Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front-row seat. I'm Paula Edgar, and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do. It's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies, and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark. And I'll share the tools you need to do the same. Let's go.
Welcome back to Branding Room Only. I'm Paula Edgar, and today I want to talk about one of the most important drivers of my career, my community, and of course, my brand. That is bar associations, professional organizations, and civic organizations. These are not just extracurricular activities. They're not just resume builders or LinkedIn content. They are not just obligations. They are platforms, they are strategy, and they are in many ways the engines of my personal brand.
When you join, engage, and hopefully step into leadership in these spaces, you are not just on the sidelines. You're in the middle of the action. You're, as they say in Hamilton, in the room where it happens. That room, that's where impact happens. That's where policies are shaped, where networks are built, where communities are strengthened. These communities can be broad, legal profession, the world, the city where you live in, or they can be more intimate, like identity spaces, spaces for women, for Black lawyers, or for other networks.
For me, bar and civic leadership have been an integral part of how I built my brand. I've served at nearly every level. That's volunteer, committee member, chair, board member, officer, president. Let me give you a little bit of a breakdown of what I'm currently doing. I am currently an officer at the New York City Bar Association, representing over 24,000 members. I am one of just 12 commissioners on the ABA's Commission on Women. I'm a special advisor on branding for the ABA's criminal justice section. I'm a past president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, New York's largest Black bar, and I'm also a lifetime member of that organization, MBBA.
In addition, I'm a lifetime member and frequent speaker for the National Association of Women Lawyers. Y'all, that's just part of the list. I am passionate about leadership, and I'm passionate about bar association and civic organizations. But let me tell you about how these roles have helped. These roles gave me visibility, credibility, and opportunity. But they also gave me something that I treasure so deeply, and that is community. Some of my closest friends, my most trusted colleagues, and my greatest collaborators have come directly from those spaces.
Here's the truth. Leadership in these organizations is not just about service. It is about strategy. It puts your personal brand front and center. You become associated with impact, progress, credibility, and leadership. You gain access to conversations and relationships that you simply would not have had otherwise. Leadership sharpens skills that you cannot always develop in your day job, like conflict management, consensus building, fundraising, definitely fundraising, and strategic thinking.
It helps to put you into situations that will stretch you, that will challenge you, and ultimately make you a better professional. It gives you something else that I think is deeply important right now, and that is belonging. We've been living through a crisis of loneliness made worse by the pandemic, but I think present even before then and definitely still happening now. People crave community and leadership and engagement in professional and civic organization provides it.
It's a place where you can meet people, show your value, find purpose, and build lasting connections. I'll add this, especially now, engagement in these spaces is even more important as we navigate uncertain times. Our impact through these organizations can benefit the greater good in moments where there's inconsistency and challenge in other places. They give us a way to support each other, to address these things collaboratively, and to remind ourselves that we're not alone in the work and that we can still engage with each other and experience joy, even while things seem so uncertain and inconsistent in the world.
I want you to think about this. When you join a bar association or another professional organization or civic group, you're not just writing a check. Wait, do people even still write checks? Anyway, I digress. You're making an investment of your time, your talent, and your treasure. In return, you get impact, visibility, and connection. You move from being someone who observes to someone who shapes. You go from wondering, "What difference can I make?" to actually making it. And that, my friends, is powerful.
I have told you this, many of the opportunities I've had, speaking engagements, consulting, business development, came directly from the relationships and visibility I have gained in these spaces. But even beyond the opportunities, the leadership roles give me a sense of impact and alignment. They allow me to live out a core belief of mine. That is, to whom much is given, much is required. I have been given much, and it is my passion to make sure that I continue to give and be of service.
Because our skills, our energy, our brilliance, they're not just for us. They are meant to elevate and impact the communities we're a part of, whether that's for me, like the legal profession, which is your neighborhood, your alumni committee, your PTA. Stepping into leadership is a way of saying, I'm not going to sit on the sidelines. I'm going to be, again, like Hamilton, in the room where it happens.
So if you're thinking about how to grow your brand, I encourage you to join and not just join, engage, and not just engage, lead. Don't just sign up, show up. Don't just attend, contribute. Because the organizations you commit to won't just benefit from you. You will be transformed by them. I can attest to this firsthand. Bar Association and Civic Leadership have been the strongest drivers of my personal brand. They gave me opportunity, they gave me impact, and they gave me community. They can do the same for you.
So if you're listening and thinking, "Well, Paula, where do I start?" Start with one. One organization that aligns with your profession, your passion, your identity. Don't just join. Show up. Volunteer. Raise your hands. Give them ideas. Come up with something. Suggest something. Because when you do, you stop waiting for opportunities to come your way. You know this is a brand must. You start creating those opportunities.
Here's what I want you to think about as I close. Leadership is not about waiting for the perfect invitation. It's about deciding that your voice matters and stepping into the arena. It's about recognizing that your personal brand is not and should not be built in isolation. It's built in community. If you want to expand your impact, your influence, strengthen your reputation, and make a difference, bar and civic leadership are the most powerful places to start.
So before we wrap up, if this episode resonated with you, and I hope that it did, I would love for you to rate and review this podcast at ratethispodcast.com/branding. Your feedback there helps others find the show and reminds me why I love doing this work. Until next time, stand by your brand and hopefully join an organization where you can build, lead and make your impact. See you next time. Bye.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor: head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by at paulaedgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live, online, or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the Branding Room. And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
