Episode 15: The Power of Personal Brand: Why Clarity Is Your Career Currency with Mallika Malhotra

Summary:

In this empowering and wisdom-filled episode, Lori sits down with Mallika Malhotra—a branding strategist, speaker, and author with over two decades of experience spanning global giants like Unilever and L’Oréal to her own entrepreneurial ventures. Mallika shares her journey of reinvention, from corporate boardrooms to building a business that helps professionals and entrepreneurs harness the power of personal branding.

This conversation dives deep into why clarity, confidence, and courage are the cornerstones of a brand that truly connects. Mallika also reveals how she’s blending timeless brand strategy with new tools—like AI—to help leaders stay relevant and future-ready.

If you’ve ever wondered how to stand out in a noisy world without losing your authenticity, this episode is your roadmap. Your brand is your reputation—when you’re not in the room, what do people say about you?

🔑 Key Takeaways:

Personal Branding Is Evolution, Not Perfection

Your brand isn’t a static logo—it’s a reflection of who you are, how you’ve grown, and the value you bring.

Clarity Builds Confidence

Mallika’s “4 P’s Framework”—Purpose, Prowess, Passion and Personality—is a powerful tool for defining a brand that feels both authentic and magnetic.

AI Is a Tool, Not a Threat

Instead of replacing human creativity, AI can amplify strategy, efficiency, and innovation—if used with intention.

Relationships Are Your Real ROI

Your brand thrives when it’s grounded in community and connection—not just self-promotion.

Reinvention Is the Secret to Longevity

Mallika’s journey proves that pivoting isn’t failure—it’s growth. The willingness to adapt keeps your brand (and career) alive and joyful.

🔎 Mentioned in the Episode:

• Malika’s 4 P’s Framework: Purpose, Prowess, Passion, Personality
• Her AI-driven branding tools to support modern entrepreneurs
• Lessons from corporate roles at Unilever, Olive Olé and L’Oréal
• The power of relationships, community, and continuous learning

✨ Reflection Prompts:

• Does my brand reflect who I am today—or just who I was five years ago?
• How do I want people to feel after interacting with me or my work?
• Am I building my brand in isolation—or inviting others into the journey?

🧠 Who This Episode Is For:

• Entrepreneurs and business owners building visibility and trust
• Corporate professionals exploring reinvention or career pivots
• Leaders who want to future-proof their brand with AI and innovation
• Anyone craving more clarity and confidence in how they show up

📩 Want to Go Deeper?

• Explore Mallika Malhotra’s branding resources and tools at her website — The Brand CEO
• Try mapping your 4 P’s to sharpen your personal brand foundation
• Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation
• Book a Brand or Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders discover the show

📲 Share this episode with someone ready to elevate their personal brand with clarity and joy

This is the show for you. Each week I talk with powerhouse leaders about what it takes to really rise without losing yourself along the con. Because rising isn't just about doing more. It's about leading with vision, sharpening your emotional intelligence, and having the courage to self-reflect along the way. Let's get to it.

For so many things, but mainly she took me through a brand photo shoot, a strategy, and then helped me build out that strategy to a full blown brand and. It was with Mallika that the Joy CEO was built. And so today we're gonna hear about Mallika's journey from a corporate girl of her own working for big brands like Unilever, working on brands like L'Oreal Olive Olé and Clorox.

She's had over two decades of experience running her own company, and what you'll hear in this conversation is that it has not been a straight line. There have been many iterations of Mallika, of the brands she's created. And she's evolved over time. She's a tremendous leader, tremendous mentor, and she has this magnetic way of helping people build their brands.

Hello and welcome to the Joy CEO podcast. I'm your host Lori Pine, and I am so thrilled to have my very dear friend, Mallika Malhotra, the brand CEO with us today. You are gonna love our conversation as Mallika is a former corporate veteran herself and now a personal branding expert.

So let's dig in. Welcome Mallika.

Mallika Malhotra: Thank you so much for having me. It's so good to see you.

Lori: It is so good to see you. So funny little story. I live in New York and grew up in Maine and was here in the metro New York area, and somebody said to me, oh, I have this good friend who has lived in New Jersey. You're gonna wanna meet her because she's just a rock star.

