S5 E19: “Value Whisperer” Melitta Campbell
As you may have noticed, I've been a bit focused on my Higher⚡️Voltage event lately. This week I am on our guest's podcast, The Art of Value Whispering, and she is on mine!
Today's guest is Melitta Campbell, aka the Value Whisperer, and she is going to be at Higher⚡️Voltage on 22nd January at Battersea Power Station in London giving attendees signed copies of her newest book, “Value Whispering: The Smarter Way to Market Your Small Business (That Just Happens To Be Brilliant for Introverts)”.
We had a fantastic discussion today about how Melitta became the “Value Whisperer,” what value whispering even is, and how identifying as an introvert has played a huge part in her brand and business.
We also talk about Melitta's corporate background, the first incarnation of her own business, and how she realized she needed to shift direction. She now works with people who are doing their own thing in business for themselves (aka the Higher⚡️Voltage audience!), so we trace how she got there, the skills that she uses to help that audience, and my absolute favorite part, the personal gifts that she brings to that work that enables her to create such transformative results.
(And if you’d like your own free, autographed copy of “Value Whispering,” head over to my Higher⚡️Voltage event for solopreneurs at Battersea Power Station in London on 22 January, 2026!)
In this episode:
Our conversation on her podcast, and what Value Whispering even is
Her first book, “A Shy Girl's Guide to Networking”
A career in marketing communications
Leadership communication coaching & setting up a women's network
The childcare conundrum
Communication consultancy…and burnout (with a baby!)
Coaching, and a sign from the universe (in the form of fellow female business owners)
Finding her alignment 10 years ago
The difference between handing someone a strategy and coaching them
The importance of true inner value
Energy management, self trust, and connecting the dots to find your value sweet spot
How her personal brand and strong network kept her visible
Shifting what she was known for (big to small)
Alignment, boundaries, and staying open to evolution
Introversion and confidence
The importance of communication
Marketing, and what’s usually beneath the issues therein
“Confidence isn't knowing you can do something. It's trusting your ability to figure things out if it doesn't work out.”
Melitta’s superpower: X-Ray Hearing!
Melitta’s preferred way to get her brand out there
The new book,“Value Whispering: The Smarter Way to Market Your Small Business (that just happens to be brilliant for introverts)”
Find Melitta:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Join us at Higher⚡️Voltage in London on 22 January 2026!
S5 E18: Being SEEN with Hannah Spence
Celebration time, friends: with this week’s Hannah Spence interview, we’ve now had the entire Higher⚡️Voltage speaker lineup on “Let’s Talk About Brand”!
Former teacher Hannah actually has THREE brands (which we of course talk about): her tutoring business Prep4Prospects, her multiple-award-winning social media agency Clockflower Solutions, and her own emerging personal creator brand, Miss Be Seen, where Hannah takes the lessons she’s learned about visibility, puts them into action, and teaches you how to do the same.
How did Hannah leave the literal glitter of primary school, for the virtual glitter of the social media business, for the once-again-sometimes-actual glitter of seeing and being seen? Well, you’ll just have to listen to this week’s episode!
(And if you’d like to Be Seen yourself, come listen to Hannah’s talk on visibility at my Higher⚡️Voltage event for solopreneurs at Battersea Power Station in London on January 22, 2026!)
In this episode:
Clockflower Solutions (business brand) vs. Miss Be Seen (personal brand)
“The minute HMRC said, this is a business, I thought, wow, I have a business!”
Prep4Prospects to Clockflower Solutions
Showing up in new spaces, and in different ways
Putting on her own events
Finding her different audiences
Putting your energy towards events that matter–and making them worth it
Hannah’s SEEN framework
What Hannah brings to her clients (and events…and life!)
The penny drop
Hannah’s hidden talents (and mine!)
Higher Voltage’s opening number?
Find Hannah:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
S5 E17: Getting VISIBLE with Sapna Pieroux
We’re continuing the Higher⚡️Voltage speaker party with today’s guest, my good friend Sapna Pieroux!
Sapna Pieroux is a brand consultant at InnerVisions ID, the bestselling author of “Let's Get Visible!”, and creator of the VISION branding method. She guides us through all of that today, as well as how she built her own personal brand, what she was doing before, and what's coming next on Sapna’s own brand journey (hint, it's going to become much, much easier for you to work with her!).
Sapna will be speaking at my Higher⚡️Voltage event for solopreneurs at Battersea Power Station in London on January 22, 2026! She’ll talk about building your business brand alongside your personal brand–which is something you can also hear more about on today’s episode.
In this episode:
The differences between a personal brand and business brand when someone is their business
Should I lead with my personal brand or should I lead with my business brand?
