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Hey honeys and hustlers,
Today, I’m bringing you some words from Adebukola Ajao, the writer behind the Each One Teach One Weekly newsletter. This article is actually in response to one I wrote previously. I really appreciated her reaching out to me on LinkedIn and sharing her response to the article, and I’m glad she was open to sharing them with all of you as well. If you have thoughts on anything I’ve written, please reach out to me. I read every message (even if it takes me a minute to respond)!
P.S. Adebukola isn’t the only community member featured in this article. Keep reading to see who’s in our community spotlight this week!
When I read Angela's piece, I sat with it longer than I expected to. Not because it surprised me, but because it named something I had been living for years without a clean framework to hand someone. She was right. Every word of it. And I am proof.
I built a six-figure brand strategy and digital marketing agency without dancing online. Without trending audio. Without a ring light positioned just so. Without a carefully curated lifestyle aesthetic to sell alongside my services. What I had, and what I have consistently leaned on, is my voice. And that voice was built long before I ever showed up as a business owner.
Before marketing, I was a writer. A freelance writer who got published. Teen Vogue. Blavity. Across the book platforms. I wrote because I had something to say, and I kept writing because the saying of it sharpened me. My voice was cultivated before my body ever walked into the room. That matters. It matters because so much of what passes for personal branding right now is performance first and substance somewhere later, if at all. I came up the other way.
The internet has always been an intellectual space for me. When I started showing up online as a business owner and consultant, I was not figuring out who to be. I was translating who I already was into a format the feed could hold. That is a different starting point than most people have, and it explains a lot about why I never felt the pressure to perform the way the algorithm seemed to demand.
What Angela's piece gave me was permission I did not know I needed to hear articulated out loud: consistency for non-video creators is valid, it is powerful, and it works. I have been doing it. Right now, I run a series on Threads called "My Day as a CEO." Every day, I chronicle what I am actually doing, how I am thinking, what I am working through. It is not glamorous. It is not a highlight reel. It is a clear, running record of what it looks like to operate at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and business ownership.
People find it hard to categorize me, and I understand why. I am constantly sharing ideas. How I interrogate marketing. Where concepts intersect. What I notice about the way brands behave and what that behavior costs them. I do not tell people much about my personal life online, not because I am guarded, but because my ideas are the thing. My thinking is the offer. If you follow me for long enough, you know exactly how my mind works, and that is more valuable to the relationship I want to build than any detail about what I did last weekend, although I indulge occasionally.
This is what Angela's framework captures, and what I want to add to the conversation: your voice does not need a hypervisual container to carry weight. The feed will always reward novelty and spectacle in the short term. Over time, what endures is a consistent point of view. Readers, clients, and collaborators are not just looking for someone to watch. They are looking for someone to think alongside. If you are a non-video creator, you are not behind. You are in a longer game, and the longer game is the one that pays.
I did not build what I built despite choosing words over video. I built it because of that choice. Because I knew what I was good at, I leaned into it fully, and I showed up with that every single time. No detours into formats that did not fit me. No apologizing for the absence of a camera.
Angela called it a quiet cult. I heard my call early. After ten years, I am still answering it.
Thanks for reading! 💌
Adebukola Ajao is the founder and CEO of B.D.Y. CONSULT LLC, a boutique brand strategy and digital marketing consultancy based in Boston. She is the creator of the Brand Before Bucks™ methodology and an Adjunct Professor of Social Media Strategy and Marketing Analytics at Northeastern University.
🚀 Community Spotlight
Darnell Brown is a seasoned neurospicy creative polymath specializing in digital branding, marketing, and storytelling, with an alter ego named Cocoa Silk (yes, you should totally ask about him).
During a 14-day sprint in the summer of 2023, he launched Forge: a mastermind ecosystem community that enables creative entrepreneurs to grow their impact and income—without sacrificing their values and worth—as coequal experts through cross-pollination and experimentation. Furthermore, he grew agitated that creatives don't have as much leverage as they should in business relationships, even though nothing gets made or done without them.
As a designer and strategist, Darnell has served over 300 clients since 2008. The brands he's worked with include J&J/BAND-AID, Typeform, Circle, Leadpages, and Teachable. Be sure to check out his newsletter and podcast!
Open to: promo/ad swaps, guest/interview swaps, newsletter co-recommendations, being a mentor (so reach out to him!)
Want to be featured in this newsletter? Add your name to the Creator Database or nominate someone by replying to this email! I’d love to share your story and what you’re working on with our community!
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