 It's still me with you here and this is the last conversation at least for me and then the next one brand Saco will be coming up with MCM now we are on youth and career and we want to talk a little bit about personal branding and refining your etiquette of refining your personal brand and etiquette guidelines and rules that are there and for this we are joined by an expert. We have coach Alice Muhira who's an image and etiquette consultant to guide us through the conversation. Karia Rusana. Asante. Glad to have you with us. I'm so honored. Okay you would tell us a little bit about yourself. I know I've introduced you but what does coach Alice exactly do? Break it down a little bit. Thank you. My name is coach Alice Muhira. I'm an image and etiquette consultant. I help executives and business owners to refine their image, expression, presence, presentation skills so that they become more convincing, more conversant and more converting in their career. Okay interesting so this applies to everyone. Yes. For a youth that's just looking into getting a career they can also refine their image, right? Yes. So tell us how for a youth that's just looking into getting a career how should their image look like? How should they build their personal brand? That's a very interesting question. As we know the human mind is judgmental and we all judge Bezingun appearance. Before I came to this interview just by looking at you I can make an assumption on your professionalism and expertise just looking at how you carry yourself, how you're dressed, how you speak, your posture, your guides and all that contributes into judging you in one way or another. So I help executives win that first state of making a correct lasting impression. Yes. Okay so there's a way and I have to acknowledge that how you seated tells a lot of you being you know it qualifies you being an image consultant and you know clearly you do you how do you call it you practice what you preach. Yes. Alright still on matters youth so how should they give us the one two threes of creating a good image presenting a good image when you go out there for an interview let's say we can start with an interview how do you create a good image before you even start to be questioned. Yes my main goal is to equip you with what I call my five piece my five piece start with your poise head to toe how you look how you dress it doesn't have to be expensive but it has to be the right thing the right colors the right cuts the right texture the right type of hair the right type of makeup the right type of nails all that and then the second P will be your presence presence yes how you fill up the room how do you overtake the room when you're there without doing too much the third element will be your presentation presentation how how you introduce yourself in social settings in professional settings how do you build that good rapport that is going to be convincing to your interviewer or you're even romantic prospect not necessarily career wise but how do you make that good impression that build rapport the fourth P is your posture for people who don't know posture talks a lot about your personality how you sit if you sit in a manner that you man spread your legs or you you take over the space you are using so much hand gestures you are front on the face our non verbose speaks a lot about ourselves I help you govern your non verbose so that you build confidence that takes over and this apply to introvert extroverted people to help you take over your body and really lead from within okay I help you build confidence from the call you don't have to depend on a good hair day you don't have to depend on free pimple day how do we become confidence with all those adversities that you are going through with that limitation on speech with not being so much eloquent how can I be confident without a British accent how can I be confident as a plus size girl how can I be confident with any other thing that should limit you the fourth P will be will be your presence as I know not your presentation skills and then from your presentation skills will be the power of partaking power of partaking yes how do I articulate how do I convince how do I learn take the person to the next level how do I convince the person here has the emotional intelligence part the convincing skills to help you navigate the social other or the professional other and the last P will be the power of parole power of parole parole how you speak do you have a tonality when you speak is there authority when you speak can people feel your gravitas when you speak you don't have to have a higher tone you don't have to have complicated words you don't have to have the whole dictionary in your head but there is power when you speak that that comes with wisdom that comes with knowledge and expertise okay yes those are my five rules that I write and and and coach young career people to break the career ceiling okay wow this is amazing and I want us to talk around this a little bit so that you can give them a tidbit I know you can't have everything here today my tidbits of all that some detail into it for the poise how should one how should one be what is the right way to force for the presence tell us a little bit about this let's start with poise poise it's basically your appearance head to toe and as I said it doesn't have to be expensive most of the people who come for my consultancy they say oh image consulting is very expensive I don't have many to do that I don't have to do ABCD doesn't have to be expensive I coach you on how to dress your body type in a manner that is going to give you a flattering image you can even choose to shop thrifted plude but you know at least you know your body you know your body type you know the colors that suit your skin tone and then how to match them in a manner that is going to give you visibility I didn't know colors so it's your skin tones that color that suits skin tones better than others let's say for me what colors would suit my skin to it like that read that bold read that you're wearing if you are to put for example a black waist on top of that blue dress it will not give you the same reflection it will not allow your skin to pop this red gives you authority okay it gives you power it gives you conviction but when you wear a black on