But ever since then, Mallika and I have been kismet and she has just been a wealth of knowledge with her branding expertise. And so let's talk about how you got started in branding. You were a corporate veteran, worked on some really big brands, L'Oreal Olive Olé and Clorox.

Mallika Malhotra: Yes. So post-college had a dream of being an advertising executive 'cause it was like a sexy, creative industry.

It was a totally different landscape. It was tv, print and radio. Yes, maybe some billboards and direct mail if you were gonna go crazy, right? None of this social media stuff, but like. The, the training and the learning with those big mediums, right? That was the only mediums I think were so valuable in learning how to create a campaign, how to create campaign, and how to tell a story, how to differentiate with all of these brands that were in saturated markets, right.

You're banging for people's attention and to buy your product. Those were great lessons that we apply every day to our own brands as personal brands. And so it was a great experience to be in, in a big city, working on big clients and big agency. I learned a lot. I also learned all of the layers and the bureaucracy that happens with corporate, right?

And so it's. Those types of, you know, experiences were very valuable just in, you know, you know, evolving me into the business person that I am today.

Lori: Yes. And you think about like all that waste all the time waste, all the money waste and the lessons learned just from that part of it and how when you boil that down and you bring that into a personal brand or an entrepreneurial brand and there's no luxury to have that sort of waste, you can get really scrappy.

And I think that, I think that you pride yourself on that.

I mean, that's the joy of being an entrepreneur, that it's kind of your, your own agency, right? That you can make these decisions on your own and. Failure is there. Failure felt so big in the corporate world because of the amount of money that was beyond behind it. And you know, the, the threat of the advancement of your career was attached to it.

Yes. And now, yes, there's failure, but your resiliency, there's grit, there's pivoting. There's restart, right? Like. I can't even think of all the places I've moved and all the things that I've done as an entrepreneur, I was able to do quickly and just keep going and keep going. It's, it's more about what's inside of you as an entrepreneur that pushes you through to get to that next level versus all of the, the layers and the drama and the titles that corporate America brings to you.

Lori: I think that that very spirit is something that's really worth talking about because as we talk about pivoting it really, the more I have these interviews and the more I talk to really amazing people like you, it seems like it's more of an unfolding and this evolution of who we're becoming. And that's certainly been the case with you. You keep reinventing yourself, you know, you just had a big move. You moved from Maine to Texas. Big move, you know, uproot your whole family, your business, way of living. You, you know, we were just talking before we hit record that it's a hundred degrees every day right now, and so big adjustment.

Mallika Malhotra: Yeah, I think, you know, there's a lot of truth to that. And you just hope that the opportunities that come to you with every change, with every pivot, with every move, with every, you know, failure, that you can kind of see what the lessons are and the growth is.

And I think that has a lot to do with personal brand. Who you are. Like I think I have been able to ride the waves of all these changes. 'cause I'm very clear about the person that I am. Right? I know clearly what my purpose is. I know clearly what my skillset is that I'm good at. I know clearly you know what my passions are or what my point of view is on things.

Lori: I think that makes perfect sense, and we are in such a time of change right now, especially in the business world with all of the technology that's coming on forward.

We're hearing every day there's a new headline about a company that's downsizing and reorging and acquisitions and mergers, and so it leaves a lot of uncertainty for people. So if we talk about how to build that personal brand in order to build confidence, in order to build our own stability, what would you say about that? And where does somebody begin?

Mallika Malhotra: Yeah, I think it takes a lot of self discovery, right? You have to ask yourself some of these hard questions. You need to have that quiet space to kind of be able to ask yourself. Beyond the paycheck, why am I doing this work? What is that big why behind it? That sense of purpose, you know?

Right? Kind of that mission and vision that we would use for our businesses. You're also gonna use for you as a person. You know, what is your point of view? Is there something that pisses you off out there in the industry, that riles you up, that you feel so strongly about that you want to then bake into this personal brand?

