Jessica Lane Alexander and Lori Hall McKissic spent a year planning one of the biggest leaps of faith in their professional careers.
The experienced marketers first met two decades ago, working for Turner Broadcasting. In 2019, they decided to start their own multicultural creative agency and spent the next year figuring out how to build it. In February 2020, they launched their company, Pop’N Creative, and nabbed a major contract out of the gate to create a live, in-person experience for Disney’s Freeform channel at the Essence Festival later that year.
Then the world shut down.
But the two were able to leverage their expertise and the personal brands they’d built to keep their fledgling business alive and then thrive.
“It turned out to be a wild start … it shakes you in the beginning, but makes you stronger to be able to tackle any of the pivots that might come your way,” Lane Alexander, Pop’N Creative’s head of content, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Pop’N Creative has now grown to more than a dozen employees and counts some of the biggest brands in the world as clients, including Sephora, Disney, Coca-Cola, Hulu and National Geographic. The agency created an event for National Geographic at New York Fashion Week in 2024 with models walking the runway alongside holograms of some of the animal kingdom’s most majestic creatures.
Lane Alexander and Hall McKissic broke down three of the top things entrepreneurs, creatives and anyone looking to advance in their field need to do to build a strong personal brand.
Listen to others’ opinions
It may seem counterintuitive, but paying attention to what others say can actually be a boon to your brand, Lane Alexander explained.
“Really start to listen about what people say about you and what they say, especially consistently. If you feel like you’re seeing a common theme, that’s probably part of your brand,” she said.
Notice when people are constantly complimenting something, like your glasses or how you express something, because “those are powerful moments. They’re kind of showing you that is your personality and those are your calling cards, and so you have to lean into that.”
Use social media to make people care
Though much has been said about the dangers of social media, it can still be a place for authentic connections, so learn how to leverage that, Hall McKissic, Pop’N Creative’s head of creative, said.
“We’re in a world where social media gives people an intimate look at a lot of people’s lives, and it gives you a reason to care about people,” she said.
“They want to hear how you’re doing, who you are as a person, what you’re passionate about, because it gives them nuggets to be able to feel like they know you a little bit. Even if you gatekeep certain parts of your life, think about the parts that you’re willing to offer up for free, the parts that you’ll offer up on a conference stage, the parts to offer up in a blog or whatever, and start to get that out there more. ... You can shape your personal brand that way.”
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Do excellent work
Ultimately, a personal brand only gets you so far — it has to be backed up with substance.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do this if people didn’t know us for excellent work,” Lane Alexander said. “Especially in the entertainment industry, there’s a lot of razzle dazzle and there’s a lot of sparkle. But at the end of the day, you have to have a foundation of having really amazing work.”
Hall McKissic said some of their first clients were former co-workers from Turner “because they know our work, know our brand, know we’re committed to excellence. And they gave us a shot on the general principle that ‘I know what kind of work you do, and absolutely I want to hire you.’ … That was a huge win.”
AJC Her+Story is a new series in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlighting women founders, creators, executives and professionals. It is about building a community. Know someone the AJC should feature in AJC Her+Story? Email us at herstory@ajc.com with your suggestions. Check out all of our AJC Her+Story coverage at ajc.com/herstory.
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