Brand Leaders

Are you a subject matter expert, leader or entrepreneur ready to expand your influence but unsure how to position yourself for the next level.

Hi, I’m Michelle, a speaker, author, advisor and founder of Brand Leaders, a professional branding and LinkedIn visibility training platform. 

I help experts, leaders and teams position their personal brands, grow visibility on LinkedIn, and become in-demand authorities in their industries. 

Your personal brand should be your business advantage, but it needs a foundational strategy and plan first. That's why I created my Own Your L.A.N.E. framework to make so you're clear, credible and competitively advantaged in your field:

OWN YOUR LANE. OWN YOUR FUTURE. 

After years of watching brilliant professionals stay overlooked, I created the Own Your L.A.N.E.™ System, a proven roadmap for business development. 

L – Launch Your Vision (Purpose)
A – Assert Your Difference (Positioning)
N – Navigate Your Brand (Presence)
E – Elevate Your Authority (Proof)

Because when you’re clear on who you are and how you show up…

The right people find you
The right opportunities follow
And you become known for what sets you apart

I speak, teach & advise experts, leaders, teams and audiences to:

✔ Position and differentiate your expertise into a recognizable brand
✔ Grow a consistent presence and build influential relationships on LinkedIn®
✔ Elevate your authority through speaking, media and PR opportunities

👉 CASE STUDIES: MichelleBGriffin.com/results

TOPICS 
> Own Your Lane™ The Recognition Roadmap
> LinkedIn® Personal Branding for Experts, Leaders & Teams
> Brand is The New Demand 

Learn more about me in the About section.

LET'S CHAT
Book a call to learn more: 👉 MichelleBGriffin.com/chat

 I look forward to meeting you!

Own Your Lane™ - Personal PR/Personal Brand Speaker, Workshop Facilitator + Masterclass Presenter 

Brand Leaders® - Powered by Own Your Lane® helps subject matter experts and expertise business owners clarify their brand positioning, simplify their message and amplify their visibility to win clients and land PR opportunities.

Brand for Business Speaking, Advising and Workshops

Innovation Women

Innovation Women is a visibility bureau connecting event managers to women speakers. Our goal is gender-balanced panels and equal visibility opportunities for women. Join us on a FREE Speaker Friends Friday Zoom session: https://innovationwomen.com/events/speaker-friends/

My Innovation Women Profile: https://speaker.innovationwomen.com/users/15203
To book me as a speaker: https://michellebgriffin.com/speaking or email michelle@michellebgriffin.com

Member and National Speaker

Michelle B Griffin Speaker & Author

Own Your Lane®  is the go-to podcast for experts and leaders who are ready (but may struggle) to position their brilliance, clarify their message, and grow their visibility for next-level opportunities.

Host, Own Your Lane® Podcast

As a LinkedIn™ personal branding & PR expert, I speak, teach, educate, and host in-depth workshops for organizations, groups, and teams. My authority-personal branding-focused presentations focus on positioning profiles, presence, and publicity to align with brand and business goals. 

Need a Speaker, Workshop Facilitator, Expert Quote, or Podcast Guest? Let's chat about how I can support you and your event/ team/group. I'd love to learn more about your goals and how I can partner with you. Please get in touch here or via LinkedIn DM.

LinkedIn® Personal Branding, Professional Visibility Speaker, Educator & Workshops

Personal Branding Books to Help You Get Visible and Grow Your Industry Presence—My personal branding books teach you to get visible, own your value, and confidently grow your professional presence for next-level industry opportunities.

The LinkedIn Branding Book helps you build your personal and business brand on LinkedIn for exponential growth. PLUS, a 50-page action-taking (online fillable) companion Brand Squared Workbook™ is included with the book.
https://michellebgriffin.com/books

Own Your Lane® books series are your personal branding and visibility acceleratosr, designed to help you take charge of your presence and become the go-to authority in your field.

Too many talented professionals—especially women—remain unseen, not because they lack skill but because they struggle to communicate their value and gain the visibility they deserve.

Through the actionable, four-step L.A.N.E.™ system, these books will teach you how to confidently step forward, articulate your unique strengths, and get recognized for your expertise. Learn more at  OwnYourLane.io.

Author - Personal Branding, PR, LinkedIn® Presence, Professional Visibility

With a mantra of "Put Yourself Out There to Own Your Lane and Own Your Future," I believe professional visibility is a powerful form of economic leverage and business growth, leading to industry opportunities, increased impact, and higher income for professionals and organizations.

As a PR, personal branding, and LinkedIn visibility speaker and educator, I empower and equip professionals, and especially women in business, to confidently set themselves apart, step into the spotlight, and seize next-level opportunities in a crowded field through my Own Your Lane® learning platform and book series,

Book me to Speak, Facilitate a Workshop, Guest On Your Podcast, Contribute To Your Publication, and/or Moderate a Panel.

