Embracing Marketing Mistakes Introduction

Chris Norton 0:00

Imagine landing a dream client, a household name, the kind of logo that every marketer wants on their website, but then you realize the partnership is draining, misaligned and threatens to pull you away from the very values you've built your brand on. That was the exact reality of today's guest and it changed the way she approaches authenticity forever. Welcome to Embracing Marketing Mistakes the podcast that helps you grow your brand faster by learning from the mistakes of the world's top marketers. I'm Chris Norton and my mission is to help you, the senior marketer, turn setbacks into strategies so that you can build a thriving brand. Today, I'm joined solo by Alexandra Galviz, better known as Authentic Alice Twice.

Chris Norton 0:43

Named a LinkedIn top voice, alexandra co-created the global LinkedIn local movement and has coached leaders at Shell, microsoft and Deloitte, and in this episode, we explore how chasing prestige clients can backfire, why so many big brands struggle with authentic storytelling, and what the future of personal branding looks like in the age of AI. Most importantly, alexandra will share her own biggest marketing mistake and how it became the foundation of her career in authenticity and thought leadership. Alexandra is going to break down how to spot misaligned opportunities before they cost you the one principle of storytelling that she'll never compromise on and why human stories will win in an AI-driven world. So, as always, sit back, relax and let's hear how Alexandra Galvez turned her toughest lessons into a global brand built on authenticity. Enjoy,

Alexandra's Corporate Journey and Burnout

Chris Norton 1:42

alex. Welcome to the show Hi, thanks for having me. Alex, welcome to the show. Hi thanks for having me. So you've built a corporate career very young, becoming head of training and development I saw in your early 20s.

Alexandra Galviz 1:58

Can you walk us through your journey and how you've become to be doing what you're doing today? Yeah, so I began sort of very young. I started doing some internships in the city when I was about 18 and all the way through my university career in different sort of business areas and I kind of knew that I wanted to, you know, be in the corporate world. It was very much something that was also instilled in me, uh, through my family and um, and so it was sort of a natural progression and my brother and my cousins all worked in investment banking and um, and I'd studied something quite unusual it was in terms of where I ended up, uh, which was French. I studied languages at university and um, and I graduated and I got headhunted to work in this American foreign exchange company and I was there for about a year in total when sort of the European counterpart of what I did decided to relocate and I basically put a proposal to take over her her role in addition to mine and I basically promoted myself, got a pretty big pay rise and was there for about two years and my role was around kind of looking after an online product and sort of the middle person between the kind of back-end it and and the sales people and realizing and realizing that, um, basically, uh, they didn't really know what this product could like, all the functionalities and changes and stuff so I began implementing training and that was sort of my uh entryway into into what I do now, um, and so I did that for another year.

Alexandra Galviz 3:47

Then I got itchy feet and um, and then I got headhunted for, uh, this role, head of L&D for a direct competitor with this company, and I remember getting the, the email and thinking, uh, did they send me the right job description? Because at the time I was 24 and all of a sudden, I was responsible for 350 people across 21 offices in terms of all of their training and development, with very little experience, and so it was a bit sort of baptism of fire. I'd been doing a bit of it in my last role. I went up and got trained, did my CIPD learning and development and, yeah, basically just learn on the job and got stuck right in, and that was pretty much how I kind of got there. And then I had a massive breakdown, burnout, um, about two years in, um, and had, well, I would say, a bit of an existential crisis, um, in terms of what am I doing here? How did I get here, um? And if it's not this, then what is it?

Chris Norton 5:11

24 as well. Wow, that is young very, uh, very young to have an existential crisis and also to have that wrong and so, and so you took a step back then and thought I mean, firstly, congratulations on getting such a high-powered corporate job at such a young age, but it does sound like 300 people with 30. Did you feel like? Did you have the imposter syndrome where you felt like everybody was looking to you but you didn't have all the answers? Was that kind of?

The Birth of Authentic Alex

Alexandra Galviz 5:48

Yes and no.

Alexandra Galviz 5:48

I think it was more, um, I had a lot of self-expectations in terms of what I thought I should look like and behave like and um, there was definitely an air of confidence that I was displaying um or trying to display um.

Alexandra Galviz 6:10

That, I think, was very heavy to carry um. And I, you know, I come from very humble beginnings. I'm a first generation to go to uni, grew up with in a single parent household, low income, grew up in a council flat, so to kind of end up there and end up there quite young I was carrying all this sort of like emotional and personal baggage of um people like me don't end up here and who am I to to be in this and trying to kind of manage that personally was kind of all beginning to unravel, which is what led to sort of part of what led to kind of that breakdown. But it was yeah, it was very much trying to put a mask on to fit in, trying to to put a mask on to fit in and to be what I thought was what was needed or wanted.

