Episode 21: DEI champion Tess Palmyre on building a personal brand with humanity
Welcome to episode #21 of The Thought Leader Show, hosted by Bec Sands and Andrés López-Varela. This ep is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and if you enjoy it, we would love it if you could please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends.
In this ep, we interview Tess Palmyre, the founder of Brandable, an independent and WOC-owned agency that champions inclusion in brand strategy, communications and design. Tess works with purpose-led brands to centre DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in their marketing and communications, and has a clear mission to build inclusive brands, from the inside out. In her work, she advocates for genuine representation and equity for underrepresented groups. Recent clients include Foodbank WA, Volunteering WA, P&N Bank, Valued Lives, and Ember Connect. Tess is also an educator, a musician, and an executive committee member of WAMA (WA Marketing Association) as their DEI lead.
A proud Seychelles-born, Creole woman of colour, Tess has spent most of her life living on Noongar Country and is the foster mum to two young Noongar djookian (sisters). In her spare time (ha), she listens to jazz records and reads dystopian fiction
Show Notes
03:23 How Tess navigates honesty while building her personal brand while still protecting her privacy
04:36 Some of the deliberate steps Tess has taken to build her personal brand and share mistakes and stumbles as well as the good days
9:20 How Tess shares her lived experience through her personal brand but creates a careful balance
13:05 Why it’s so important to choose the stories you share publicly and how Tess makes the intuitive decision to share or not
19:45 What Tess thinks about thought leadership and how it can feel fake, and what to do instead
24:17 How marketing can muddy the field of thought leadership and it needs to be reframed
28:36 The ‘Thought Leader Five’ rapid-fire questions with Tess
Connect:
WAMA (WA Marketing Association)
Further resources:
Parable of the Sower, Octavia E Butler
The Thought Leader Show features in the Feedspot Top 45 Australian Leadership Podcasts