top of the blue is going to dim your skin and it is going to affect the perception of authority that you have you are going to be less approachable when you wear black on black but when you put a raid against a blue or purple against red things like that compared to your skin tone there is a way it affect your visibility it affects it allows your skin to pop and it gives an impression of someone who is approachable who is bold who is intelligent who is blow you things like that okay wow a lot to just dressing yes just dressing alone can really talk a lot the hair texture I like that because hair texture also reflect authority it's not by accident that we see those big personal brands worldwide let's talk about women like when we say Michelle Obama for example there is already an image of a hair bulb that comes even though recently she has started changing her hairstyle she's enjoying her freedom so much but when she was in the office she maintained a certain hairstyle why because there is a perception she want to give to people that I am contented there's nothing wrong by repeating one style so you can just have one style yes that's your style that's your style when we talk about opera when we talk about Margaret Kenyatta for example let me talk local brand yeah there is a perception of a short hair well well well chopped well camped but still has authority that lady can afford any type of hair every single day but for her personal brand for leading perception about who she is as a person who is contented strong character she has one hair all through but there's nothing wrong ladies by keeping one type of hair that's inspiring encourage it when we speak about Caroline Mutoko for example she's one of the high TV personality yeah there's a type of hair that comes in the head when you speak about Caroline okay you see yeah these it's part of the treat that build character that shows a strong personality mm-hmm so ladies who are looking forward into building a career find a signature look that when they talk about Alice when they talk about you it is already a perception of your image okay yes they can quickly see you yes all right interesting now on to presence mm-hmm how do you establish your presence presence goes again with the characteristic of your personal brand how do you want to be perceived do you want to be perceived as someone who is bubbly as someone who is soft as someone who is approachable as someone who is grounded and imperative and depending on the character that you want I help you embody that character okay by having the quality that qualifies that are you a person who controls the room who makes their presence being felt when you enter a room because there are people in this world even if they enter the room even the rat don't respect them they just cross yes but there is a person who will enter the room and everything in that room they will recognize that she has come she has entered I like giving women that feeling that I take over without doing much and what does what do you need to do for someone who is an introvert but the brand needs them to need their presence to be felt when they enter a room yes how do you get them to get there because for an introvert you don't really want that tension yes but you might need the attention because of what your brand entails I think they had been a wrong connotation between being an introvert and being a timid person okay I am an introvert person but I dissociated my timidity from being an introvert so fighting that timidity and say I want to take over the room without doing much without shouting I don't have to do things that make me feel uncomfortable because being an introvert you are so guarded you don't want to be out there you don't want to do much you don't want to do a lot of talking yeah we are what we call people you don't know yes you want your space so how do I comfortably have my space and yet be discoverable by making your brand recognizable in the in the mass it need a special type of visibility that is not bold so how do I do that I present myself in a manner that I will be different from the rest without talking but the way I'm seated the way I talk the way I'm dressed the way I carry myself the way I talk to people your body language later offer a different experience with the little circle that you can handle and that will do the talking for the rest okay yeah very interesting now onto your presentation how do you build that this is another interesting part because when you know how to navigate social and professional circles in a manner that build rapport you are easily going to become interesting and people will remember you oh that's lady who did so who did that and that you will find someone's introducing themselves and say my name is so and so and I do one two three and you and what is one two three I do so many things at a time yeah I help young career people to find presentation tags that easily to remember the reason why so many people struggle with presentation it's because they don't have it already prepared it's like when you go to a closet full of clothes that are not well arranged and you are told pick a an outfit to wear going for dinner for example it's a mess and you always feel like I have nothing to wear so it is difficult to do a presentation that is complete and effective if you don't have it already prepared in your mind so you need to have different taglines that you're going to use in different settings and you just pick this when I'm in a social setting I just pick that when I'm in a professional setting I pick this so I help you construct your taglines for different settings for different settings so if you're in a professional networking event then no this is the tagline I need to use such a social setting going for dates then you know this is now the one that I'm picking yes then it makes it easier for you to know how to present yourself exactly okay makes a lot of sense yeah okay and now to posture now you've said posture and you also train them on confidence yes so give us details into this confidence is number one element that builds conviction when you have confidence it's easy to sell anything it's easy to pass is easy to pass your expertise there is a challenge that young people really face on the work market space where everyone is looking