Chris Norton 7:13

I think I think we all do that, don't we? Because I'm like you, I am from humble beginnings. My dad my dad was a roofer and his entire family were council estate. I'd class myself. I say this in the office and everyone laughs at me I'm working. I'm working class because that's where I came from, my whole family are working class and so, yeah, to build, you know, I'm the same thing to build my career from.

Chris Norton 7:35

When I moved to london the same sort of thing I went through a lot of that imposter syndrome because I was surrounded by oxbridge um graduates. They were everywhere and I was from leeds, I was from harrigan actually, so it's not quite leed, uh, but it's a bit. It's a bit more um, I don't know it's seen as a bit more middle class, but actually I wasn't from the bosh bit um and I'm. So I'm like, yeah, I felt like I was always trying to and I'm not sure that everyone does and doesn't talk about it, which is why, you know, people should be a bit more open and authentic, which is why I wanted you going on the show, because I love the fact you're completely sharing where you've come from and you've you felt that pressure to like be the, the person of people that you expect people to be like.

Chris Norton 8:22

When I started this podcast and it was about you know, there's so many marketing podcasts that are about how great people are and how successful they are, and here's a successful case study. Whereas not many people like talking about, you just opened

The Power of Authentic Storytelling

Chris Norton 8:36

with that straight away, like you know, the existential crisis. Not many people are that honest not, and it's refreshing to me and so is that is that. Do you use that learning from when you were like 24 to to today to is that is that way. You took a step back and then you thought, right, I'm gonna do everything. Authentic is that way.

Alexandra Galviz 8:59

Authentic alex came from yeah, it was, um, I I'd gotten to a point that was, you know, I was in a really bad place. Let's be honest. Um, you know, I was depressed, anxious, stress, suicidal, and I just thought, like I cannot continue doing this, like the way it's going, because it will kill me literally. And so there had to be like a real um, there was like a real internal reckoning of like I actually need something to drastically change, and I was well aware that, um, it was to do with this having to show up in a certain way and um, and the weight of that. And so, when I left, I kind of made this internal vow, um, which I have since learned uh, vows are very powerful and very real.

Alexandra Galviz 9:57

Um, which was, you know, I'm going to leave the mask at the door and not put it back on, and um, dedicate my life to learning about how to keep removing the masks that we wear, because there's more than one and it's uh in all sorts of uh situations, occasions, people and to learn about you know how I've ended up here and how to um take it off, but also how do I help other people. Because what was happening is as a result of showing what I was showing and sharing what I was sharing. People were coming to me at the time I was doing uh, linkedin coaching and personal branding, and people like, uh, you know I need help with that. They didn't need help with how to use LinkedIn, they needed to help with the how do I show up as me, um, in a way that feels authentic and true to me and that sort of kick-started my new career so that's how you came up with the name.

Alexandra Galviz 11:02

So yeah, well, it was. Actually. I wrote a post on LinkedIn the day I was leaving. I'd been, you know, writing content on there for about two, three years before I had a post that really went viral. And this was at a time, you know, that not many people were sharing stories, not many people were sharing things that were vulnerable.

Alexandra Galviz 11:24

This was like almost 10 years ago, and I wrote a post that had a photo of me staring down onto the city of London from one Canada square and it said when I was a little girl, I used to dream of working in the really tall building with the pointy top, by the river. I used to dream of working in the really tall building with the pointy top, by the river. And, you know, having reached the 45th floor and realized that with this dream comes stress, anxiety, depression and all this sort of societal success that we have, you know, I've learned that it needs to be balanced and that sometimes it takes getting to where you want to be to realize it's not where you want to be. And I put that up at lunchtime and by the time I'd left work and I was at my leaving drinks, the whole thing had just exploded and there were tens of thousands of likes and comments and shares and lots of people relating to it, but of a different generation.

Alexandra Galviz 12:29

So I was well aware quite quickly that it was. I was in some way ahead of the curve of having a bit of a existential crisis in my mid twenties.

Chris Norton 12:41

Wow, I mean yeah, so having yeah, to have a story that breaks well, to have something that you write, and it's because it's the vulnerability of like right, sharing your pain and suffering, you know, because that sounds awful, but but out of that has come an amazing business opportunity. Also, I suppose it kind of, and it's made you take off your mask, which is fascinating because we all wear different masks within different scenarios, right? So, even in, like, meeting the parents of your partner, or um business scenario that you're just given there, or or whether you're out with your friends and you're out with your colleagues. Are they too? Are they the same? It's it fascinates me. But I think, when I look at your LinkedIn and and the way that you present yourself and where you've told your stories, that was so authentic and storytelling is like really central to what you're doing telling a story. So, in your view, what makes a story like what you just described land and and and, most importantly, what falls flat, what just doesn't work for people?

