Want to build a powerful personal brand but don’t know where to start?

Say no more — this interview with Maria Macdonald is here to answer exactly that.

Maria is the founder and director of Cord Comms, an agency providing public relations and communication services — including branding and strategic marketing — for premium lifestyle brands and impact tech. She has worked with an impressive range of clients, including La Mer, Jo Malone London, McQueens Flowers, and Aveda.

In this episode, we cover four use cases for personal brand building:

1. If you're in a corporate career

2. If you're in the middle of a career pivot

3. If you're running a side hustle

3. If you're starting a business

Specifically, we dive into:

- Why personal branding isn’t optional anymore

- The key components of a strong personal brand

- Why LinkedIn is an absolutely crucial tool to build your brand

- How to get featured in the media (without an agency)

- The biggest challenges people face when building their brand (e.g. imposter syndrome, procrastination, LinkedIn fatigue)

Whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, pivoting industries, or launching a business or side hustle, this conversation is packed with practical strategies to help you grow your brand — showing up authentically, strategically, and unapologetically (if not shamelessly ;)).

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📩 Want to get in touch or be a guest?

- Stay in touch with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varia-pechurina/

- Stay in touch with Maria Macdonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-macdonald/

#personalbrand #careerchange #visibility #linkedintips #shamelesscareers #sidehustle #authenticity #corporatelife #careerstrategy #mariamacdonald #branding #softskills

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⚠️Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of listening to any of my publications. You acknowledge that you use the information I provide at your own risk. Do your research.

Copyright Notice: This episode and my podcast channel contain dialogue, music, and images that are the property of Shameless Careers. You are authorised to share the episode link and channel and embed this episode in your website or others as long as a link back to my podcast channel is provided.

© Shameless Careers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Shameless Careers — the podcast helping high-achieving professionals build meaningful careers on their own terms.

In this episode, I sit down with Dina Al-Alami, an ICF-certified career coach and founder of Major Confusions, a career wellness studio. In this episode, we are drilling down into what career fulfilment REALLY means. What are the components of it? Is it even achievable? And does it always mean you need to quit your job and make a drastic change? (Spoiler alert: No :)).

🔍 In this episode, we focus on:

- Frameworks Dina uses with clients to find clarity around their next step

- Practical tips around discovering your values

- Key components of intrinsic motivation (so that you can self diagnose and see which of these components may be missing for you!)

🧠 Whether you’re feeling stuck, burned out, or simply curious about your next move — this conversation will give you tools and insights to navigate your career with more intention and less shame.

👇 Subscribe for more real conversations about career fulfilment, career transitions, and the messy middle of figuring it out.

📩 Want to get in touch or be a guest?

Stay in touch with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varia-pechurina/

Stay in touch with Dina Al-Alami: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinaalalami/

#FindCareerFulfillment #CareerConfusionHelp #RedefineCareerSuccess #BurnoutToBalance #ValuesDrivenCareer #HighAchieverStruggles #CareerCoachingJourney #CareerChange #CareerCoach #BurnoutRecovery

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⚠️Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of listening to any of my publications. You acknowledge that you use the information I provide at your own risk. Do your research.

Copyright Notice: This episode and my podcast channel contain dialogue, music, and images that are the property of Shameless Careers. You are authorised to share the episode link and channel and embed this episode in your website or others as long as a link back to my podcast channel is provided.

© Shameless Careers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever heard of inauthenticity burnout?

It’s kind of exhaustion that creeps in when you push yourself really hard in something that looks impressive on paper, but is misaligned with your natural strengths (e.g. being an introvert who needs to be extraverted 80% of the time).

This topic is at the heart of the new Shameless Careers episode featuring Hanan Baba.

Early in her career Hanan was ticking all the “right” boxes - e.g. doing a technical degree (actuarial science), joining strategy and analytics at Deliveroo (a fast growing start up back then) - until Hanan faced a severe burnout that made her quit work for a year and totally reassess what fulfilling work actually means - for her.

She realised her true superpower wasn’t technical skill - it was deep human connection. And when she finally gave herself permission to build a career around that, everything changed.

In this episode we are talking about :

• The cultural and societal pressure to choose “respectable” career - technical or prestigious - regardless of fit
• Why many high-achievers dismiss their true strengths, especially when those strengths come easily or aren’t traditionally “valued” (like emotional intelligence or human connection)
• The risks of driving yourself to succeed at any cost - even if something doesn’t come to you naturally and requires 10x effort
• How accepting her true personality and values (rather than fighting them) can be the key of your career transformation
• The power of running “small experiments” or prototypes to discover what energises you before making a big career leap (and one of such experiments was a proper light bulb moment for Hanan)

I’m super excited to share this episode with you - and I hope it inspires you to accept and value your true (and unique) yourself, no matter what.

#CareerAlignment #InauthenticityBurnout #StrengthsBasedCareer #CareerSuperpower #BurnoutRecovery #HighAchieverTips #CareerTransformation #SelfDiscovery #InnerCompass #FindYourStrengths

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⚠️Disclaimer: I do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of listening to any of my publications. You acknowledge that you use the information I provide at your own risk. Do your research.

Copyright Notice: This episode and my podcast channel contain dialogue, music, and images that are the property of Shameless Careers. You are authorised to share the episode link and channel and embed this episode in your website or others as long as a link back to my podcast channel is provided.

© Shameless Careers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.