for experienced people true I think there is also a confusion people confuse expertise and experience they always think that the most experienced person is the most is the expert but that's not true because the expertise is they know how you can still have the skills with limited time of having practiced that and there are also people who have been in the industry for 10 to 15 years but they have just been there not doing so much the only way young people will make it to the ceiling top is to have those convincing skills because nowadays worldwide people buy people people follow those who knows who or who have done what and the only thing that is going to take you there is your level of confidence and people skills having the ability to convince having the ability to hold good conversation with people being a good listener people drop guidance moving from one guy to the other not necessarily because they lack expertise but because they have never had that particular extra with them they choose to go to another guy because he has more listening skills he's present he's taking time to listen to you to listen to what you want so this is the time to learn yes how to convince people how do I do I serve more extra to other people how do I become more convincing and more relevant to what people need people can find expertise everywhere but what keeps people what returns people to you it's not necessarily your expertise it's the extra service that you give them the extra care that you carry around that is the etiquette that is the part of feeling making them feel comfortable making them being hard mean being understood something simple as remembering people's name always calling them hey hi today you had a rendezvous with dr. So and so are you available do you remember that tomorrow you have your rendezvous or dropping them a simple email throughout the week how are you taking your medicine is there any side effect things like that the aftercare is what's written clients and the return the client it's easy to return a client that to have a new one new one coming on board yes yes all right and the clients that you have will also recommend others to you exactly so it's key either I don't really you will tell me your opinion about it but there's no any other marketing convincing tool as a mother of one mouth true when I refer you to my doctor you don't have to do a background check you have no doubt about yes you say oh I was referred by my mom I was referred by my friend I was referred by and it takes away the convincing part from the doctor because you have already done the marketing true so when you have your clients already on board find ways to return those because those are your ambassadors and only convincing skills people skills are the one I call them transferring skills because they are going to transfer you more clients they are going to take you further along in your career amazing I want to talk about confidence you had mentioned this when you stated on on this so confidence some people have everything they have the expertise but confidence is a problem so how would you advise where is confidence built from you know if someone comes to you and that's my liking how do you help them build it I would like to give you maybe a background check on that professionally I'm an econometrist okay so I did mathematics and and physics and from there I went to did my master's degree in statistics I was a researcher and I was this person who struggled a lot with confidence who struggled a lot with speaking in front of people wow look at you old scramble and cry my primary levels I was so bad when it comes to people confrontation okay I went to do mathematics basically because I wanted to avoid anything that makes me stand in front of people and it went on like that and I think and thank in being an introvert okay when I finished doing my studies I went to do the research because that's what what I studied for I would do a very good research very good writing but don't put me to do a presentation aha that's why you drew the line I remember one time when I finished a presentation one person who was supposed to find us to where we are used to work who say are you sure are you the same person and I'm like yeah I am because they were disconnected there was a complete disconnect and I say okay and that's when I realized I really have to work on this working on your confidence is it starts first by your mindset how you define yourself your limiting beliefs why do I think I can't talk why do I think I like the ability to convince why do I fear people what made me fear crowd go back and do the background check what made you fear crowd it is maybe something that starts from your childhood maybe your parent didn't approve you that much or maybe you have experienced so much bullying as a child maybe growing up there are so many things that happen to you that hindered your confidence in terms of image and start building that build that body confidence that is going to help you stand the odds okay and when you build that when you speak to those limiting belief and start the element of juggling helps a lot in building confidence because you are reaffirming yourself okay when you reaffirm yourself father and father and exercise speak speak to the mirror talk to yourself every morning when when you wake up try to do a public address okay in your bathroom things like that it works it works so much and I also help by teaching different techniques that I help I'm going to help you fight the fright when when when you want to speak and you feel a blockage somewhere what are the techniques that we use to help you camouflage fear would you mind mentioning a technique at least one yeah like when when when you are someone who fears speaking in the crowd or in during an interview for example you have to create what we call exit points okay exit points that the how you make your body contact your body to release that fear that that movement so you can use a thumb or you can use a point of contact on your legs for example the way you're doing or the way I'm doing try to press your one leg like that press it so hard okay place the leg down on the floor pick your left hand use this thumb and pull it press it and hide it with this pose it wow and how do you feel okay more relaxed and when you