Alexandra Galviz 13:55

yeah, well, it's interesting. You ask that I've just come back from being at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, um, for the long bank holiday weekend and it was my first time um going and I went there on a bit of a research mission of I just want to watch really good personal storytellers and it just reminded me, you know, like, the power of story and whether someone's up on stage delivering you know a comedy gig or it's just there's, you know, a solo show in there with a guitar telling their story, or they're on linkedin telling you know people, who they are and what their story is. For me it's all about emotion. You know, like the minute that, um, you put me in my feelings and you make me connect with my heart. Um, I always say you connect to people's minds through their heart and, um, what it's just you know it's a natural way as humans, um, to feel connection and alive and belonging, and so for me, that's a really big part of storytelling. It's's, you know that famous quote by Maya Angelou people won't remember what you said or did, but they'll remember how you made them feel. Um, and I think that that's such a true um quote and that that's storytelling can be a tool that can allow that to happen.

Alexandra Galviz 15:22

And the second to me, the second most powerful thing and it's um quite common, but it's uh, it is literally the uh thing is the relatability, um, you know the ones that really touch you because it reminds you of something or it makes you feel a certain way in relation to a past memory, um, and creating that situation where you know the audience is thinking or feeling yeah, me too, I've experienced that is such a great way of building trust and connection, um, and building relationship, and so you feel closer, um as a result, to that person.

Alexandra Galviz 16:04

And I've seen it. You know, I've I've been blogging now for 10 years online about my life, um, and telling stories about my life, and I've had periods where, you know, I've just gotten back into it after a two-year break, um, because I needed that space and I needed to hold on to. I believe that sometimes we need to hold on to some stories, especially if they're they're, you know, true, and part of our life and, um, they also need room to breathe and I, yeah, I, I'm a massive advocate of um a story.

Chris Norton 17:47

I mean wow. I mean when you're talking about, um, how you made you feel and how you make it relatable, I'm just thinking of and you've gone to fringe. Obviously I was just thinking of comedians and how they do that and like the funniest. The funniest jokes are often they're funny because you go, oh yeah, that does happen. You know, like when they they put you in their scenario and you're like, yeah, that happens to me too, and I can see what you mean by it makes you trust that individual more. Okay, so you've worked with sort of massive brands. You've worked with like Shell, microsoft and various other things. In your experience. Where do bigger companies often get it wrong compared with, like the individuals, to tell an authentic story? Because it's harder if you're a marketer and a brand to tell a brand story, is it or is it not?

Alexandra Galviz 18:40

um. I think that for me, I, you know, in one of my slides, when I used to deliver

LinkedIn Local: Building Real-World Connections

Alexandra Galviz 18:46

these um kind of keynote talks on on thought leadership and LinkedIn for these brands, I I have a slide that says put your brand ego aside, and and it's about remembering that the people that power your business are the people, not necessarily just the brand. The brand has power and it does something, but I think the people are more powerful and that if you equip them with the right skills and knowledge and also trust, more importantly trust and knowledge and also trust, more importantly trust. You know, there's a lot of policies out there that stop people from sharing uh content and um, and I really think that that's, you know, a great shame, because there's so much that uh that people want to share um and so, yeah, I feel like um, giving people that opportunity to express themselves does all sorts of things and only good things for the brand and for the visibility of um, of the company.

Alexandra Galviz 19:52

Because, you know, on linkedin, we know that if you are sharing from a company page, it's not the same as if you're sharing from a personal profile and people are invested in uh, in the people. You know, if you look at some well-known names um. You'll see that that you know. The content that they're sharing through their personal page as founder and ceo is dramatically higher than the brand's name um. So yeah, I personally think that having that face behind the name is really important, whether that's one person or numerous people.

Chris Norton 20:28

Totally agree, 100%. People prefer following people for the authenticity and the stories and because you can get to know people. You can sort of get to know brands but you can't get to know them on a human level, I would say yeah, and you know, it's that old adage of people buy people.

Chris Norton 20:47

Yeah, exactly what? Yeah, exactly, I'm running a PR agency. My age, you know, it's all people. That's all we do. So, okay, so, if we talk about what you've done so what you've done is quite interesting as well talk about what you've done, so you've what you've done is quite interesting as well, that you've taken the online into the offline, haven't you? Um, in terms of which I love, by the way, I was thinking of um back in the day when you talk about blogging.

