How Build An Alias That Does The Talking

Building your personal brand is important; it helps you stand out and allows people to connect with you. But what if your work could take on a life of its own, existing independently of you and continuing even after you’re gone?  

You Are The Media has become a central hub for gathering. I initiated it, but the emphasis is not on me; it’s on the collective spirit of everyone involved.

This means people are connected to YATM rather than to the pursuit of my own ego.

With the encouragement to show up as ourselves in our work and in daily life, creating an alias can be liberating. It allows us to step away from the pressures of personal branding and instead focus on how the alias can create a welcoming space for others. This approach helps build trust and fosters deeper connection with those around us.

Having an alias can serve as your buffer, even a shield but it can enable you to approach your work without the weight of personal scrutiny.

Leaning into your personal brand helps foster connections, an alias creates a shared vision. 

It becomes your bat signal to bring people together. This means it’s not just creating content or promoting products and services, it’s a way of thinking, a community that comes together, or a culture that has a belief system. 

It’s similar to how you identify with a publication. What was your favourite magazine when you were growing up? Was it sport, fashion, music, film, or a hobby? I bet you never knew the founder’s name, but you connected with the message and what each issue represented. You can create that same effect in your space, where your alias symbolises something greater than yourself.

I aimed to create a space for people to connect without any association to me.

It was created as a place to test ideas and explore my thoughts. Over time, I realised that You Are The Media was what people were engaging with—subscribing to the newsletter and attending live events. Over time I realised I didn’t want to create something where the whole focus was on me leading the agenda.

With people reading, joining in and telling other people, You Are The Media became a community that grew organically. I now realise that having a connection to a standalone identity allows you to expand. No one needs to create a fanclub where it’s all about them. 

Unlike a personal brand, which typically revolves around an individual, an alias can represent a set of values, a specific voice, or a particular style that aligns with your work without being too closely tied to you as a person. This approach offers you greater freedom. This distinction is significant in three ways.

🏆 Creative Flexibility: An alias allows for experimentation. With You Are The Media, I established a framework that invites participation. It’s a collective journey rather than just a personal narrative.

🏆 Community Building: An alias can create a welcoming space for others. When you create an identity with clear values, you build a community of people who resonate with those values, regardless of who you are personally. For YATM, that’s been key—people join not just because of me but because they feel like they belong in this collective journey of building an independent media space.

🏆 Trust and Longevity: A standalone identity built is for the long term. Over time, it grows in value as it matures and is less vulnerable to the challenges of personal branding, such as burnout or shifts in personal life and priorities. When you develop a voice that feels like a trusted friend, people stick with it.

An ambition for 2025 is to put YATM Lunch Club into different regions.

From 2016 to 2020, events were solely in Dorset. In 2020 we introduced to Bristol, in 2022 in Bath. In February ‘25 we’re going to have our YATM Lunch Club at FOUNDRY, Wandsworth (read more and join in here for £10). 

Our events revolve around a theme, so the idea is to put that theme into different places. The concept is rooted in the YATM identity as the way to bring people together and to get to hang out with other creative business people, like them. If you feel a part of a space then it feels easier. People naturally gravitate toward the places and individuals they enjoy being with.

If everything revolves around personal branding—whether it’s you or me—it can be a tougher journey because most people may not know who you are. Collective thinking means you nurture the place for people to congregate where everyone feels seen. You move from the person to the connection around the cause.

To build an alias that can stand the test of time and become its own entity, these elements come into play for your work.

It’s all built around this:

A Clear Reason. What is the overall reason? It’s essential to establish its purpose beyond commercial interests. People can quickly tell if they are part of a lead generation approach, and no one wants to feel like they’re being funneled into something. Over the years YATM became a supportive space for people who wanted to build their reputation, identity and voice. Your alias should have a reason that strikes a chord with people’s needs, not just market demands.

A Consistent Voice. What tone will your alias adopt? Will it be direct, encouraging, or practical? When you start to find your flow, you’ve got to stick with it. Even as you adapt and make tweaks over time, it’s the consistency that builds familiarity and trust over time.

Values Over Vanity. Having an alias allows you to create a space where boasting is unnecessary. It may come across as quieter, but it should exude self-assurance rather than self-promotion. Showcase the values of your alias through your actions and operations, not just through words.

Encouragement of Co-Creation. When you create an identity that people associate with, people need to a feel a part of that identity too. This involves actively participating in the journey rather than remaining passive observers. For example, YATM thrives on the contributions of others—through attending events, sharing stories, lending support, and helping to shape the community.

An Openness To Learn. Having an alias or a separate identity from you, allows you have more freedom by experimenting and mini-evolutions that a personal may find challenging. It means that you can continually offer fresh perspectives without impacting a personal reputation.

If the idea of having an alias resonates with you, here are some steps to consider:

Have A Purpose. Understand why your alias exists. What is the role it serves people? Is there a problem to solve or galvanise around an idea? Is there an experience to offer? You need to be clear on this before you begin. I learned this the hard way—it took me a long time to discern the role YATM played for people.

Have A Style You Are Happy With. Choose a logo, colours or any design elements that help to create an identity that you know you can put everything behind. The YATM logo was created in 2017 and it’s still the same logo today. It has become the signal for people to recognise. Think of it as the ‘face’ of your idea.

Establish Your Key Values. Write down a set of values that will guide your alias (if you have it in ‘Notes’ on your phone, you can always come back and add or edit). These values should inform every piece of content and every interaction you make. They serve as a guide to help you recognise if you’re straying from your purpose (point one).

Map Out Community Driven Activities. Consider how you can involve people in shaping this identity. Whether through, newsletters, events, or ways of co-creation such as featuring other people who feel a part of your work, the input from other people is so important. This space should allow others to feel engaged and included.

Think Long Term. It’s perfectly fine to build slowly but steadily, especially since this is likely uncharted territory for you. Keeping the vision in mind will help you stay on track as you progress.

An alias is more than just an alternative to a personal brand; it’s a vision that connects people to something larger than one person’s perspective.

This concept empowers both you and your audience. Creating an alias allows you to experiment and grow while inviting people on the journey.

This is not about a collection of posts; it’s a culture. For me, “You Are The Media” isn’t about “my brand”—it’s about a community promoting each other beyond algorithms or paid media. Building an alias could be your most powerful move yet.