speak it number one is going to help you not use a lot of hand gestures most of the time we tend to use hand gestures when you're nervous okay when you do this it is going to give you a point of release from your upper body and that this is going to give you the point of release for your lower body so when you speak you are so grounded and the speech comes so easily so there is nothing that is blocking here because you have a point of release on the lower body on the upper body so these are some of the techniques that I train executives on how to maintain poise and how to speak with ease so that you portray confidence even if you feel so much nervous and don't show it won't show because everything it's all about creating good impression okay wow that's a I've gone in a hug yes when you are nervous wait when you want to submit your recognition are you like I don't know how to do this or just you know yes yes press this and then you hide yeah and press it you speak and then when you speak you have point of release on upper body and down body so you will not frown you will not freeze you will not feel if not feel a burning edge yeah congested so you are at you are at peace wow interesting amazing I'm sure there's so many so much more to it yes there are so much more there are many body language techniques that helps you portray confidence and build convincing skills that is going to help you become more convincing yeah wow I think we need a whole session just to to talk about confidence and how you can help the techniques that are there hopefully we're going to get her again to talk to us about it power of partaking he mentioned emotional intelligence tell us about it this this this is also another convincing layer when it comes to executive gravitas how do I portray that I am present regardless of what is going on in my mind regardless of my personal case how do I surmount that and showcase love kindness empathy warmth in my team in my junior or seniors at work how do I because we are supposed to come with love empathy even if I'm going through divorce yeah or even if my boyfriend has texted me it is over and just one made before you to do your presentation yes we are done like things like that because we have life and life comes with a lot of sauce so yeah you have to know how to navigate all that and wear different hearts in different rooms okay you are a mother your baby is sick how do I still come at work and still have that leadership capacity that I'm supposed to have and yet I'm going through a lot at home it's very important to have that amount of emotional intelligence to help you navigate the space so that you don't become that needy worker who is always whining or crying and again you so that you don't become too imperative to help you fetch the balance as you go along okay and how do you get to have good emotional intelligence how do you build on it you start by having that awareness of my strength my weaknesses my triggers what triggers me the most and now learn how to self-regulate how do I regulate my emotions how do I sometimes also embrace the vulnerability I also encourage executives that do not die inwardly trying to give a good impression to your employer it won't help how do I allow myself to be vulnerable times to times in my work space so that I don't forget to be a human okay yeah so how how okay how vulnerable can you be at your place of work depending on how your workspace is it's important to have your fundamental rights that is the freedom of expression that is if you feel tired for example and you are given an impossible deadline say I've been and well this time and I think this deadline for me is not working based on the task that the things I need to deliver I need maybe one more day I need two days things like that you can be vulnerable expressing about what you feel what you're going through in life and and what is going on in your in your work schedule claiming your boundaries as well it's important so many juniors are taking advantage in the workspace because they can't they don't have work boundaries yeah they can't say no they can't say no on long hours they can't say no on work loads they are always overloaded ask you you are young you just take this day was what are you doing on the weekend so you just can't we don't have a family you don't have a family you just come and do it exactly and even if I don't have a time to spend with the family family doesn't mean necessarily husband and wife can be me and my page it can be me and my closet yeah you and your friends it can be me and me alone yeah so it's important to have that emotional intelligence to claim your space to claim your time to stand on your standard and values and boundaries okay amazing finally on the piece that you give us power of parole and here you took you you mentioned that it's the authority that you give when you speak yes tell us a little bit more about that again this is also another interesting point because the level of intelligence the level of expertise that a person has to has to portray also comes with your expression it is when you speak that I'm able to notice how knowledgeable you are mm-hmm it's important to have deep knowledge in every area of your work if I'm into TV mm-hmm I have to be knowledgeable I have to know what is going on in the country in the world and it's important to be broad mm-hmm you have to have the right context you have to have the right words mm-hmm and you have to know how to speak in a manner that you take the person with you as you speak so I train you techniques on how you speak in a relatable manner okay yeah don't speak for the sake of speaking don't speak about the country you traveled okay there are people who you will interview there from Italy they will be telling you in Italy things are like that things are like that speak the context of something that is relatable mm-hmm take people with you as you speak how so pardon how do you take people with you as you speak try to pull them in your emotion try to pull them as you go it's like when you are reading a book mm-hmm you imagine the scene as you read okay the speech should do the same in a visual mode that I'm taking you through my speech to experience what I'm speaking and that gives the conviction part because I'm allowing you to go and imagine a scene