Chris Norton 21:12

For 10 years, I've been, uh, writing online since about 2007, but I don't write anywhere near as I do. I do other things now, like podcasts, but I used to. I had a blog. I've been writing, but I've never been telling. I write a bit about it's more about work stories than personal stories, like like you're referencing, but I it takes me right back to when twitter was was twitter and it was you and there was only a few hundred of us on twitter in the uk and we used to have tweet ups and things like that. And you've started something called linkedin local, haven't you? Do you want to talk a bit, a little bit, about that and how that's grown?

Alexandra Galviz 21:49

um, so I um started linkedin local with a few other people. Um, it started off with a, actually with a lady called anna mcafee, who's based in sydney, and um, at the time she was just kind of putting a call out like who's in my local area that wants to meet offline? And at the time I was doing something similar, but it was on a one-to-one basis and I was capturing the stories and conversations of, uh, those meetups with people and then putting a selfie up and being like this is what we talked about. And um, and I hashtagged it virtual to reality. And this was at a time where, again, this wasn't really being done. It wasn't normal to say to a linkedin connection hey, do you want to grab a coffee offline? Um, but I just, you know, at the time I had this following that kept growing and these people that I kept having conversations with online about things I was interested in, and I was like, hey, you live in London, like let's grab a drink or coffee or whatever. And um, and that's how it started happening. And so when I saw Anna um and her post about gathering a group, I was like, oh, that would be interesting because that's like the next sort of thing, natural thing for me to do. So I did that and we kind of fed back, got in touch, kind of fed back. You know, this is how it went, how was yours, what should we do Like? What can we test out? And then there were two other people that joined, one in Singapore and one in Brussels, and we all got together and we sort of decided to do this thing together. And we all got together and we sort of decided to do this thing together.

Alexandra Galviz 23:30

And it was only sort of maybe by the third one that it really started to kind of snowball, because it was at a time where LinkedIn had just put LinkedIn video up and they were really pushing people to kind of use that feature. And we had a videography company come to us and say, hey, would we be able to film, to use that feature? And we had a videography company come to us and say, hey, would you? Um, you know, would we be able to film? And it was like, well, we don't, we don't make any money with this, this is just a passion project that we have. You know, um, feel free to, you know, do it if you want, for the visibility at the time had a very kind of engaged large audience.

Alexandra Galviz 24:00

And so they did that and it just completely snowballed and went viral again because we were on a boat on the Thames in London and people were talking about the kind of conversations that we were having and the idea behind LinkedIn Local was, you know, meet the people behind the profiles and try and avoid the question of what do you do for a living and try and get to the human side. You can see that the you know, this kind of authenticity thing is weaved into everything I'm doing post leaving the corporate world, because I was going, you know, I'd left to run my own business and I was going to networking events and all that kept happening was people were trying to sell me something people were just interested in like sales and money, and I was like, okay, but where is, like, the supportive community when you're starting a business and how do I help promote you? And you meet, like in a natural way versus what just felt very transactional, like how do we build relationships? And so, you know, we started having some values and like a vision for what we wanted. And then people started coming to us and saying, well, how do I set one up in my country.

Alexandra Galviz 25:09

We're like, okay, and then someone said, do you need a website for your project? And we were like we don't have any money. Literally, it's just, we're just, you know, going with whatever's happening. So we set up, we set up this person, ryan, set up this website for us. And then all of a sudden we were, we had an onboarding process and we were teaching people how to run communities and events, kind of taking them through a training process. Again, everything for free and anyone that set one up and charged for tickets the money would go to charity. Um, it was never. You know, that was um, something that we were really adamant about. It wasn't a commercial um thing for us, and it just exploded. We ended up having um communities in over 100 countries.

Chris Norton 26:00

Um, and it just grew and grew and grew oh, I mean, why do you think it's such a chord, though, with people like is it because it was bringing the offline online? Offline, sorry, and and and being? I love the fact that you weren't allowed to say what do you do. You had to get more into who they were.

Alexandra Galviz 26:22

I love that yeah, I think, um, well, I think this is now more than ever, but back then we were already beginning to feel the repercussions of being online a lot um, of being on our screens a lot um, of uh, not having enough community, sense of community and friendship and relationships, and people were hungry for that, and I think that it just happened to be perfect timing that um that we, you know that the reason it kind of uh really exploded was that there was a hunger and appetite for getting in, you know, getting in a room with people in person and, um, getting to know people and building those relationships. Um, that, I think, is what, yeah, what, made it so successful so what?

