Why I Almost Deleted My Own Name (And Why You Should Use Yours)
A vulnerable conversation about imposter syndrome, brand equity, and the revolutionary act of standing in your authentic brilliance
Hey Gorgeous, Can I Be Honest With You?
Today, I almost deleted my own name from my content.
I was creating social media posts for my Self-Care Kitchen series, and there it was at the end of my caption: #AndreaCallahan. My finger hovered over the backspace key. That familiar whisper started: “Isn’t that pretentious? Who do you think you are? People will think you’re full of yourself.”
And then I stopped. Because I realized I was about to do the very thing I counsel my clients never to do, I was about to shrink.
This moment? This is the work. This is what I mean when I say: Your self-worth is the strategy, your inner work is the practice, and your brand equity is the legacy.
The Question Every Woman Building A Personal Brand Asks
If you’ve ever questioned whether you should:
Use your name in your branding
Claim credit for your ideas
Charge what you’re worth
Take up space in your industry
Call yourself an expert
Put your face on your content
...then you know exactly what I’m talking about. That moment when visibility feels like vulnerability. When claiming your space feels like arrogance. When owning your brilliance feels like bragging.
Beautiful woman, that’s not intuition. That’s conditioning.
Why Using Your Name Isn’t Pretentious, It’s Brand Strategy
Let me share what I had to remind myself today, and what I want you to remember:
Your Name Is Your Brand Equity
When I use #AndreaCallahan or you use #YourName, you’re not being egotistical. You’re building searchability. You’re creating a digital trail that allows people who resonate with YOUR specific voice, YOUR unique frameworks, YOUR particular wisdom to find more of what you offer.
Think about it: When someone discovers Brené Brown’s work, they search #BreneBrown. When they want Joy Reid’s perspective, they search #JoyReid. When they need First Lady Michelle Obama’s wisdom, they search #MichelleObama.
You belong in that conversation. My frameworks, The Brand Becoming, Inside-Out Branding™, 10 Faces of She™, #BrandBodySoul, also deserve to be found. And they’re inseparable from ME. May audience is not as vast as the aforementioned dynamic women, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s still valuable for the one woman who needs to hear it. Maybe that’s you. If not, share it with someone who needs it.
Your Name Protects Your Work
In a digital landscape where content gets shared, borrowed, and sometimes stolen, using your name is how you maintain connection to your intellectual property. It’s how you track where your ideas travel. It’s how you build the legacy that outlasts any single post or product.
Your Name Gives Others Permission
Every time you use your name unapologetically, you give another woman permission to do the same. Every time you stand in your brilliance without shrinking, you show someone else that it’s possible. That it’s not only acceptable, it’s necessary.
In today’s social and political climate, it’s critically important to be clear-eyed about your worth. It’s necessary to fill your cup with self-love. Self-love fuels the confidence you need to stand tall in your authentic brilliance. In spite of the world trying to make you shrink, and in some case, make you disappear all together.
The Inner Work of Brand Confidence
This is where Inside-Out Branding™ becomes real. Because the question isn’t really “Should I use my name?” The real questions are:
Do I believe my work has value?
Do I trust that my voice matters?
Am I willing to be visible even when it feels vulnerable?
Can I hold space for my own brilliance without apology?
These are Body, Soul, and Spirit questions. This is #BrandBodySoul work:
Body: Your physical presence in your brand: your face, your voice, your name. The house you live in and the house you’ve built.
Soul: Your truth teller that knows you’ve earned this space. Your desires, your purpose, your “this matters” conviction.
Spirit: Your connection to something larger: the legacy you’re building, the community you’re serving, the impact that extends beyond you.
What I Did Instead of Deleting My Name
I kept it. And then I did something more important: I examined why I wanted to delete it in the first place.
Because here’s what I know about Brand Becoming, it’s not linear. Even when you’ve done the work, even when you know better, those old patterns will resurface. The difference is how quickly you recognize them and what you choose to do next.
Today, I chose to:
Acknowledge the fear without letting it drive the decision
Remember my why and the women who need to find this work
Align with my truth because I’ve earned the right to use my name
Take the aligned action by keeping the hashtag to own the space
That’s the practice. That’s the inner work that becomes your strategy.
An Invitation to Stand Tall
My love, if you’ve been hiding behind your business name, your LLC, your “we” when it’s really just you, I see you. I understand the impulse to create distance between your tender heart and the judgment you fear.
But here’s what I want you to consider:
The community you’re meant to serve? They’re not looking for a faceless business. They’re looking for YOU. Your story. Your journey. Your specific alchemy of wisdom, experience, and perspective that only you can offer.
When you hide your name, you make it harder for your people to find you. When you shrink your visibility, you rob them of the transformation you could facilitate. When you play small, you model smallness for the women watching.
And beautiful, you were not made for small.
Your Becoming Practice: Claim Your Name
This week, I invite you to practice standing in your authentic brilliance:
1. Use your name. In your hashtags. In your bio. In your content. Without apology.
2. Examine the resistance. When you feel the urge to hide, get curious. What’s the fear beneath it? Whose voice is that really?
3. Reframe the narrative. “Using my name isn’t pretentious, it’s strategic brand building.” Say it until you believe it.
4. Look for evidence. Notice every thought leader, author, and expert you admire. They use their names. You belong in that company.
5. Give yourself permission. You don’t need more credentials. You don’t need more experience. You need to own what you already have.
The Legacy You’re Building
Remember: Your self-worth is the strategy, your inner work is the practice, and your brand equity is the legacy.
Every time you use your name, you’re making a deposit in your legacy account. You’re building brand equity that compounds over time. You’re creating searchability that serves the community that need to find you.
But more than that? You’re doing the inner work of believing you’re worthy of being found.
And sister, you are. You absolutely are.
So use your name. Claim your space. Post your designs. Publish your thoughts. Proudly share your expertise, skills, talent, and special gifts. This is not the time or space to be modest. Bodly do so with confidence, without hesitation, and without downplaying your abilities.
Stand in your brilliance. The world needs what only you can offer, and it needs to be able to find you.
I’m standing tall in mine. Will you join me?
With love and unwavering belief in your brilliance,
Dray 🦋
Your self-worth is the strategy. Your inner work is the practice.
Your brand equity is the legacy.
PS. Continue Your Becoming, Ready to stand tall in your authentic brilliance? The Self-Love Handbook, is your guide to the deep inner work that becomes your outer brand: shadow work, heart chakra healing, and the practices that build unshakeable confidence. Start your transformation here.