It’s time to reintroduce myself. In fact, in some ways this is more like the first ever introduction. Because most of who you’re about to meet, you won’t have ever come in contact with before.
Would you believe that as soon as I finished the last sentence, my body tensed up a little and I struggled to write the next sentence? I literally started it 5 times before finally committing to one.
I’m sharing this ↑ because this is actually the point of the (re)introduction. To breach the limits of the comfort (aka safety) zone that previously kept me stuck (aka partially hidden).
But I’m skipping ahead.
First thing’s first: Hi! I’m Kat Elizabeth. Legal name Katherine Elizabeth.
Yes, that’s my real name. And no, it’s not what I was born with.
“Katherine Elizabeth Wigmore” is how I came into the world.
Then at 20, I switched out Wigmore for another name – one that felt like an upgrade at the time. Not only because it sounded way cooler (I hated how “regal” my name sounded – almost like it was pre-destined that I would NEVER be cool, sexy or a bad-ass), but mostly because it gave me a [false] sense of identity since it was a name I “chose” through marriage.
…Yes, feel free to take a moment to facepalm for poor, naive past Kat 🙄
Aaand, moving on…
But when the marriage ended, so did my connection to that name, and eventually I got so sick of feeling like I was diluting my identity by keeping it, I decided to legally change it. And so, Elizabeth got bumped up from middle name status to surname status (Yass, Queen! 👩🏼🎓)
Which brings me back to the point of the reintroduction.
Along with my name-related identity crisis, it hit me recently just how much of me – the real me – hasn’t been apart of my “public persona”.
As a recovering (lol – half joking) professional actor, I’ve almost been too good at branding myself and curating the polished image the majority of people recognise me for today.
And while I’m all for a certain about of image “curation” for the safe of professionalism and privacy, I’m not ashamed to admit that mine went far beyond that — though it’s taken a long time to get to the point where I could even see it, let alone understand what was behind it… what the underlying driver was.
Now at this point it probably makes sense for me to mention that by trade, I’m a personal branding & business coach.
In other words, my entire professional mission has been dedicated to helping my clients create “authentic” personal brands & develop the courage to “show up” online in a way that feels good…
No, the irony is not lost on me that in admitting I’ve not been sharing the real me with the world, I could look like a hypocrite. To which, the me of even a few months ago might have felt shame about it, felt like a fraud, questioned whether it was smart to even talk about this… the list goes on.
However, this is a shame-free confession for a few reasons.
1) My reasons for protecting myself were legitimate and important – as everyone’s are – I was in my integrity doing this, not trying to manipulate or trick anyone (except maybe myself?? 😵💫)
2) I believe how much of someone shares of themselves online needs to be determined by the level of safety they feel to do so and should never be forced – something I ensure all my clients do.
3) I’m grateful I had the opportunity to experience something that so many struggle with – to work through it personally and embody my learnings which I’m now so excited to “pay forward”.
…And as much as I’d like to keep the list to 3 (a much more memorable number according to experts!) the big one:
4) Because no one should ever need to feel shame for doing their best.
…Which brings me to the real real point of this (re)introduction.
I’ve spent years coaching clients who, despite varied backgrounds (from photographers to musicians, elevator consultants to non profit founders) all struggle with the same things: fear, self-doubt, shame.
And something that has helped them all is knowing that they’re not the only one (something easy to believe due to the lack of transparency online and therefore lack of evidence that their struggles are normal).
So with me having gone on that very journey – having faced the same fears, doubts, shame and general messiness of being a human attempting to do something meaningful with their life… meaningful and visible… it hit me that there’s no better way for me to put my own visibility to use than by getting transparent about what this journey actually involves.
The good, the bad and the downright embarrassing.
With that said…
pulls off mask
Hi, hello, I’m Kat. Your friendly – and anything but fearless – neighbourhood personal branding / business / magnetism coach. And this is my official commitment to radical honesty.
To sharing the works in progress, the experiments (successful and anything but), the thought process, the questions and aaaall of the emotions.
On this platform, specifically – because it won’t be the only place I’m showing up, but I’ll get to that another time – I’ll be dedicating my share of the pixels to…
- the journey of unbecoming aka why we put these masks on in the first place
- what I discovered in my efforts to feel comfortable enough to remove mine
- and why deciding to “build a personal brand” often leads to unearthing fears & facing shadows you didn’t even know you were carrying (yay!)
If that sounds like your idea of a fun time (the content, I mean… not the whole facing your darkest shadows & questioning your identity part!) then I’d love to officially welcome you to my journal.
And if this isn’t even close to what you signed up for, then I promise I won’t be offended if you use this as excuse to close this tab and head elsewhere.
However, if you do decide to stick around, I’d be so happy to hear from you so I know you’re (someone… anyone?!) out there.
So please feel free (ahem: strongly encouraged) to drop a quick comment and introduce yourself! And while you’re at it, let me know if anything I’ve shared so far resonates.
Either way, thanks for reading!
— Kat
