Overcoming personal branding’s biggest challenges: 148 ideas and insights to take control of how people think about you

FastCompany: Ryan DiLazio was a rock star at his job. On paper. It was 2022, and DiLazio was a manager of social marketing and strategy at a global advertising agency, where he was working with such brands as Sour Patch Kids, Chicken in a Biskit, and Nutter Butter, all subsidiaries of the food giant Mondelēz International. Technically, DiLazio’s role only encompassed ideating social media concepts and scheduling them, but he was regularly taking on more creative work, too—including designing Instagram posts and recording TikToks .

Soon, DiLazio’s creative work was taking off: His wacky, deep-fried TikTok strategy for Nutter Butter was regularly generating millions of views, while an activation based on the hit show The Summer I Turned Pretty was garnering major praise from higher-ups. “The president of Mondelēz is on an email thread going, ‘This is the best work I have ever seen from our brands in years,’” DiLazio recalls. Behind the scenes, though, DiLazio received a different message. “I got put on a PIP,” he says, using the HR acronym for “performance improvement plan,” the first step on the road to potentially being fired.

For DiLazio, who’s built a personal brand around identifying and playing off of the weirdest trends on social media, it was a moment of whiplash. He’d been hired for his personal brand, only for it to be called into question. “I can no longer count the number of times I’ve been both hired and punished by agencies for having the ‘fresh perspective’ they’re looking for and my ‘fingers on the pulse of culture,’” he says. “I have been plucked from the internet for my tone of voice, for noticing things others don’t, and for a willingness to try new things.

Each factor can so easily become a double-edged sword.” I interviewed DiLazio for a special report on how people are building their personal brands in 2026, featuring more than 200 insights (you can read that here ).

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tcompany.com\/91582246\/personal-brand-special-report-207-insights-ideas-grow-brand-career?utm_source=fcwebsite\u0026utm_medium=promo_block\u0026utm_campaign=91611379","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91604489,"imageMobileId":91604719,"shareable":false,"slug":"","wpCssClasses":""}} When we spoke, DiLazio had moved on to become a partner at his own creative agency, Loudmouth , and managing editor of the digital culture newsletter and creative advocacy agency Silence, Brand!

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The article addresses significant challenges in personal branding that can affect career trajectories, particularly for underrepresented groups, making it impactful and relevant, though the insights may not be entirely novel in the broader context of branding discussions.