Shefali Sharma knows how to build a brand. Johnson & Johnson. L’Oréal. IKEA. SAP. She’s spent her career helping some of the biggest names in the world figure out what makes them different.

Then she had to do it for herself.

“The hardest thing to brand is yourself,” she says. “It is the hardest thing to do.”

Building her personal brand wasn’t the first time she faced doubt. Even her move from beauty and advertising into tech came with doubt. When she joined SAP, she “didn’t think I had any valuable skills to add.” She stayed almost a decade.

Leaving corporate to start Protégé Advising was a bigger leap. Shefali had watched people burn out, check out, and quit for years, and she couldn’t stop asking why companies can say exactly what sets them apart while the people inside them can’t. That question pulled her out on her own. The first stretch looked nothing like a polished campaign. “I’m just crying every day... how am I going to make it work? When’s the next client coming in?”

She kept going because the mission mattered more than the paycheck. She’s still working on the patience part. (“I’m the most impatient person on the planet.”)

If you’re in a job that pays well and feels empty, and you’ve lost track of what you’re even good at, Shefali starts with this: that’s normal. And the thing you do every day without thinking about it might be the thing most people can’t do at all.

Connect with Shefali Sharma, Protégé Advising

🌐 Website: www.protegeadvising.com

✉️ Email: shefali@protegeadvising.com

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/protegeadvising

📅 Free 30-minute consultation: calendly.com/shefali-protegeadvising/30min