I think people are often afraid to be polarizing, but it actually is gonna make you memorable. It's actually gonna help you stand out. So don't be afraid of having a strong opinion about something. How can you then bake that into your personal brand? Then of course there's your prowess, which is your skillset.

You know, so purpose, prowess, your passions, your point of view. I think those are the foundations of really developing that personal brand. And when I say personal brand, I mean I think it's worthy of, of defining that, right? I mean, your reputation, right, when you're not in the room.

What are people saying about Lori Pine? That is your personal brand. That is a statement that you're making, and if you're not actively shaping that, I'm sorry to break the news to you, someone is, someone is saying something about you or the industry is saying something about you or your boss is saying something about you.

Lori: Yes. Yes. Okay. There was so much in there that was so good. I, I need to dig in a little bit. So sense of purpose, knowing your vision and your mission outside of just getting a paycheck. There are so many people who are going to work right now today that might be listening to this podcast who are just going for a paycheck.

Yet, you and I both know that there is something so much bigger. What do you say to the people who come to you know that there's something bigger? Know that they have a bigger purpose, but maybe they're afraid.

Mallika Malhotra: I think it, it is hard, right? Because you need the money right there. You know, it's a luxury to think that we can define our purpose.

Sometimes if we put it in that perspective, it helps us kind of remove ourself from the day-to-day stressors that might help you define the vision that you want, right? The mission behind, like, you know, the real reason you get up every morning, you know, and maybe it's not to get the money in your bank, but maybe it's because you wanna build a legacy for your family.

Maybe it's because you wanna be a strong role model to your daughter so that she could see what female empowerment looks like in the workplace, right? You have to ask yourself those hard questions. You have to sit in the quiet to really think about it. I think often we don't do it. We plug in, we do the work, we go home, and then we get into this, you know, uncomfortable space of just not feeling fulfilled, not having joy, right?

Personality is such a big part of your personal brand, right? How do you naturally show up in the world?

Lori: Such a big part. Such a big part, okay? What makes you memorable? The whole point of view. What makes you memorable? How does somebody know what makes them memorable?

Mallika Malhotra: Well, sometimes you've gotta ask other people in the room, right?

Yes, yes. You gotta do little.

Lori: You've had me do that.

Because I want to shape. You know, my presence, my brand in the room to do better work. I think people that are very open to give you that feedback, but you have to ask. You have to ask others. Ask your bosses for feedback. What am I doing well? Where do I have areas of improvement? Right? Ask your peers, you know, when you think of me, who am I?

Like I had a, you know, a good example of a a personal brand in the corporate space is like there was a woman who I used to work with in advertising and we called her like the closer. She was the one, you know all those layers. I told you that people, you know, yeah. Red lining and throwing the idea out.

And for it was a personality thing. It was her tone, her voice. It was a way she analyzed the room. She just had this thing about her and she was known as the closer. That is a great example of our personal brand in a corporate setting.

Lori: That is such a great example. You created such a visual for me. It's like I feel like I know her.

Hmm. How do you help them figure out that, that that's kind of their unicorn gift?

Mallika Malhotra: Yeah. Again, I think it's, you know, sometimes you have to do a, a daily like schedule of your day, like reporting of your day, figuring out all the different tasks that you do. You have to write it down, you have to record it, you have to measure it.

And then you kind of see like what are the things that I did today that you felt, you know, the feeling there's an energy that flow. Yeah. The ease and flow, right? What are the things that people keep coming to me for? They might keep coming to you for, you know, if they have a problem with a team, another, someone on their team, and you become like, almost like the therapist slash worker, right?

Yes. Look at the feedback that you're getting in your, you know, orderly, you know, yearly reviews, like really look at that and then compare that to the things that are, you are in flow. Compare that to the things that you love to do that you wanna do more of. Again, I think it's like. You have to ask yourself these questions.

You have to sit and press, pause and really think about it instead of just doing the next task and the next task and the next task. You know, I think we've been programmed to be kind of like machines instead of

Lori: Oh, for sure.

Mallika Malhotra: Real people. Yes. With emotions and ideas and visions and goals and so. I think the only way you're gonna figure out what you're good at is by asking other people, by measuring the work that you already do, by looking at the feedback that you have, by looking at what takes you, you know, short time and it feels playful and fun.

