Reid changes book title after ‘Brand You!’ tensions
Published:Monday | May 30, 2022 | 1:03 AM
It’s now My Brand Compass.
That’s the new name for media personality Terri-Karelle Reid’s first book, which was formally launched on Saturday.
In a soft launch in April, Reid had titled her work BRAND YOU!, only to discover that she had chosen a name similar to one used by Dr Hume Johnson for a book she published four years ago.
The similarities triggered some tension, at least on the part of Johnson, an associate professor of communications at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island, who called Reid’s decision to use the same title lamentable.
“It’s especially regrettable as I am also a Jamaican author who has published and done significant work in the area of personal branding for over 20 years,” Johnson, a personal-branding strategist, told The Gleaner in April.
However, Latoya West-Blackwood, publishing consultant for Reid, told The Gleaner Sunday that there was no intention to compete with a fellow author by using a similar title.
“While she (Reid) did not address the incident in terms of what was said online directly when it happened, she felt the need to articulate clearly that there was no intention to use a similar title to enter some type of imaginary competition with this person,” said West-Blackwood.
“She values being in a space where she can remain authentic and focus on the work that she is trying to do in terms of helping people develop their own personal brand and helping to develop her own brand, which is not connected to strife and negativity,” she added.
West-Blackwood said that Reid had built an online and offline community from her ability to pull energy around positive things and people.
She said that the unique selling point of Reid’s publication was identifying what she has called the 13 Cs of personal branding, one of which is character.
“Why she actually ended up coming back to the title My Brand Compass is because … she actually had the compass as an illustration in her manuscript from day one,” West-Blackwood said.
“It’s really talking about the modern world that we live in and that truly everybody is potentially a brand or has their own brand, whether it is at your workplace, whether it is among your friends ... .”
The book becomes available on June 1 at Kingston Bookshop branches.