On June 25 NAAAP Boston and Comcast co-sponsored Personal Brand Power, a professional development workshop presented by Donna Dombrowski. The event was co-hosted by MIT and held at their Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Science in Cambridge, MA. 52 NAAAP Boston members, Comcast employees, and MIT guests attended and got acquainted while enjoying delicious sushi refreshments graciously provided by Comcast.
Mei Liang, NAAAP Boston Event Co-leader (along with Joshua Lin and Jim Fong), kicked off the session. Dean Chin, NAAAP Boston Board Member and Chair of the Scholarship Committee, welcomed the participants on behalf of NAAAP Boston. Madison Thompson, MIT Human Resources Director of Staff Diversity, offered MIT's welcome.
Lisa Strack, Comcast Senior Manager of Diversity and Inclusion, gave an overview of Comcast, including information about current employment. She invited the audience to network with Comcast staff, and then introduced the workshop instructor, Donna Dombrowski of Comcast University.
Highlights from Ms. Dombrowski’s presentation included:
How to develop a Personal Brand that will get you noticed:
- Know who you are & how you "show up"
- Be consistently authentic
- Seek and embrace feedback
- Take steps for self-improvement
- Passionately connect to your work
- Make every interaction count
- Be aware of Brand Busters – Personal appearance, Insensitivity towards an organization's culture, Guilty by association
Drive business results by developing your brand product:
Talents + Competencies + Skills + Education + Authenticity + Image + Passion + Receptiveness = Superior Brand Marketing
A lively Q&A session addressed questions such as Asian image and cultural tendencies in promoting their brand.
At the close, Jim Fong, NAAAP Boston Board Member and Professional Development Committee Co-chair, provided information about upcoming events and the benefits of membership in NAAAP Boston. Lisa Strack awarded several door prizes from Comcast, the book "The Leader's Edge: Using Personal Branding to Drive Performance and Profit", by Susan Hodgkinson.
NAAAP Boston and the Professional Development Committee Co-chairs Jim Fong and Yong-Hua He thank everyone who made the workshop a fine success: the workshop participants; instructor Donna Dombrowski; Comcast, as represented by Lisa Stack, Comcast Senior Manager of Diversity and Inclusion; MIT Human Resources as represented by Genesia Eddins, Office of Staff Diversity, Borislava Stoyanova (Bori), Staffing Services, and Madison Thompson, Director of Staff Diversity; and Comcast and NAAAP Boston event volunteers including Jean Yee Quintal, Lu Xia, Frank Goon, William Lam, and Robin Ng.