Speaker Inquiries and Bookings

Let's chat about how I can support you and your event/ team/group. I'd love to learn more about your goals and how I can partner with you. Please contact me via my inquiry form or book a chat at MichelleBGriffin.com or via LinkedIn DM.

Thought Leadership Branding Speaker, LinkedIn Visibility Strategist and Workshop Facilitator

As a PR and personal branding speaker, author, and LinkedIn visibility expert, I love empowering audiences to get visible for their next level. 

I guest weekly on podcasts, LinkedIn Audio, Livestream, and YouTube shows and speak/host group training and workshops on personal branding and LinkedIn to build your professional presence and opportunities. 

Watch/listen and see more here: https://michellebgriffin.com/media

Let's Connect
Need a Speaker, Expert Quote, or Podcast Guest?

Let's chat about how I can support you and your event/ team/group. I'd love to learn more about your goals and how I can partner with you. Please contact me via my inquiry form or book a chat at MichelleBGriffin.com or via LinkedIn DM.

Podcast Guest, Personal Branding, PR, LinkedIn® Presence and Professional Visibility

Join 1,700+ global professionals who are getting visible to build and boost their personal brands. The P.Y.O.T. Community - Put Yourself Out There Community to Build & Boost Your Personal Brand will help you become clear, confident and consistent on LinkedIn. Join us as we ramp up our personal brands, expand our connections, and build meaningful communities on LinkedIn. You'll find peer support, accountability, training, and tips on LinkedIn and personal branding. 

NOTE: This is NOT an engagement pod
Join us; it’s free: 👉 https://michellebgriffin.com/pyotcommunity

Founder, P.Y.O.T. - Put Yourself Out There Community to Build & Boost Your Personal Brand

StandoutWomen.org is a movement to grow visibility, personal brands, and thought leadership for women in business and women in leadership. Our mission is to empower impact-driven women to position themselves as industry leaders and create meaningful opportunities.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or professional, we provide tools, training, and events to support your journey of standing out and stepping up—all through the lens of the Own Your Lane®: Personal Branding framework. Learn more at StandoutWomen.org.

StandoutWomen.org - The Personal Branding Movement For More Standout Women in Business & Leadership

THE LINKEDIN™️ BRANDING COMMUNITY by #MichelleSquared

The LinkedIn Branding Book: The Power of Two: How to Double Your Personal and Business Brand for Exponential Growth by #MichelleSquared, Michelle B Griffin and Michelle J Raymond, is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback and hardcover editions. PLUS, a 50-page action-taking companion Brand Squared Workbook™ is included with the book.

Co-Author, The LinkedIn Branding Book

The top-ranked podcast, The LinkedIn Branding Show, hosted by #MichelleSquared, Michelle B Griffin and Michelle J Raymond, empowers professionals, entrepreneurs, experts, and small business owners to stand out and rise up as they build personal and business brands on LinkedIn. New episodes drop every Thursday on your favorite podcast platform.

Co-Host, The LinkedIn Branding Show Podcast

The Power of Two to Double Your LinkedIn Growth with our new book, top-ranked podcast and supportive community. Join Michelle B Griffin and Michelle J Raymond, aka #MichelleSquared, for fun events, real conversations, and actionable takeaways with a community of impact-driven professionals ready to rise up and stand out on LinkedIn as a powerful force of good. Join us and learn more at MichelleSquared.com

Co-Founder, The LinkedIn Branding Community

Windstorm Insurance Network, Inc.® - Property/Windstorm Insurance Claims Industry Member Association

The Windstorm Insurance Network (WIND) is a B2B national association for the property insurance claims and legal industry. Through professional development, continuing education, and annual conferences, the group is the leading provider of industry insights for the property/windstorm insurance claims industry, property/windstorm insurance service providers, and industry consultants. 

As the association's executive director, I oversaw the day-to-day management and marketing of the Windstorm Insurance Network, Inc. and the annual Windstorm Insurance Conference, a 2,000-person international conference. 

My duties included strategic business development, marketing communication planning, event marketing, team management and member experience management. Specific personal skills include digital marketing, inbound/content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing/outreach, branding strategy, copywriting, website design, WordPress management, and conference/event planning and marketing.

Executive Director

As the lead marketer, I managed a team to plan, promote and host the annual (WIND) Windstorm Insurance Conference, which attracted nearly 2,000 attendees each year from across the U.S. and internationally. 

Under my leadership, membership grew at a steady rate of 1,000 members and conference attendance and revenue targets exceeded goals. 

As the lead event marketer, I also managed, promoted regional and one-day events and continuing education seminars and presentations across the U.S.