Chris Norton 27:22

what feels different about the way people want to connect today with what, with how, when you start out?

Alexandra Galviz 27:30

That's a good question. I think I'm starting to wonder whether, with the rise of wonder, whether, with the rise of uh, ai and kind of if I look sort of in, imagine into the future you know, we're starting to see lots of articles of people talking about um you know, ai is my therapist, ai is my new girlfriend, ai is, you know, xyz relationship person whether we're gonna start to lose our ability to um really connect in a deep and meaningful way. Um, whether it because there's some level of vulnerability that's required to do that, and if we can do it with a screen, well, that's safer and that's easier. And I worry if some people will start to feel more comfortable doing that with a screen than they will in person. That's something that's on my mind.

Alexandra Galviz 28:31

Um, I wonder if, uh, the language that we use and how we communicate again, if we start to kind of be using that I'm not anti-ai, I'm just saying, but it's things that I'm starting to think about in terms of um, you know how people communicate. You, we're seeing a lot of people write about well, every single post on linkedin looks like it's written by ai, yeah, and it's like well, what does that begin to mean if our language starts to be shaped by this kind of one voice, one tone of voice, do we start to lose our kind of authenticity around how we speak and how we relate? So those are. Yeah, I don't know if that answers your question, but that's kind of.

Chris Norton 29:21

Kind of, I suppose, with AI because I had a few questions in there, because people who listen to this show will know I talk about it quite a bit Does authenticity still win when machines can generate perfect content, which is what you're talking about there? I wouldn't say AI is perfect. I'd say often it's.

Alexandra Galviz 29:38

I would yeah, I would challenge that statement that it's perfect.

Chris Norton 29:41

Yeah, but if it does create, let's say

Authenticity vs. AI Content

Chris Norton 29:44

not perfect, but brilliant content does authenticity win the day, do you think?

Alexandra Galviz 29:53

I 100% think that I think that there is. And here we go into a little bit of woo-woo stuff. Feel free.

Chris Norton 30:04

Apologize, go for it.

Alexandra Galviz 30:05

Actually I don't, but I believe, as a writer and an artist, there's a kind of energy and essence to writing and storytelling that you just can't replicate with AI, and storytelling that you just can't replicate with ai, um, and I don't think it will ever replicate that. It can get pretty close, but I've not seen anything yet. That is like, well, yeah, that completely. I mean, we don't know that yet, but like that, that's completely AI and also incredibly heart-driven or sold, you know, like there's just you can, especially now.

Alexandra Galviz 30:48

Still, you can see what's written by AI, whether that begins to change and it, you know it's obviously advancing, but I have a feeling that that's not something that's uh able to be replicated. And that kind of heart, you know, when we're talking about storytelling and relatability and connection and emotion. That level of emotional connection, you know, if you're reading a piece and it hits you in the, you know in the heart, um, and you can relate to it and it makes you feel something. I'd be incredibly surprised if ai can do that love, I love that 100.

Chris Norton 31:31

I 100 agree with you there, because the, whichever social platform you're on, is full of linked uh, it's full of ai linkedin's, full of ai content. Um, it's getting better, I think, but you be, and it can be brilliant. It can be close to brilliant. Not the stuff that I see every day, though, because most people are using it badly, um, but the stuff that you're talking about there, where it actually you go wow, that's that's. That's truly that truly affecting the emotionally. I don't think ai can do that. I'm with you because it needs to feel like the real person at the end of it, doesn't it?

Alexandra Galviz 32:10

don't get me wrong, I actually use ai for my writing so do I, so do I, but I don't use it to write my post, I use it for, like, grammar and flow and structure and all those things to kind of tighten the piece, but I always put like, do not change my voice or my words, or you know that's totally a no-go zone for me Because I want to make sure that that stays true to my voice. And you know, people follow my blog because it's me and because of the way, the style that I write. And you know I, yeah, I don't want that to end up being changed because it's easier and more efficient. That's not the point, you know. Efficient. That's not the point, you know.

Alexandra Galviz 33:04

And I I have I read somewhere, um, there was a blog that I read that talked about people because of the, the kind of increase in ai and short form content and our attention spans. They were arguing that we're gonna have a shift where people are gonna start to go more towards long form content and that, to me, made sense because I feel like people are going to start to search for more meaning and more connection, heart-led connection, in terms of the kind of content that they read.

Alexandra Galviz 33:35

Um, because everything's going to feel so generic and, you know, ai driven that they're going gonna seek out yeah the human stuff more yeah because that's you know what's gonna um resonate with them more yeah, I mean it's, it's.