Lori: Yes. You know, I think that that warrants acknowledgement, that whole busyness around a to-do list, that chronic busyness that can keep us really distracted from the, the meat of our life, the real energy that can bring us to life, and give us the purpose of what it is we're here to do when we're mired in tasks and to-dos.

Mallika Malhotra: And it's a great exercise to do when you're starting to get that burnout feeling where you're feeling really down, it's like. Taking a step back, and I don't know if you remember this when we did branding for you, it's that brand map that we wrote, like your name in the middle we kind of wrote all of your experience and your jobs and the courses or the degrees and like your interests and your passions.

Like all the things and trying to connect some dots of like, okay, that might just be what re-energizes you, right? Yeah. That might be what makes you open your eyes to say. Why am I in marketing when I should be at HR? Like, yes, just some ideas to give you some perspective instead of drowning in that burnout and the day-to-day task list where you're just kind of gonna be in this black hole for how long?

Mallika Malhotra: Yeah, so again, you're gonna have to really set some time to start thinking about yourself, right? That self discovery and asking yourself some of these questions. Number one, what I would say is. Take a poll. Ask people around you, you know, audit your reputation. Ask your colleagues like, what are the top three words that come to mind when you think of me?

Right? And then collect that data and notice some patterns. The second, think about the things that frustrate you at work. When your industry, with your clients develop a point of view, how would you wanna change things? Right? How would you create. The vision of what you want. This is where that thought leadership comes in.

Maybe you're on a different social media and everything is confusing, and then your personal brand is just, you know, it goes to shit. Let's just say, you know? Yes. And then since we're on the Joy CEO podcast, what brings you joy, right? Like what can you anchor your brand in that's going to bring you joy?

You know, if you can start with those four things, very practical things, I think that's gonna help you start shaping what that personal brand can be. And then you can ask yourself the bigger questions of like, what's my purpose? And then, you know, what's my personality and what's that point of view? And then layer that on top.

Lori: Yes. Yes. And so let's talk. I love all of this. Thank you so much for that. This is so valuable and I hope everybody is just like soaking this all in.

Writing notes is wherever you are. If you're on a walking trail and jogging or you're in the car, you're like safely taking notes with all of this. But let's talk about how that has impacted you and how you continually take your own advice in your own life, in your own brand to keep this evolution going.

Looking at what the marketplace looks like. So an example is high 2025. AI is here, right? AI is here, and either you embrace it or you're gonna be falling behind. So I know as a brand strategist who is in her fifties, where there are young brand strategists coming into the world every day, 20, in their twenties, in their thirties, and let's be honest, they are so much better at being online.

They are tech savvy and I can't deny that. So what can I deliver to the marketplace that will keep me relevant and keep me evolving? So. My age and my experience is my asset, as is ours, the anyone who was in their mid fifties. We have done it all that those 20 or 30-year-old cannot even compare. And, and this is just fact, right?

Create a tool that will be more accessible, more affordable, and help people with what they need. And people now want speed and they want personalization. They want you to bring them through a very short process to get the results that they need to get to the next step. And AI does that. But with ai, [00:27:00] I don't know if you've experienced this, 'cause most people have, when you're on ChatGPT and you're asking, you know, open-ended, help me develop my brand.

No training, no guidelines. You are going to get answers from ChatGPT that are gonna be all across the board and really gonna be generic, and you're gonna get frustrated and you're gonna be like, this is not what I asked for. This is not who I am, right? That is the problem. So knowing that that is the problem, what I have created to keep myself relevant to scale my expertise.

I created these AI bots that are pre-trained on my intellectual property and my proven systems. So it is an interactive experience where you click on a link that takes you to ChatGPT, and it'll say, what's your name? And you'll say, Lori Pine. And it'll say, Hey, Lori, today we're gonna work on your brand positioning.

It doesn't have to be perfect. You have to just share what is in alignment with your story, your brand, and then based on that information, because this bot is pre-trained, it will give you what I have crafted as a deliverable. A brand statement based on my framework, an elevator pitch, a business bio, right?