Event Marketing Director

Positioning Women Experts Into Visible Authorities┃Personal Brand, PR & Thought Leadership Strategist & Coach to Own Your Lane With More Visibility, Impact & Income┃Author┃Speaker┃80s Music Fan┃Own Your Lane™ Book 10/15

Hi, I’m Michelle. I transform hidden experts into visible authorities and so glad you’re here. 

If you've ever struggled to explain what you do, felt overlooked despite your expertise, or missed opportunities you knew you were perfect for, you're not alone—and you're in the right place.

After seeing brilliant experts stay invisible because they believed their work would speak for itself, I created the Own Your Lane™ Recognition Roadmap to help you become the go-to authority in your field.

THE OWN YOUR LANE™ SYSTEM

L – Launch Your Vision (Purpose)
A – Assert Your Difference (Position)
N – Navigate Your Brand (Package)
E – Elevate Your Authority (Promote)

OWN YOUR LANE. OWN YOUR FUTURE.
My mission is to position you for success. I speak, train, and advise experts and leaders—especially women in business—who are ready to be seen, heard, and sought-after. Together, we chart your one-page personal branding roadmap to give you the clarity, confidence, communication and competitive edge for business growth. 

Why this matters: You stop comparing yourself to everyone else. You gain the positioning, words and strategy to know who you are, what makes you different and a repeatable way to talk about what you do — in person, online, in meetings — anywhere decisions are made.

My clients have gone from “one of many” to “the one” -- booked on TEDx & industry stages, featured in top media, published best-selling books & effortlessly growing thought leadership on their terms. 

Now it’s your turn…

WORK WITH ME
> Own Your Lane™ Speaking & Workshops 
No hype, just help. Experiential sessions with clarity, tools & action

> Own Your Lane Roadmaps & Advising 
Let's chart your one-page plan for next-level goals and opportunities

👉MichelleBGriffin.com/RESULTS

ABOUT ME
With 20+ years in branding, PR & executive leadership, I’ve helped Fortune 500s, startups and global thought leaders sharpen their message, elevate visibility & grow their businesses.

• TEDxFSU Speaker, April 2025
• Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc. & Authority Featured 
• 2x Author, Position Yourself & The LinkedIn® Branding Book 
• 2x Podcast Host, Own Your Lane™ & The LinkedIn™ Branding Show
NEW: Own Your Lane™ Book publishing soon

“Live in the moment” is my mantra; find me outdoors with an ’80s playlist, meeting new people and exploring new places.

🎧 FREE RESOURCES
Grab my LinkedIn Visible Training + Go Your Own Way Playlist 
👉MichelleBGriffin.com/QUICKLINKS

READY TO OWN YOUR LANE?
👉Visit MichelleBGriffin.com - let's chat on how I can support you best.

MICHELLE B GRIFFIN

A DOUBLE celebration today… and this one hits even sweeter. 🥳

1) First up: a huge birthday shout-out to my Aussie co-author and co-host of The LinkedIn Branding Book and podcast Michelle J Raymond, the LinkedIn company pages 👑 for B2B growth AND Tim Tams #1 brand ambassador on LinkedIn.

2) Second, happy 3rd birthday to our book, THE LINKEDIN™️ BRANDING BOOK by #MichelleSquared#MichelleSquared! The book and 50-page companion workbook are written to help you build your personal and business brand so you easily win on LinkedIn. I’m so proud of the transformation and impact it’s had on readers worldwide, and I love teaching and speaking with its BrandSquared system and message.


The Gifts 🎁 

I still shake my head in disbelief, yet gratitude that a comment I made on a post in December 2020 connected me to someone in Sydney, Australia. 

That led to client collaborations, hosting a weekly branding podcast (now 181+ weekly episodes) and writing a book together, a world apart. That's the power of this platform, you never know the person you comment or connect with can change your life.

🎤OVER TO YOU

Cheers to celebrating the power of this platform to globally connect us all. The power of friendships, fun and opportunities from LinkedIn is unexpected and unmatched. 

👉 Who’s one person you met here by pure chance that changed your work, world, or perspective? Tag them below.

MICHELLE B. GRIFFIN

AI is NOW ready to be led by women...learning it, leading it, and shaping what’s next.

On Friday, as a founding Imperial Council member, speaker and now certified facilitator, I had the honor of speaking at the inaugural AI Foundations for Women global event where brilliant minds came together to explore, question, and reimagine what leadership and business look like in the age of AI.

Three hours flew by, filled with group learning, hands-on exercises, and tool-building with ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Google Teachable Machine, plus powerful conversations around creativity, confidence, and belonging. I had a blast co-facilitating with Natalia Bolton and our amazing cohort.

This event also marked the global launch of Empressa AI, the first women-only skilling platform built to help women develop skill and influence at the same time.

Huge appreciation to Miri Rodriguez, Stacey Danheiser, Claudia Cortez, and the entire Empressa team for 18+ months of vision, dedication, and courage in launching what’s now a global movement.