Chris Norton 33:54

It's fascinating to watch what it is doing to society because the how people they're using it for personal coaches and you know gps, they're talking to it. Some people are falling in love with it. They think it's conscious. Is it conscious? What's the definition of consciousness? There's all these sorts of discussions. You know chat gpt5 launched about a month ago. Chat. They're already talking about chat gpt6. If they turn off chat gpt4, are you ending a life?

Chris Norton 34:23

But some people believe that in the future people will argue the case that they can't turn off a, an ai, because it's, it's got right. I mean, that's an argument that's going to come out in in. It doesn't mean the content. Yeah, I'm with you. Human content, human, the human, authentic side of things is is where it's at. And I've got here that many people want to speed up their personal brand growth. That's why they'll come to somebody like you or they'd work with an agency or whatever. Do you think that, um, it's a mistake to speed up your personal, your personal brand growth? Do you think it's a mistake to try and do it quickly?

Alexandra Galviz 35:02

Well, I think I'd argue why. Why would you want to do that? You know, when I was doing this work, a lot of people came with the agency and the need, because I've got a book that's coming out and I need the visibility and publicity. Or I want to change jobs and I can't stand my job anymore and I just need a book that's coming out and I need the visibility and publicity. Or I want to change jobs and I can't stand my job anymore and I just need to do that quickly. And I was always like you know, this stuff takes time. Let's just put it out there, um, as a first thing.

Alexandra Galviz 35:36

And I think that I just don't see the value in trying to get there quickly. I think that it takes time to know who you are. It takes time to understand what your voice is. I mean, I'm 10 years into this and I'm still refining that 10 years into this, and I'm still refining that, and you know it's. I think we live in a society that everything comes quickly, or we want everything to come quickly, like our Amazon deliveries, and the reality is that some things just take time to build, and for me it's more quality over quantity. I'd rather it take longer and I do it. Well, then I rush and do it badly, because you're building your reputation, really, and, um, it's easy to fumble that with pace, um, versus doing it with purpose, um, yeah okay, that makes sense.

Chris Norton 36:43

Um, what would guy, what advice would you give to people with different communication styles? Because you've got some people that are like introverts and some people that are just complete like are you an introvert? Wow, wow, really. And then people that are complete extroverts.

Alexandra Galviz 37:00

So I get that a lot dear.

Chris Norton 37:03

So, yeah, what advice would you give to people with different communications styles? Because it's quite terrifying to like I, I'm from a I'm a pr background, so tell stories in different manner to yourself. But for me, doing the podcast was quite an unusual thing two years ago. Like starting to do videos like I'm now getting more used to talking to my camera, my phone, which I I'm not I'm gen x. So do videos like I'm now getting more used to talking to my camera, my phone, which I I'm not. I'm gen x, so it's like I'm so old compared and I've always been just out of camera shot advising clients on how to tell their story, get their brand messaging across, etc.

Chris Norton 37:36

Etc. I've never been in front of a camera and so two and a half years ago when I started this whole thing, it was quite. It's quite a daunting, intimidating thing to do, but, as you say, you're learning how to do yours, I'm learning how to to do mine from the camera. So what is your advice to give to people that's struggling to to with the different communication styles?

Alexandra Galviz 38:00

yeah, well, I think it's firstly understanding what your communication style is. Um, you know, if we're going to talk about introversion. Extroversion is understanding whether you know where you're at Now. Introversion isn't that you're shy. It can come across like that. There's a belief that that's the case. It's not.

Alexandra Galviz 38:18

It's more about where you get your energy from, and so you know, after doing this, I'm not going to be doing anything much else because I'm like oh, this is, you know, an extroverted activity and I'll need to replenish my buckets.

Alexandra Galviz 38:34

But it's also about, you know, if you are someone that's a little bit more reserved, okay, well, how can I share my story in person with someone over a coffee? And then, you know, it starts to sort of escalate that higher and higher, until you're in a position of like oh, maybe I'm ready to kind of write a post online and uh, or maybe you share something in a whatsapp group with a couple of people. That feels safer and it's kind of like you're opening up to being able to do that more with a larger audience and more publicly. I mean, the extroverts have no problems, they love that kind of thing. It's always going to be really difficult and fearful for anyone to do something for the first time and I remember when I first, you know, when video first came out and I had early access to it and I just had the video set up and I just could not like I was frozen me too 100% and I was like what's going on?

