How I Got In A Magazine With Oprah On The Cover

So when I saw an opportunity to provide content for CEO magazine, which is read by exactly the people I want to influence and impact, I jumped at the chance.

I'll share the 4 simple steps I took to get featured in a minute, but first let's look at why this magazine might even be interested.

You see, a journalist for the magazine was putting together a piece on neurodiversity and how learning difficulties can actually be good for business, and I knew my personal brand story of being a dyslexic international best selling author would probably be an interesting angle.

You see, when I was 8 years old, my English teacher (and the Head of the school) came to me, knelt by my desk and said “You are not understanding reading or writing like the other children, I think you have ‘word-blindess’ and you won’t be able to learn how they do.”

Now of course Word-Blindness in those days was dyslexia and this might sound like an awful thing for a teacher to say to a child, but he knew how I operated.

He knew that whatever you told Lauren she couldn’t do, she’d go out of her way to prove you wrong.

Negative psychology has always worked well on me!

He helped me learn to love reading, finding books I really engaged with and sending me home each day with a list of 10 words to learn.

My family would read the list and I would spell them out loud, forming a shape of the word in my brain, seeing the words shape to recall and remember it.

I discovered many years later, when I became a graphic designer and them worked for world leading advertising agencies, that this disability became my greatest asset.

It helped me see how brands created memory and emotion, how they could command brain space, create an engaging message in spit seconds and help customers become loyal.

I became a respected brand manager because of this, and when I opened my award-winning personal branding consultancy I embedded Neurobranding into the processes I used to help others create stand out brands that instantly engaged the right clients.

But I still had to promote myself and my services.

So I subscribed to places that could give me the opportunities to become respected and well known. These were lists around the world that sent out speaking opportunities, media call outs, guest blogging requests, sponsorship and JV partnership opportunities and many more ways to get my brand out there.

The opportunity to be in CEO Magazine, came to me from one of those many lists.

I had no idea what they had planned for the cover of the magazine and that one of my favourite personal brands, Oprah was part of this picture.

All I knew was, I needed to help this publication to help them inspire their readers to embrace all of their personal brand, disabilities and difficulties as well as strengths and talents.

So I responded to the request.

it took only a few minutes and was simple to do.

Of course, the contents for it took since I was 8 years old to form and a few years of personal branding development to package my own brand, but in the end, I did this through sheer consistency.

And you can too.

Here’s the 4 simple steps I took to get in CEO Magazine, with Oprah on the cover…along with some tips to help you do the same.

1. Get Clear On Your Brand Story

I never really thought my dyslexia would have such a bearing on my personal brand, and you don’t have to have some learning difficulty or tragedy to define your brand story, you just have to be you.

My advice is to review your life and consider what Oprah herself suggests when she talked about life purpose. “Purpose is the thread that connects the dots to everything you do that leads you to an extraordinary life.”

Take the time to look back on the events that happened in your life and the lessons you gained from them. Challenges make us human, and they help us connect to others.

So make sure you define what really makes you, drives you and how that can help others.