Why I Do What I Do?
A few years ago, I wrote a Facebook posting about the professional ramifications my career suffered from not recognizing my self-worth. I shared the impact that playing small, undercharging and not honoring or valuing my expertise—had to my bottom line.
In a nutshell, an enormous one.
One day, I decided to open up about my personal experience and tell my story through a blog posting. However, as soon as I finished writing, a pretty noticeable wave of self-doubt rushed over me and I began to question whether or not I should “share so much?” Maybe I should “dial it back a little.”
As I sat in front of my computer staring at my screen and having an internal debate, I took a deep breath and said a little prayer. May my transparency empower others on a similar journey and save them a lot of unnecessary drama in the process.
Then I pressed send.
Two hours after making that posting public, it began to go viral…within a few weeks, it was shared over 800 times around the world! I was stunned. Never in my professional career had one of my articles taken off with such force.
People from around the world (Paris, Caribbean islands, NY) began sending me private messages via Facebook, posting in the comment section and emailing me directly to share how impactful they found my posting to be. Some people asked for additional resources, some shared their stories, and others just emailed me to say Thank You!
Several months after that initial posting, I was contacted by a woman in Georgia (via a private Facebook message) thanking me for my honesty. She wanted to provide me a testimony of what happened in her life after reading—and most importantly—acting on what I shared. In a nutshell, through reading that article and recognizing that she was “under-valuing” her self-worth, she decided to stop immediately—the direct result was… she able to increase her salary by 20K! You read that right.
You see, from the moment I left my position at a top-tier marketing firm in Washington DC agency and stepped out on my own, my mission has been the same: to elevate professional women by giving them the tools, strategies and support to “make a name for themselves.”
However, what I didn’t know then that I fundamentally believe now is all branding starts on the inside. What I call Internal Branding. I once heard Dr. Phil say you teach what you need to learn most. So maybe that is why I’ve dedicated so much time with helping women recognize and remember how incredibly dope they are! Once they truly believe, and embody it, everything else is a piece cake.
Quite frankly, self-worth has been one of my biggest life lessons! The ability to understand who I was, what I was meant to be and then going after it—without doubting myself or allowing FEAR to side-track me.
In all honesty, I’ve spent a considerable amount running from the fact that I am Undeniably Fierce™. No matter how hard I looked, I just couldn’t see it… but I refused to give up. I spent an excessive amount of time to simply “doing the work.” From coaches, therapists, books, workshops, lectures, prayer (you name it) to actually confronting, head on, any of those things that forced to doubt myself.
The result?
I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt how badass I am and what an asset I am to anyone in my life, or on my client roster.
Now when I look in the mirror, I see the same BEAST everyone else sees!
A Few Things About Me.
Born in the Midwest (Indianapolis)
Grew up on the West Coast (Southern California, sunny Los Angeles to be exact)
Educated in the South (Atlanta)
Live on the East Coast (Laurel, MD)
Married for two decades to Frederick E. Smith Jr.
Mom of three: two girls and a boy (Bailey 19, Kendell 16, Peyton 10)
Two-time triathlete, although one time I came in almost dead last
Passionate foodie
Lover of all things TRAVEL
Prefer solitude to company any day, especially at the movies
Netflix, HULU and Amazon Prime Junkie
Addicted to everything that has to do with personal development: documentaries, podcasts, books, movies, workshops, seminars
Candle aficionado
Uno Champion
Curse like a sailor
Always have music playing, and usually pretty loud
And last but not least, I’m extremely passionate about motivating, inspiring, empowering and equipping women to be their fiercest selves…
What I Do?
Jennifer Ransaw Smith is a nationally recognized Personal Elevation™ Architect, Leadership Development Mentor and Personal Brand Strategist. She specializes in igniting the visibility, credibility, influence and impact of professional women executives and entrepreneurs. Her mission is to empower her clients to “define themselves, before others do it for them.”
She is the Founder of The Personal Elevation Lab™, a Digital Branding and Professional Development Platform designed to leverage the skills, talents and expertise of professional women who are ready to “make a name for themselves” within their organization and industry and The Undeniably Fierce Movement, a soon to be global movement that challenges women reinvent how they are currently living and up-level all areas of their life.
During the past decade, some of the nation’s leading organizations (such as Microsoft, Duke Energy, Deloitte and Magellan Healthcare) have sought out Jennifer’s personal and leadership branding expertise to empower, educate, amplify and elevate their women employees.
Prior to launching her own agency in 2008 (formerly called Brand id | Strategic Partners, LLC), Jennifer spent over a decade working on the creative, public relations and marketing teams for high-profile agencies from coast-to-coast (Los Angeles to NYC) helping elevate the visibility of her clients in the marketplace. Past clients include: Burger King, AT&T, Kraft, Texaco, Clairol and Coke, Revlon.
Jennifer’s personal branding and elevation tips, tools and strategies have appeared in numerous publications, national radio and television. She divides her time between consulting, speaking, training, and coaching clients on how to become “the person to know” in their industry.