You might not notice Jackie Huba at a conference. Like many professionals, she blends into the crowd. The one place you’ll notice her is when she’s on stage. Of course, you won’t know it’s Jackie at first.
Huba has a secret and her name is Lady Trinity. If you’re lucky enough to meet Lady Trinity at a conference, it means you’ve unlocked raw marketing potential. Lady Trinity is Huba’s drag persona. Although she is well-known in the drag community, her persona makes few appearances at marketing events.
Jackie Huba has been a strategic marketing executive for over three decades, now advising and speaking to large corporations like Dell, Discovery, Whirlpool, Disney and Ameican Airlines. She is a bestselling business author, contributor to Forbes.com, and TEDx event speaker. While she’s made a name for herself in corporate marketing, she believes her branding success is largely credited to the lessons she learned in the world of drag.
After performing as Lady Trinity in drag shows and competitions she has a new perspective on building a bold brand for you and your company. She now incorporates her drag persona into her keynote speaking and consulting to help show how to build your personal brand. Here are three big lessons she wants to share with everyone trying to make an impact with their brand.
- Be Authentic
Drag is about maximizing what you already have inside of you, not being someone you aren’t. Anybody can create a drag persona (yes, women too) because it’s just about being the most confident and bold version of yourself.
In this sense of the word, you’ve been familiar with drag characters your whole life. Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, and Beyonce are all examples of women who created a larger-than-life drag character to give them the confidence they needed to make it in a cut-throat industry.
Huba explains through the process of finding Lady Trinity that creating a big version of yourself will help you with your personal brand by giving you a confident alter ego you can fall back on. Creating your persona also helps you identify the traits you really like about yourself and want to showcase.
She applies her drag philosophy to marketing your company’s brand as well. When you craft your brand you want it to be authentic in every way–big, loud, and unable to ignore. Consumers can see past schmoozy sales pitches that are all fluff to grab your attention, so authenticity is key.
- Take Creative Risks
Not only will your consumers ignore the B.S., but they’ll also ignore you if your voice blends in with all the other voices. You need to take creative risks that are true to you despite “the haters.” As long as your risk-taking feels authentic to you, Huba says to “tell your critics to sashay away.”
Not everyone will love everything you do, but everyone will notice you and talk about you. As long as you’re living true to your values, then talk is welcomed.
- Create Shareable Moments
In Huba’s speaking, she will transform audience volunteers into their own drag personas and give them a grand entrance where they can give life to their characters. In drag, every time you perform as your persona you are sharing something very real, exciting, and memorable with everyone who watches.
Huba believes you can take this idea and inject it into your brand. Within your marketing, you want to allow your consumer to be a part of the experience, whether it’s relating to your brand story or finding a way to interact with them like competitions or social media engagement.
If you want your personal brand or your company to be larger-than-life, follow these tips from Lady Trinity and be the boldest version you can be.