in your speak so by the time we have done you're already convinced to purchase whatever I'm selling alright interesting yeah wow amazing I mean they are hacks to everything yes that's why you see some leaders are very easy to convince when it comes to voting because they have not those parol techniques that they take you through you don't even have to wait for the day you have already voted them yeah you've already decided from the first speech and yes they have their first campaign from you're already there you have already said this one I will give yeah okay because they have a mastery of this and there are others who have a very nice political manifesto who have a very good road map but their body language it's off it's off it's not convinced you see you were lying all through I know you won't do what you say exactly okay alright this is amazing before we finish advantage to touch on etiquette because this is also what you do tell us a bit about etiquette how are you supposed to carry out yourself when you're in business okay some business etiquette some dining etiquette professional how do you carry yourself etiquette is another element that really helps us navigate social and professional circles it's another element that that convinced the person that they are safe around you that they are safe giving you their money that they are safe employing you because they're seeing how you carry yourself and that is the importance of good manners okay your expertise may give you the job but what will retain you there what will keep you there is how you carry yourself very important I would say some basic basic basic basic business etiquette is the ability to be polite when you speak to people especially those who are lower than you the way you carry yourself the patience that you show and the respect that you carry in the office not necessarily when your senior is there because everyone is supposed to be respectful when seniors are there but how do you carry yourself to the lower staff to the people who are very subordinate I would say in a one-on-one setting not talking back it's a very good sign not talking back yes of good etiquette not interrupting people when they are speaking there are people who you are speaking to they say not to interrupt you and you're already doing it yeah not standing in the in front of in front of a lift when people are still coming out you're already wanting to go in yeah it's poor etiquette gossip in in our in our professional setting it's poor etiquette yeah not being punctual it's poor etiquette I would say all those lack of ethics can really display poor etiquette and compromise on your ability to convince how good you are as a leader or how good you are as a teammate yeah okay interesting this are basic things that we ought to know but sometimes we ignore yet they're you know they're good etiquettes to exercise what about dining etiquette sometimes you go to a networking event and people are dining so how do you carry yourself in such a setup oh yeah so unless we do a whole show on that number one thing I see is over-indulging oh okay when you go in a professional gala night and drink and drink and dance in a loose manner over-serving yourself there you go and you have a whole mountain like you know you're not going to get the same house when you go for professional dining or executive dining it's not time for eating yeah time to create good rapport so that you convince the other person that you're the right person to close the deal with okay so you don't serve to fulfill yourself it's something that you're going to pass time on as you speak as you converse it's time to build good rapport with the other person it's not time to indulge it's not time to really taste a first dish that you have ever wanted to try because it can give you a very bad experience okay so you you try out things that you're on your own on solo dates don't try to eat for example don't try to eat sushi if you have never tried it before if you don't know how to use the chopsticks if you don't know how to dip in the soy sauce and eat in a right manner if you know that is your first time okay and I know there's a whole you know there's a lot to eat in terms of dining how you're supposed to you know eat using the forks and knives and everything and maybe we're going to have a session but that's some other time yes but now I want to give you a chance to say something to the youth you mostly deal with executives understand but what advice would you give to the youth on matters image refinement and etiquette this is your camera you can speak there I would I would tell you that don't sleep on your talent don't sleep on your talent refine your image and get the presence and presentation skills that you need to be able to replace these old people who don't want to leave the seat because the only thing that is making them stay there it's because they have convinced the crowd that they have the experience and the only way you can be able to break in it's to have those convincing skills to have those people skills that that are going to help you showcase your expertise refining your image doesn't cost you as much as lack of it will cost you people will judge your appearance people will judge your presence skills people will try to caught you in a way that you look unprofessional simply because you look unrefined and that has nothing to do with your expertise but before you showcase what you can do before you showcase your know how you have to look the path and the only way you look the path is to have a refined image a convincing presence and having that ability to read to be a relatable person in your career wonderful thank you very much for the amazing amazing insights on this we hope to have you back again with us obviously alright that has been coach Alice Mojira who's an image and etiquette consultant talking to us about image refinement and etiquette if you like personal branding I hope you have taken something from it if you join in late though why are you going to get it on YouTube as soon as it as it's uploaded uploaded on Y254 channel remember to also converse with us the hashtag is wine the morning my personal handle is it's Stephanie I yet so we're going to take a short break and then we'll be right back with MCM Brian Sakua will be there for that