So now you have these assets that are done for you that you can go into the world and start delivering. That is what people want. Yes. They don't want, most people don't want to invest four figures and time in trying to figure that out. Especially if you're new, especially if you're on a budget, especially if you're in a time crunch, some people will, so I don't think this is ever gonna replace my job.

As I become one of the older strategists in the market,

Lori: I love this so much. I love how you took your own advice, you took your own framework, you applied it to your situation, you applied it to yourself, and you said, how do I form this next evolution of my own personal brand? What am I passionate about?

Mallika Malhotra: Yeah, so my clients who I am building their brands with them, I'm building their frameworks. I'm building their thought leadership, their strategy. Then all of a sudden, you know, they'll say like, how can we take my framework and create an AI tool so that more people can get solutions to their problems?

And so now. With the knowledge I have of building, I probably have built about 20 internal and external bots. 'cause I use it within my business as well as selling it as a forward facing product. I now know how to do it for my clients and I only do it for my clients because I know their businesses inside and out.

Right. So, you know. Is it scary to do this? A hundred percent, yes. You were talking about fear before. I am not an AI techie person by any means, but I know my frameworks. I know brand strategy. I know I can help a lot of people, and the idea of helping one client at a time, as much as I love to treat their business like mine and go all in.

I also know that there are more people that need the help, but just might not be able to afford it right now if they wanted to work with me. Right. And why would I gate keep this system, this framework that I have, you know? And the questions come up. 'cause I talked to a lot of people, it's like, what if another brand strategist buys your product and takes your framework?

Like. Everything is out there, so no one's ever gonna replace me and my personal brand, my prowess, my personality, all the things we talked about. So, right. I have no problem with that. I've sort of let that go. Maybe that's also being, you know, over 50. I, I'm not gonna even worry about it. Like it is what it is.

Right. And maybe in my 30-year-old or 40-year-old self would've kept it really close and been like, you know, no way am I gonna share this. But I don't. I don't feel like that anymore. I wanna do good work for people. I want more. If a brand strategist needs it, then use it. I hope it helps more people.

Mallika Malhotra: Yes, thank you. I didn't think of it that way, but that is very true. Thank you for that.

Lori: Yes, and and that's the energy, right? That's the energy of I'm doing this for a paycheck versus I'm really doing this for a purpose.

Mallika Malhotra: That's right.

Lori: It's the impact. And that gives me goosebumps because it, you know, if I think about all the people that might be sitting in a cubicle right now, just miserable and wondering where they're gonna find some joy, I really hope that the stuff that I'm putting in the world can just move that needle just a little bit.

Because I remember those days when I was sitting, you know, in an office going. Oh my gosh, is this it? Because this can't be it. So yeah. So it's the impact that we want to have and that that trumps just about anything. So.

If money or fear, were not an object. Were not an obstacle, right? What would you be doing? And that can be just a seed of an idea that helps you develop the person you wanna become with this personal brand.

Lori: And start to move in that direction again with that energy. I also think, and I know that, that you are the same way with this, but that the power of relationships can never be underestimated.

And so to make sure that we have those communities, those people, those trusted mentors is so valuable. And that's what you have been for me since I've been on this entrepreneurial journey. For anybody who listening. Mallika was the person I went to. She helped me build my brand name. The, the joy CEO came from Mallika, so it's all roads lead back to her at the beginning of this journey.

She was my first photo shoot. The, the whole shebang. So yeah, relationships matter.

It's sort of like the implementation they can't give you. That comes with, you know, that human contact. Yes. So there's a place for both.

Lori: Yes. Through your group. I've made friends. Yeah. I mean, amazing friends, Jalpa and, and Kate and Kim and, I mean, on and on and on. Just amazing friends came out of that group, so people I'm in touch with today, so it's, it's powerful.

Mallika Malhotra: It makes me so happy. Yes.

Lori: Powerful to be in community. Yes, Nicole, Jill.

Mallika Malhotra: I know, right?

Lori: So, so many, so many people. Yes. Yes. And then I was working with a client and she needed her brand redone, her own personal brand needed help, and I brought you into that client. And so it's just, it's really been a wonderful, wonderful reciprocity.