What Sapna was doing before and how it led to her current business, InnerVisions ID
Motherhood, depression, and retraining to be an interior designer
“I did his branding and…he came back with seven business cards”
Publishing “Let's Get Visible!” in 2020
The campaign and award that got Sapna’s book noticed
Sapna’s VISION methodology
BrandVisions.AI
How to approach creating a business brand vs. a personal brand
What Sapna will teach you at Higher Voltage
What Sapna ultimately delivers to clients on a deeper level
What lights Sapna up in her work
What Sapna won’t include in her personal brand
What Sapna would do if she were guaranteed to succeed
How Christine and Sapna initially bonded
Find Sapna:
Join the BrandVisions.AI beta
Come party with The NotWorkers
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
S5 E16: The “coach-shaped” Janine Coombes!
I took a little bit of an unplanned hiatus from Let's Talk About Brand, but now I'm getting back into it!
Today’s guest, Janine Coombes, is one of the incredible speakers at my Higher⚡️Voltage event for solopreneurs, happening at Battersea Power Station in London on January 22, 2026 (Dani, Sophie, and Teresa are all speaking too, and I’ll be having Sapna and Hannah on in coming weeks!).
(Janine’s been on before, but the show was a slightly different format then, so it felt like time for a new episode!)
Janine also happens to be someone I actually work with—she’s helped me detangle a lot about my offerings and how I present them! I am one of the "coach shaped people" she helps, and in this interview we get into what that means, how she helps, and how her first book, "The Easy Yes," came about.
We also talk about Janine’s personal talents, what lights her up about doing the work that she does, how she came to do the work that she does, and also how she became known for it. Because it's great if you're brilliant, but if nobody knows who you are or what you do, that's not gonna do you a whole lot of good.
In this episode:
What are "coach shaped people"?
Why does Janine enjoy working with “coach shaped people” most?
The turning point that led Janine to working for herself
“What I missed for an embarrassingly long time was actually having something solid that people could actually buy!”
Gaining visibility…but without offers
“Perhaps wear a set of pearls…”
“The Easy Yes” offer matrix
“At the ready point, what does it look like?...create content that calls to that and then you can work back”
What's next for Janine
What Janine hopes to leave the Higher Voltage audience with in January
What Janine truly delivers
What gives Janine a real sense of satisfaction in her work
“The C word” (it’s not cancer…or c**t)
What she’d do if she were guaranteed to succeed at it (I love this one! -C)
Find Janine:
❤️
Come see Janine speak at Higher Voltage!
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Check out Janine’s 2023 episode:
S5 E14: Mari Smith’s Human Design
When one hears the name “Mari Smith,” the natural word association is usually “Facebook.” But after this interview, it may well be something different. Perhaps “relationships,” “connection,” or “Human Design.” Because as you’ll see, there’s so much more to Mari than just Meta mastery.
Anytime there's an update to Facebook (or even a rumored feature!), thousands hightail it to Mari Smith's profiles to see what she has to say about it.
But how did Mari establish such authority in the world of Meta marketing? How did she build her name professionally to become “the” Facebook guru? Why was Facebook the platform she chose to build her career on?
What did she do before Facebook—and what might she do after?
As with all good, aligned personal brands, the same motivating forces have guided Mari throughout her journey. Primary among those forces is her fascination with human relationships.
Relationships got her to the United States to begin with. Relationships enabled her to explore a variety of career paths. Relationships have always been the core of her interest in Facebook; she does love tech, but the thing that has always fascinated her most about Facebook is its power as a connection tool.
But as you'll hear, Mari's also looking more at the impact of social media on mental health, relationships, and society—for better and for worse.
This is definitely an interview that you have not heard Mari give before. We delve into her personal story, her varied professional background, and her unfiltered takes on Meta, marketing, and what’s next.
In this episode:
Leaving Scotland for San Diego (with no money or job)
Saved by the Cake!
Bartering for legal help
“From cakes to lawyers to a mobile disc jockey…”
SEO Master
“My love and my tech”
“Mari, you can't be Miss Email Marketing, technology, internet and relationships—you gotta pick a lane!”
Discovering Facebook
Her first Facebook Marketing for Professionals course
The power of early Facebook networking (and the DMs!)
“I just love to teach and to explain!”
Human Design and 10-year cycles
“I'm going all in with this.”
Mike Stelzner and Social Media Marketing World
Why Mari has remained focus on organic social media
Facebook vs. other platforms
Mari’s current career transition
“Mental wellness, mental health, and specifically, ironically, social media's impact and isolation and loneliness and depression…”
“I just know how to market!”
What has driven Mari in all phases of her life and career
Why people trust her
The public, the personal, and the private
Find Mari:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to theLet's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!
S5 E13: The Electrifying Sophie Lee
A chat about storytelling and empowerment (as well as using those powers for social good!) with fellow disco-ball-loving, collaboration-not-competition, sparkly badass Sophie Lee of Electric Peach! ❤️
Today I'm talking to a fellow personal branding person (which means so many different things to so many different people!): Sophie Lee, founder of Electric Peach!
