Getting Married & My Personal Brand

Last September, I got married. It was a small, intimate coronavirus influenced wedding that had originally been planned for June. We had to change our plans quite significantly and were lucky enough that we were able to. It was a brilliant day. We had a small party and felt like some normality had returned (whilst also feeling good about supporting a sector that has been completely hammered in 2020). Like I said, we were lucky.

After the joy of the wedding and our honeymoon in Scotland had passed, I was speaking to one of the company leaders in my work about personal development and a very familiar topic reared its (ugly?) head once more… my personal brand. It made me think… hang on, I’m changing my name… are people going to forget who I am? Will they be able to find me? Will they think of me differently? Now, not only was I feeling some slight sadness around losing my surname (I’m very proud to be Welsh, and my Welsh surname has been part of my identity my entire life), but I was also slightly concerned about how that could present itself in my work life. So, I felt like I had a very difficult decision to make. Do I change my name in the work environment?

It made me think again about authenticity. I’ve always thought being authentic is one of the biggest assets we all have available to us, and is also key to a strong personal brand. If I didn’t change my name in the work environment, would I still be authentic? Well, yes, probably. It wouldn’t change who I am at my core, it wouldn’t change my values, or where I grew up, or what I like to do at the weekend. But could it change people’s perceptions of me? My new surname (Truman) has quite a few connotations, thankfully quite strong positive ones. In my extended family we have surnames that don’t give quite the same feeling of stature and history. Do those connotations now become part of my personal brand? How many times have you ever made assumptions about someone because of their name before you’ve even met them?

Ultimately, I’ve decided to embrace it. I’ve got an uncommon first name, so I’m hoping people will be able to work it out and still know who I am. If I didn’t have an uncommon first name, then I expect my decision to embrace my new surname and remove my Welsh roots from my online identity may have been harder, but as it is, I’ve had a slightly easier choice to make.

So here it is… my new personal brand…. Ria Truman. A shopping addict, dog lover and digital experience enthusiast who grew up in South Wales and speaks multiple foreign languages. Hopefully you'll still recognise me!

(Now I just need to get into the office to sort out the admin!)