Yes. With you, Mallika. It's been amazing.

Lori: Yes, it's super fun. So one thing I love to ask my clients is, what was your dirtiest job ever quote unquote, dirtiest job ever.

Mallika Malhotra: Yes, so I worked in advertising and started at the bottom.

You know, I was the admin for the head of all of L'Oreal, like on the agency side, and she was a big wig and she was this. She was actually French. She was French and she had the short bop. She kinda had like that Anna Wintour kind of a vibe to her. And she always wore the black nail polish before the black nail polish was all hot in New York in the nineties.

They didn't seem like they could be real and they were some like back checking on that they weren't client related. And here I am as a 21-year-old, totally sweating, right, questioning who am I loyal to, to the company or to my boss, you know, what am I being asked here? Very uncomfortable. It was very obvious that.

These dinners were not client dinners and I had reported them, so was my job on the line and just felt like I had to just kind of tell the truth of just, she gave them to me and I reported them as asked. I never questioned them 'cause she was my boss. So they, I kind of got off, but the dirty work became revealed that they were not legitimate dinners.

And so I was like, oh my gosh, I'm part of this dirty work. And I felt like now as my, you know, 52-year-old self, she kind of took advantage of that, right? Like totally, she took advantage of her team and her admin because they knew that they would never question her and that she wasn't gonna do her own expenses.

And it, it's like now it kind of just puts like a, a bad taste in my mouth of like how that could happen because I was. Part of her team, so it reflected on me as well. Right. And I, I just think that's such a, it's a, an awful model to have for a young person who wants to break into this industry and, and be her at one point.

Mallika Malhotra: Right.

Lori: There's a, an entitlement thinking there that just. Yeah. Goes well beyond all of that, so, yes.

Okay. So we are gonna wrap up with some rapid fire questions. Mm-hmm. I do this with all of my guests at the end. So there's five questions and are you ready?

Mallika Malhotra: I think so.

Lori: Yes you are. You are. You are. So ready. Okay. Number one, one piece of leadership advice you wish you had learned earlier.

Mallika Malhotra: Take risks. It's okay. Even if you're not ready, take the risk and just see what unfolds. I wish I did more of that.

Lori: I love that. Number two, a daily habit or practice that keeps you grounded.

Lori: I love that. Number three, the most joyful moment in your career so far.

Mallika Malhotra: Ah, wow. Many moments, but one that comes to mind is when I actually wrote a book on brand photography and saw my name as an author in print on Amazon. But the reaction of my sons when they saw the actual book in their hands and my picture on the back of.

Just the recognition and the validation and the awe that their mom could do that. She wasn't just a mom.

Lori: Oh, I love that. Oh, that's so great. Oh, that brings tears to my eyes. That's, I know. That is beautiful. That is beautiful. Okay. What's one thing that people often misunderstand about success?

It is a long line of failures that have happened that it is not just this like overnight success that it takes so much, right to get to that point. So many people, so many failures, so many, you know. Tears, blood, sweat, and tears that, you know, whatever you see. And I tell myself this too, when I see someone, I'm like, oh my God, look at her.

But you, when you pull it away, you know that there's a lot more that had happened for them to get to that point.

Lori: Yes, yes. That could be a book, right? Mm-hmm. The, the idea that right now it's her turn, but holy smokes, it's been a long road. Yeah. Yes. Okay, last question. What do you want your leadership legacy to be in one sentence?

That changes how you see yourself, that changes how your family sees you. You're not just a mom or, or just a title. Right? To really kind of hone in on what that power is so that you can make more impact. That's more than one sentence, but you get this.

Lori: I totally get the gist, and that is really one of the signature takeaways I've had from working with you is to niche down, to not be all things to everybody. Could I coach anybody? Sure. I probably could, but you kept pushing me to niche down. Niche down. No, Lori, go deeper. Go further down. Who? Who, and, and there was so much benefit to that, even if I was resistant at some, some points along the way.

Mallika Malhotra: Most people are.

Mallika Malhotra: Thank you so much. This was so much fun. I love being here.