Sophie doesn't just want to help people who are interested in making money. She’s putting the powerful brand storytelling tools she’s learned how to leverage over her career into the hands of people who are trying to change the world for the better: mission-driven, impact-driven businesses and female founders with something to say.
(She is also a fellow disco-ball-loving, collaboration-not-competition, sparkly badass; you can see why we get along!) ❤️
One of the themes we discuss over and over in this episode is about what it means to use one's voice. Sophie is all about empowerment of people's voices, specifically people who want to make positive changes in the world, and helping them harness the power of communication to do just that. Hearing Sophie’s journey makes it clear not only that she really knows her stuff, but also that she’s finely honed her personal values, her sense of self, and her own commitment to using these tools for good.
In this episode:
Teaching English to the Czech government
Joining the Disney “cult” in Shanghai
“Journalism” in China
The UK press’s misery machine
Accidentally becoming a marketer
The entrepreneurial bug
A toxic relationship, and a new business partnership
Becoming known for UGC (user-generated content)
Building The Joyful for actual purpose-driven businesses
Becoming Sophie Lee and Electric Peach
Communication instead of polarization
Empowering people to communicate their messages with passion and clarity
What Sophie shares
Find Sophie:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to theLet's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!
S5 EP12: The Persistent Amanda Webb
Amanda Webb isn’t a pushy person—unless she absolutely needs to be, in which case she’ll keep showing up until she gets what she wants! We go through Amanda’s backstory, from film crew, to hamper-maker, to her current career as a data and analytics consultant, to parse out the strategic moves that helped Amanda to get known.
I’ve known Amanda Webb of Spider Working for years. While she started as a digital marketing generalist, Amanda has really built her name for data and analytics in recent years, especially Google Analytics (for which she is a certified trainer with Enterprise Nation)
But, like many of us, Amanda didn’t start out in marketing, and she shares how her time in the film industry and a small business owner helped her build the tenacity and skills that eventually helped her launch her own successful consulting and speaking business, becoming globally known as an expert on how to make sense of analytics and succeed with data-driven marketing strategies.
Of course, we also discuss what lights Amanda up, what she truly delivers beyond just marketing insights, and what cats have to do with any of it (spoiler alert: not much, and she likes it that way!).
In this episode:
“That's me: I am going to be the next Mike Lee!”
Hustling to get those union tickets signed (including in the pubs)
The importance of persistence
“Let's face it…I'm never going to be the female Mike Lee.”
“I know! I'll start a business!”
Death of a Saleswoman
“You’re not coming up on Google…”
Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging
An opportunity in recession
“I was everywhere”
Getting more widely known via video
Irish Blog Awards
Agorapulse, Social Media Marketing World, Meta and Google (via Enterprise Nation)
Helping people feel clever
Cats, knitting, film, and boundaries
Find Amanda:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to theLet's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!
S5 EP11: Flying Anyway with "The Queen Bee" Dani Wallace
Dani Wallace defines herself by the feelings of empowerment, joy, and safety she brings to her community—not by her rough upbringing in Preston’s council estates, or her bouts with domestic violence and homelessness. Like the humble bee, she “flies anyway,” and helps countless others to do the same through her event, The Big Festoon, and her work as a speaking coach.
Today's guest is The Queen Bee herself, Ms. Dani Wallace!
Dani is a speaking coach who runs the I Am The Queen Bee community and The Big Festoon event.
She delivers confidence. She delivers encouragement. She delivers badassery. But what she truly delivers, at the root of all she does, is to deliver the message that success can feel safe.
Her event, The Big Festoon, certainly does that. Her community does that. She's even got a documentary film, “The Festoon Effect,” about what she does and the message she's spreading.
Dani definitely comes across as someone who is fully confident in the value of her own message and in her own authority to do what she's doing out here–but, as you'll hear, she's just like the rest of us deep down. She experiences self-doubt and energetic crashes. But she also recognizes the importance of the message she’s here on this earth to deliver, and the empowerment the sense of community she creates brings to others.
In this episode:
The council estates of Preston
Traveling the world as a performer
Call center training
Domestic abuse and homelessness with two children under the age of two
“Life is either going to continue happening to me or I'm going to happen to life.“
Gigging singer to early live-streamer (and mascara seller!)
“Show up, wise up, rise up”
Safety in success
Sharing her learnings
An “overnight success” 10 years in the making
Overcoming daily self-doubt
Creating what she needed most via The Big Festoon
“I’m really famous…”
Fly Anyway Foundation
Collaborations
Releasing her own film
Smashing the patriarchy
Telling your story while bringing actual value to the world
Creating that “joy space” that helps cement actual learning
Owning her origin story without leaning on it
The one thing about Dani’s energy you’d never guess!
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to theLet's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!