LI's Aliza Licht shares career advice in 'On Brand'

Aliza Licht — author, podcaster and founder of multimedia brand and marketing consultancy Leave Your Mark — thinks it’s about time for your career reboot, and she got the idea, indirectly, during a psychic reading.

The 48-year-old who grew up in North Woodmere and attended Lawrence High School, rocked the Twitter universe back in 2009 as the singular fashion voice of the anonymous DKNY Girl, a fictional character living a cool city life she created during her time as vice president of communications at the Donna Karan Co. Her popularity, insights and ability to harness the power of social media and marketing led to her 2015 book, “Leave Your Mark,“ a bestselling mentorship-focused volume published in four languages.

In 2019, she launched her successful podcast of the same name interviewing inspiring business people. In April, Licht released her new career tome “On Brand: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception” (Union Square and Co., $27.99) which is crushing it on bestseller lists. We caught up with Licht to probe the odd bedfellows of psychics, career advice and the digital billboard at Nasdaq.

So why another book right now?

True story. I was in a reading with a psychic who randomly said to me, “ When are you going to write another book?” I said, “I’m absolutely not,” but three weeks later I got texted by my editor out of nowhere and she said, “Would you be willing to meet with an agent?” And I wrote, ‘Why?’” And she said to write your second book, and again I was like "Absolutely not. What would it be on?" She wrote, "PERSONAL BRANDING" in all caps. That was the impetus.

Sounds kind of fated. But what’s the current need for branding?

The strength of your personal brand is your career insurance because we see what’s happening with the economic downturn and layoffs and people are not necessarily in front of people anymore, so having your name mean something can help keep your professional longevity secured. What is the headline when you’re not in the room? That is the definition of a strong personal brand.

Your first book was directed toward college grads entering the workplace, what about “On Brand?”

It is more grown up. Everything in it is geared to professional development from CEO down. These are not things they teach you in college. It can be as granular as you’re looking to pivot industries and you want to think about how to shape that narrative so people understand you are qualified even though it might not be on your resume. Maybe you’re someone who wants to be promoted, or someone who keeps getting passed over for a promotion. You could be a mom who left the workforce, had kids and wants to come back in and reposition yourself.

You’re known for your social-media chops but not everybody wants to be an influencer, generate zillions of followers or reveal a lot about themselves publicly. Is that what this is about?

Oh my God, it is absolutely not about followers. I’m not even suggesting that you need to be on social media. You’re not creating a fictional character. That is not what this book is. It’s really about how people perceive you and what you want to be known for.

Well speaking of followers, we enjoy seeing your expert makeup application on Instagram every day as you dole out sage career advice, but are makeup and career advice at odds with each other?

To have a successful social strategy, you need to make it fit within your lifestyle, and the idea of making content that is highly produced goes against my brand. I feel the most inspired in the morning and the reason I do it at my makeup counter is because that is what’s convenient for me, and I think it’s a real, intimate setting for people to see that this is a real thought that is popping into my head.

For your last book you held a very swanky book party, but this time you did something rather unusual.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, I just come up with a one-word theme every year and for 2023 that theme is “impact” and a party didn’t feel right. So I launched on the big digital tower at Nasdaq in Times Square. It’s was such a visual, fun moment and I think impactful.

We’re curious. What is your own brand in less words than you would like?

“Genuine, direct and hopefully inspiring to other people,” with “red lipstick and red nail polish” thrown in for good measure.