Alexandra Galviz 39:36

this is really weird, why can't I just talk it alone? And um, and a friend came over and he was like, look, let's just turn the camera off. I'm gonna sit where the camera is, I'm gonna get my phone out and you're just gonna talk. I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. And so he asked a couple of questions and I still have that video and I'm, you know, like I'm not even looking at the camera, I'm sitting sideways and every now and then I like time around to answer and look at the camera. You know his phone. And that was the way that I got over the camera thing. And then I graduated to looking at the camera, uh, or looking at the, the phone, and then eventually I got the, the actual camera, and you know, and then a year later I was in a full-blown uh studio with a video agency filming content for Deloitte.

Alexandra Galviz 40:24

And you know it's not that it happened overnight, but that I kind of was like, okay, how do I break past this fear and kind of get out of my comfort zone with something that feels quite hard? And I'm always practicing that right. You know, I recently started sharing poetry on Instagram and I'm like, oh my God, this is so uncomfortable and you know I'm always constantly looking to kind of push myself of. You know, 10 years of being a content creator and I still get that fear. So you know it's just about okay. Recognizing this is difficult. What do I need to do to to kind of get through this?

Chris Norton 41:11

yeah, I totally get you. I'm strange in because I don't know if I'm in. I think I'm quite extrovert, um, but I'm. I'm different in different scenarios. Like I'm'm quite strange with a group of new people, it makes me quite

Mental Health and Aligning with Values

Chris Norton 41:29

introvert. I feel quite anxious about it. Even though I'm quite extrovert on one or two, on one In a group of people, I always feel like it's quite a lot. So the networking scenario that you were giving before I used to it's quite, it's quite. I was to say daunting, I'd say terrifying sometimes. But you've got a big group of people at a business networking. Oh, my god, it's coming around to me well, did you know I?

Alexandra Galviz 41:53

mean, yeah, networking for me used to be so incredibly scary and so was public speaking and I made them both my living, so anything is possible.

Chris Norton 42:05

You must love. Terror is what you love.

Alexandra Galviz 42:07

Well, I just like you know seeing what I'm capable of, and it's like you know, if I'm scared of that, let's just do it, and at some point I mean it's exposure therapy At some point it won't be so scary.

Chris Norton 42:20

Yeah, so our show we always talk about. We ask people what's the one, like a mistake that they've learned from in their career, and I mean you've shared one right at the very beginning. What, what's the one mistake that you've learned the most from in your career, would you say?

Alexandra Galviz 42:35

probably something around, well, naturally, authenticity, but also something about not looking after my mental health, um, or not being aware of the importance of that, and what a big part that plays in my happiness, my joy, my satisfaction, um, my kind of sense of security and stability in in life and work. I think it happens to so many people and, um, I think we catch it really late. Um, we have a tendency of ignoring um, that it's there. I literally had a conversation last night with a very good friend of mine and you know he was sharing that, uh, you know he's not been in a good place for a long time and he's not told anyone and, um, he's got.

Alexandra Galviz 43:32

You know he has an incredibly busy career and it just, um, it has such a massive impact on our lives and on our families and our friendships and relationships, and I think I'm so happy that when I began talking about this about, yeah, seven years ago, I started writing things about what I was learning in therapy and I started writing about about five years ago, I started writing about grief on LinkedIn, and that was back then where there was barely any of those kinds of conversations, because societally, and especially in the corporate world, we weren't talking about that at all, but luckily now that's massively changed and those conversations are being had and that content is being shared, um, but there's always room. You know, statistics are still high, especially with what's happening in the world and, um, the level of chaos and um and confusion and all those kind of things is massively impacting people and I think there's a lot of people that may be unaware of what they're holding on to. That's causing that weight, that heaviness that I talked about at the start, that they're holding on to.

Chris Norton 45:01

That's, you know, causing that weight, that heaviness that I talked about at the start, that they're carrying, that may be unaware that they can put down yeah, I mean yeah, we've all most people have been through grief and mental health is a is a big thing that I think everybody struggles with, and particularly during covid and all that made it accentuated. And I thought, um, you shared before that in your early days of business you sometimes work with clients that didn't quite align with your values. Um, but they were. They were big, they were big names. Can you talk us through that experience, what you took from that?

Alexandra Galviz 45:40

yeah, I think.

Alexandra Galviz 45:41

Um, so you know, when I started, I remember when I was a graduate, coming from where I came from, I applied to all the like big four companies and really well-known brands and no one would hire me. So I guess my ego as an entrepreneur was like great, let's see if we can work with these, uh, big names. And I ended up working with a lot of very big names, and I think especially with um, with people saying you know, you're a one-woman band, you know, I don't have an agency, I don't have a team, it was just me and people like they'll never hire you. You know, you're too small for a company like that, and so that just only fueled my need to prove people wrong. Um, you know, and this goes, if you dig even deeper, you go into therapy territory to prove my parents wrong, my people that bullied me at school wrong, and all these kind of things. You know I'm operating from, you know, a wound of wanting to feel like I'm enough, and so in my head I'm like let's see how many big companies we can work with. And I didn't even, I don't think I realized maybe. Um, you know, I was really proud of those names. They were up on my LinkedIn profile and um, and I was really happy with the kind of work that I was doing. You know, it was the stuff that I loved.

