Personal Branding Bio

Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for gen-y.  Dan is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009).  He has introduced a whole new generation to personal branding, as he opens up new opportunities and strives to elevate the practice. He has an award winning and world recognized blog, a TV podcast series that he directs, awards that he judges, and a magazine that he publishes. He has written over 40 published articles in major magazines and online resources such as About.com and BrandWeek Magazine and has been featured in media such as Fast Company, BusinessWeek, MSNBC and Yahoo! Finance.

Dan established the first 360 degree personal brand website, DanSchawbel.com, creating a new standard for career development.  Also, he engaged and facilitated collaboration around a standard definition of personal branding and created the first template for a personal press release, focusing on promoting individuals through new and traditional media streams.

Personal branding sites

• Personal Branding Blog:  The #1 website in the world dedicated to personal branding.  It is ranking #1 in Google, with a PageRank of 6. The blog has been named the #1 job blog by Careerbuilder.com and is consistently in the top 100 of the AdAge Marketing Blogs.  Over 300,000 people have read it since March 2007.
  
• Personal Branding Magazine:  Started on August 1st, 2007, this magazine has showcased some of the worlds most prestigious personal brands, including Donald Trump, Jack Welch, the Google founders and much more.
  
• Personal Branding Book:  Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success debuts on April 7th, 2009 and is published by Kaplan.  It will be your ultimate handbook for thriving and surviving in the digital world and for living your dreams.  With over 30 expert quotes, a 4-step process for personal branding success, examples and case studies, this book will change your life!
  
• Personal Branding TV:  An online TV show that explains personal branding through interviews with executives, coaching students and lectures.
  
• Personal Brand Awards:  Each year six individuals are awarded these awards.  There is one gold, two silver and three bronze awards.  The winners receive recognition in the November issue of Personal Branding Magazine and the gold winner receives a plaque.
  
• Personal Branding Articles:  Dan has written articles for the top blogs, business magazines and online resources.  His portfolio includes:  BrandWeek Magazine, Mashable, Advertising Age, About.com, PR Week, T & D Magazine, Small Business Opportunities Magazine, MarketingProfs, Collegerecruiter.com, Keith Ferrazzi's blog, JibberJobber.com, and TheLadders.com.

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is the process of how we market ourselves to others. 

Why is personal branding important?

"18% of working college graduates report that their employer expects some form of self-marketing online as part of their job."
Digital Footprints, Pew Internet and American Life Project, December 2007.

"22% of managers screen their staff using social networks and 10% of admissions officers verify potential students using social networks."
Careerbuilder.com & Kaplan

"There are 1.5 million graduating college students for 2009 and employers are only hiring 1.3% more of them.  Differentiation through branding is imperative for success."
Hartford Courant & WSJ