At the invitation of Sarah Behunek, Director of Alumni Relations, I had the privilege of doing a video shoot, with Tonya Riggs Clement, for the University of Colorado Leeds Business School.

In case you don't know who she is, Tonya is one of the Everest Peace Climbers. In fact, she’s the twentieth American woman to scale Everest, and the fifth of just nine American women to have reached the top via the treacherous North Ridge. She also heads sales for Stonewear Designs, a manufacturer of women’s rock climbing and yoga apparel; and she is co-founder of Beyond Everest where she creates and delivers multi-media presentations designed to encourage individuals and teams to reach peak performance.

Tonya became a client and a friend, after she attended Reclaim Your Career: Professional Presence in a Social Media World, which was sponsored by CU Leeds, and co-facilitated with my friend and colleague, Carol Ross. During our videotaping, Tonya told me that one of the main reasons she and Kitty Bradley, President of Stonewear Designs, had come to the workshop was to better understand social media and use it in their marketing efforts. And the workshop did lead to insights that helped the company better use social media marketing and business communications on Facebook, representing about 25% of their marketing effort, and allowing them to connect with young, hip buyers that would be hard to reach in other ways.

What Tonya had not expected was to start a journey that helped her discover her own brand story.

At the workshop, one of the ideas that “popped” for Tonya was the need to have a strong LinkedIn profile. She simply felt hers wasn’t adequate. Moreover, she felt that with differing areas of professional activity she really needed two profiles. As well, she had not mentioned her Everest ascent because she didn’t want to have people feel she was boasting.

In working with me on her profile, she set out on the path of discovery and ended
up finding that the central theme of her life, climbing and reaching higher, is reflected in what she does now, and in what she’s always done. That theme is the core of her brand, and it finds expression in all the events that are part of her brand story. In seeing her theme and how it shows up in her life and work, she and I were able to craft a LinikedIn Summary that tells her story in a differentiating and compelling way.

Since posting her LinkedIn profile, Tonya has attracted inquires from an array of people, including new people who want to learn more about her and her professional activities, as well as old business colleagues who became aware of her athletic accomplishments and motivational speaking. Today, she is a believer in the value of social media as well as the power of telling one’s brand story online. As well, she’s seen that her story has the power to touch and motivate others, without being “braggy” at all.

On some level, you might think that a person who’d reached the top of the world wouldn’t need to work on her brand story. But she did, and you should too. Everyone has a brand story waiting to be told. Tell yours and open the door to a new world of connections and opportunities.