Wednesday, May 30, 2012

the public face

As part of my current job, I am required to keep the paper supplied with press releases about various goings-on about town, and I also have a full page each month for my organisation.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to find something that is ''newsworthy'' enough for the paper to pick up.  There's a fine line between advertorial and a story.  I'm very lucky in that the Editor is most obliging and rarely changes the copy I send it, but this is also on the understanding that what I provide is of a certain calibre and style.  And as a result of doing this regularly, I have developed my own ''voice'', which means everything I write is fairly easily identified as mine (much like this blog...)

Recently I was interviewed on video for a project being completed about the top 100 places around our region.   As a result of that interview I was then approached about being profiled in the regional newspaper. It was great - I got a photo shoot (a good excuse to buy some new clothes) and the article went in to the Saturday paper where I was shown in full technicolour along side my interview.  The fun really began when my friends and colleagues opened the paper and saw me - the phone started at 8 am and I'm still getting copies in my letter box 5 days later.  The thrill of being famous for a day - just as Andy Warhol described!

But here's the interesting thing...as I read through my article, my first thought was Wow! she sounds fabulous:).  It actually took a few minutes to reconcile that it was about me!  Which made me think about how easy it is to portray one thing to the world and so easily be another in private.

I value the idea of being ''the same to everyone''.  It's that integrity thing I often speak of.  And I'd like to think that in my writing style this personality - and the values that sit within that - are reflected and consistent.

So here's the question for you to ponder this week:

Do you have  a 'voice'' that reflects the real you?  Do you have a public persona? Does it match who you are in private?  Why or why not?


1 comment:

susan said...

a good point about integrity which certainly says, 'i may be two people or more...but they work together well':)