Alexandra Galviz 47:26

Now, in hindsight that I've done some healing and some therapy and I no longer have that need I look a lot more as to what, or maybe I place a lot more importance on what my values are and also my values have changed. So it's not that maybe back then I was more importance on what my values are and also my values have changed. So it's not that maybe back then I was misaligned with my values, but it's more like what I value now. I wouldn't be working with certain companies I worked with if they approached me. Having said that, I currently I work in a corporate job job.

Alexandra Galviz 48:03

So I went back into the corporate world and um about two years ago and I work in an industry that same thing which is, um, it's a. It's a difficult industry. You know there's a lot of mixed feelings with. I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I want I work for like a top kind of three pharma company and so I don't know that I have the answer to what I'm sharing.

Alexandra Galviz 48:46

Um, you know, time will tell um, but I I also believe a lot in natural medicine. I don't not believe in, uh, traditional, uh pharmaceutical medicine. I believe in both, but I'm aware that I also believe in in the other side too. So I find myself in a strange position of working in an industry that also comes with all sorts of, um, yeah, all sorts of feelings and opinions, uh, for people around that industry. Um, so I'm not sure if I can correctly say I figured it out, um, and I love my job and I love the, the company where I'm working. So, yeah, I don't know if I've got that one answered. I'm still figuring it out and I might be getting it wrong, who knows. But, that's where I'm at. And that would only be authentic to share that in that way.

Chris Norton 49:47

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if any of us

The One Principle of Authentic Storytelling

Chris Norton 49:49

are We've all all our brand. I think all our values, personal values, have changed. I think mine have since I was when I was a lot younger. So who you know who we were, who I work with now, compared to then, who we would refuse a lot of clients because we get applied, asked to work with all the time and there's certain ones I'm just like no, you figure your gut feeling out on what you're going to want to work on. I love the fact that your holistic medicine as well as your pharmaceutical medicine. I used to work in pharma and I now believe in a lot of holistic supplements and things like that. And I've got a couple. Two final questions. If you had to pick one principle of authentic storytelling that you'll never compromise on and that others shouldn't either, what would it be?

Alexandra Galviz 50:38

I think making it personal. I think that that's the harder place for people to share story is that kind of personal storytelling. And you know, we talked a little bit about brand storytelling and company visibility. But I think that you know, after taking a break for two years and coming back and sort of starting to share my story again, um, on my blog, um, I definitely think that there's so much value to building a community around your brand and your business and sharing more of who you are, um, I think that's something that I will never stop doing that's good and and finally, now that you've been on the podcast, you know what it's about.

Chris Norton 51:34

Who do you think we should invite on here, um?

Alexandra Galviz 51:37

next oh, good question. Gosh, I feel so out of the loop. Did you ask me this? Like you know, 10 years ago I'd be like, oh, I've got tons of names. Um, I've been offline quite a lot, so good question it's refreshing though somebody that's been offline for a while yeah, it's very strange.

Chris Norton 52:01

I'll have to tell you I'd love to do it, but I run a social media agency so it's impossible. You know, I mean I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to cut. I'd love to.

Alexandra Galviz 52:10

It's my holidays but I'm aware that you know, and we haven't really talked about this much, but, um, it's like coming into a whole new world. Um, so much has changed and so much hasn't, and um, the the cost of disappearing having had a very active and engaged audience and coming back to you know, I can see why people never stop because you can't you know, you can't really get off that hamster wheel and keep growing from where you were. You start from zero again, um, and that's been an interesting journey for me. Uh, but I digress, let me gosh. Can I email you that one?

Chris Norton 52:55

yeah, you can. Yeah, anyone it would love to recommend somebody. Yeah, um, and if people, alex, if people want to get hold of you you've touched them with your personal story today how can they get hold for you? You've touched them with your personal story today. How can they get hold of you and find you?

Alexandra Galviz 53:06

Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn. Just type in Authentic Alex and if not, you can connect with my sub stack, which is called With Love and Magic.

Chris Norton 53:17

Great, all right, well, brilliant, and hopefully lots of people will do that after this. So thanks so much for coming on the show, alex. That was brilliant. Thanks for having me.