everyone tells founders to be the face of their brand, and I’ve spent this year
By Sophie Miller · October 15, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
everyone tells founders to be the face of their brand, and I’ve spent this year working hard to stop being the face of mine 👀 ⋆˚
I mean, notice how my Meta festival promo *wasn't* my brand account with 200,000 followers but my personal (with 4,900 lovely friends but really a % portion of the reach the other could have provided) instead ??
for the last five years Pretty Little Marketer has basically been me, so it’s my face on the posts, my voice in the newsletter and my name on the partnerships. it’s how the whole thing grew and I’m really grateful for it, but the bigger PLM gets the more I can feel how much it all hangs on me turning up every single day, and that’s a lot for one person to carry.
PLM is becoming a media company now and I want it to feel like one.
I’ve got a team with their own ideas and their own voices, a community full of marketers who deserve the spotlight way more than I do, and I want people to come to PLM because of what it stands for and the people in it.
and I think the tide is turning.
Emma Grede recently said a face can amplify a brand but only if there’s something solid underneath it.
Krissy Cela built Oner Active in the public eye, and now Oner are spotlighting their team with their own series and making millions through their ambassadors, so the brand is so much bigger than her. you can see it everywhere once you start looking.
more so M&S gave their product development director her own account taking you round the Foodhall, Sisters and Seekers put their team front and centre in every video, and Duolingo built a whole personality around a green owl that people were gutted to see killed off.
I’m tired of the narrative that every brand needs a face.
okay sure it helps that's completely undeniable but what I think a brand needs is a feeling, something people recognise no matter *who* is posting.
to be clear I’m not disappearing, I’m moving my own stories and opinions over to my personal brand so PLM can grow into something bigger than me.
this is post three of the #PLMLinkedInChallenge, which our members are doing with me over the next two weeks, and today’s prompt is a hot take and I’d love to hear yours in the comments hehe !!