is to make sure that we actually vibe as people.

unknown 28:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:31

One of the beauties of actually going out and building your own thing too is that you get the power to say who you want to work with and bring in people. That's why I started thinking about my personal brand too, is I want to work with people that actually understand me and get me. And if they don't, they're not for me, but it's not my jam.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

One last question on the hot takes.

Communicating Without “Bragging”

SPEAKER_03 28:51

How important is networking to your personal brand? Okay. Networking is huge. The thing with the market today, and I'm sure you know the job market's not the easiest job market. One of the posts actually that I had go viral for me was a post about stop giving job seekers advice on how to get their resume to stand out because it was such a bullshit hot take for me. I'm like, first of all, you have ATS systems that are filtering out people, you have people running things through AI. And then you also have ghost jobs that are being posted. And I know extremely talented people out there that are applying for roles and they're not getting the phone calls back. And that is not because they're not qualified. It is a part of the system. And so we have to go back to the old school approach in terms of whether it's building your personal brand or it's finding the next job or building your business of building those relationships with people. Relationships are huge. I have gotten all of my jobs through having those relationships and having a good relationship and personal brand with people is the thing that kind of makes you stick and be comfortable. And networking is huge. I will always tell people do it.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Especially as we're seeing more and more companies shed 4%, 5%, 10% of their workforce. It's gonna be more gig. Or are you gonna get gigs? You're gonna get gigs by people knowing what you do and who you are. And all right, Gina, we're gonna do some rapid round. The rapid round. Okay. This is the rapid round. This is rapid round. We typically do one, two-word answers, whatever comes to the top of your head. You can go longer. All right, ready? Gina. Yes. Gina! I love your dude so much. Between the Martin. Do you have Gina? And like Gina. All right. It's 2030. What is work going to look like? That's only four years away. Yeah. We should probably should say 2031 now.

Resumes, Footprints, And Oversharing

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Not an org specialist here, but I would imagine that you're going to see a lot more people that are owning their own things and building their own stuff. I I think that you'll start to see a shift on people how people view working with major corporations and identifying with it. But I think this fractional economy is going to become more and more prevalent within the next four years. And a lot of the brands that are betting on AI are going to realize they bet too much on AI. What's one thing about corporate culture you'd like to see die already? I wish they would actually give a shit about the people versus their stock price. I do love the stocks, don't get me wrong, but I think there's something to be said about it. I don't know, maybe it's the current political climate, but I actually think there's a huge white space for corporate culture to actually not only give a shit about the people that they have internally, but also give a shit about the world that they're impacting and take a stand. And I think there's a huge white space for a brand to be able to do that right now.

unknown 32:12

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

If it's for family feud, Mel and I would be like, good answer. What's the greatest opportunity most organizations are missing out on? Sounds like you just talked about the white space, but is there another one? I think that's a huge opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

I think there I think we are in a really scary time right now. We're in unprecedented times. We've been in unprecedented times for years now. But I do think there's a huge white space for brands to actually stand for something and do something versus seeing versus giving into this like political bullshit that's happening. People versus their stock price.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Both can exist. Both can exist well in balance. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

I'm a firm believer that brands and stories have power to push culture forward and make an impact. And I want to see a company do the right thing to push things forward in a positive direction. And not just for their shareholders.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

That's why I love Costco, man. That's why I love Costco. And the hot dogs. Hot dogs. But 50 plus a soda. Yeah. Over my dead body. Okay. Some personal questions here, Gina. I know this is probably going to be the toughest thing we've asked you today. What music are you listening to currently? I hate this question. I know you hate this question.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

This is like the worst question. And I get it when in my dating life. And I always have this moment of do I tell them really? Or eventually they're going to get into my car and they're going to hear what's on my Spotify. I love hip hop and pop culture. If you looked at my Spotify rap last year, but it was a lot of doji. Yeah. Yeah. I love her. I also have playlists that I've built based on the different activities I have. I can't believe I'm telling you this. Gina gets jog on for when I work out. It's all music that's set to help me work out. I even had one for Ellie, my dog, when she was going through physical therapy, but it was pump-up music that we would play as we would go. I love it. Little songs like Pretty Girls Walk, Walk. I had to get her pumped up. She's like in the pool treadmill. 100%. They had to put bumpers on her when she was doing the treadmill because she figured out how to cheat. What are you reading? I don't have a book in motion as of yet. I have. I don't know if you call it a romance novel sitting there that someone referred to me. Apparently that's a thing now again. That people are reading this.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Oh, Mike Kindle is just straight up trash. What is it? What are you reading?

Underrated Assets And Litmus Tests

SPEAKER_03 34:47

Shit, I don't remember the name of it. It's about this woman that was married to a man and then they moved apart, but now they have to get back together and fake their marriage and then they fall in love again. Type of story. Alright. I have to look it up. I don't remember the title. My two friends recommend it to me. So I went through this phase when I was young where I read just like trash novels, like really like Harlequin trash novels. And then I got out of it for a while. And then what fascinates me now is the fantasy trash. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Like the Court of Roses and Thorn.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Yeah. Like people are like way into that.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

I feel like that's why people liked Outlander so much, because it although it was like fantastical with time travel or whatever, there was this whole historical element in us, so it felt measured. I even caught my husband in the glass of our bookshelves secretly watching when I would watch it. And now he's like, when's that coming back?

SPEAKER_03 35:42

So I love that your husband is watching it in the glass of the bookshelves. I've had relationships with people. I love 90-day fiancé. Oh, I do too. It's so good. I'm so into 90-day fiance. And every time I've dated someone, they're like, I'm not watching it. And I'm like, that's fine. You don't have to. And then you'll hear from the other room, why is she doing that? I'm like, just come in the room and watch.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Don't judge me. If you're sitting there watching it, yeah, he'll do the same thing. But now he's hooked on Love is Blind and Outlander.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

All right. Who do you really admire? I have so many strong women in my life that have different qualities that they bring to the table that I love about them, which is why they're all on my personal board of directors. I have a very strong relationship with my niece, and I admire her. First of all, she's building her own practice right now, and she's incredibly smart and incredibly strong. And those are some things that I love about her. And she's raising a really great kid. So I respect and admire that so much about her. And then I also have a 98-year-old grandmother. I had to think about it, she's turning 99. She likes to tell me that she's turning 99 in um May. So, or 98 and a half. I love my grandmother. She's full of piss and vinegar. I don't know how else to say it. And she always gives me the best advice, even though I don't think she realizes that she's doing it. But she's always been the person that will say something to me every once in a while. She's the reason I have olive. She told me to get the dog, Gina. Get the dog. And I'm like, I love anyone that tells me to get the dog.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Those are two great examples. That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. Last question. A piece of advice you want everyone to know.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

You just have to do the thing. You have to do it. Don't wait. There's never gonna be a perfect opportunity to do anything in life. And if you wait, the only thing you're gonna regret is waiting.

unknown 37:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

And there's a lot of stuff that I've regretted waiting for, and I don't do that anymore. So build a life.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Yeah, just do it. There you go. Talk about lining up with corporate.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Don't wait.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

Gino, where can people find you? People can find me on LinkedIn or on it's a good story.com. I'm always open for conversations with people. I love talking to people. And I like to think that I'm moderately funny and a good conversationalist.

Networking And The Job Market

SPEAKER_00 38:18

So I agree with that. Agree. Yeah. You're more than moderately. Awesome to talk with you today. Thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

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