This is only the beginning.

 Visit Empressa.AI for more and save the date, the next cohort opens in January, another chance to join this worldwide circle of women shaping the future with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

#WomenInLeadership #WomenInBusiness #ShesVisible #AIneedsWomen #EmpressaAI #VisibleLeadership

After 4 different careers in engineering, brand marketing, performing arts and teaching, I felt lost, stuck and unfulfilled. After a 6-month dive into my personal brand, I finally found my greatness and purpose: "Professional Speaker"​

Networking was my first expertise. In 2008, I introduced my own concept of personal branding as a leader and it became my 2nd core expertise. 

In 2011, when I spoke at my first of 5 TEDx talks, I concurrently launched a new social media strategy. Within 6 months got my first speaking gig directly off of Twitter. Now I have over 650,000 followers, was named one of Inc Magazine's Top 100 Leadership speakers and social media / digital connection became my 3rd main expertise. 

I've spoken to half a million people across the world. I've trained 1000's of professionals, including C-suite executives, on how to use the "Power of Connection"​ to be a thought leader through relationship building, content creation, storytelling, & speaking effectively. 

MY SERVICES: 

COACHING
✅ Speaker Mastermind: Speak more, speak better, speak with impact, get paid to speak:  bit.ly/SpeakerProgram
✅ Networking Mastery: Leverage the Power of Connection to transform your career or biz: bit.ly/NetworkingMastery

CONSULTING on Personal Branding, Business & Career Transition, or Brand/Biz Bldg (offered at an hourly rate): 
✅ To book a consulting session, talk, or workshop, reach me directly via private message on LinkedIn or at raehanbobby@gmail.com.

Keynotes: 
✅ Own Your Personal Brand 
✅ Building a Huge Thought Leadership Brand 
✅ Authentic Networking 
✅ Powerful Presentations, Pitches & Storytelling 
✅ Digital Connection via Social Media Content
✅ The Most Important Leadership Skills (Empathy, Communication, Connection, etc)
✅ Entrepreneurship & Business Development 
✅ Learn the NEW LinkedIn 2.0

Workshops: 
✅ Personal Branding Mastery  
✅ Powerful Presentations & Storytelling
✅ Linkedin & Clubhouse integration (IG/Twitter)
✅ Leadership, Teambuilding 
 


Bobby Umar

I’m feeling a lot of gratitude today. And a deeper clarity on what influence really is.

I was selected as one of LinkedIn’s Top 100 Most Influential Men of 2025 — from more than 9,000 nominees.

But this isn’t about titles.
It’s about how we choose to show up.

I try to lead with:
🟣 Kindness — making people feel seen
🟢 Authenticity — sharing the real wins and the real struggles
🔵 Strength — standing firm for what matters

And the values underneath it all: empathy, compassion, allyship, diversity, fatherhood — are part of the compass I follow daily.

If my kids, clients, or community feel more supported and less alone because of how I show up… 
that’s the real influence. 💯

To everyone who encouraged, nominated, shared, or simply read a post when you needed it — thank you.
And respect to every man on this list who leads with character, even when life gets loud.  Happy International Men’s Day, gentlemen. 

Shoutout to Sibel Terhaar for putting this list together. It's a great initiative, and I'm happy to support it.

Quick question for you:
👉🏾👉🏾 Which value guided you this week — kindness, authenticity, or strength?

Your reflection might be the reminder someone else needs. 👇🏾

EMCEE HIGHLIGHTS from the OPEA awards gala for Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) last night where I was the emcee for the 5th time and 3rd year in a row. Fun to dress up. 👏🏾🌟

Each year, they give me more latitude to deliver some planned ad-lib moments, so I tried to bring 3 things — the funny, the insights and the inspiration. It went awesome. Had a blast. I enjoyed coming up with funny bits 6 times, and even did a kind reflection of the lifetime award recipient (who personally thanked me afterwards for my homage). Mentioned my parent, and kids (got the crowd to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to Ryah). I love emceeing in some ways even more than keynotes. So grateful they keep bringing me back, and I feel part of the entire family of engineers. 🙏🏾🙌🏽🤓

Lots of great positive feedback across the board. One woman even said she thought I was so funny that I “should do stand-up” because that’s something that she did. I was grateful but said ‘no thanks’ because that’s way too much pressure to have to be totally or purposely funny, hahaha. 😁

Cc: NSB National Speakers Bureau

No alternative text description for this image

This kiddo is 15 today. Happy birthday Ryah papaya! Love you my little one. You’re still my baby. 🙏🏾💜😍

I’ll share a more deeper and reflective post later about how my daughter Ryah impacts my leadership, my learning and my story. 🙌🏽🤓

You don’t need another content plan. You need courage.

The post that scares you most? That’s the one that builds your brand.

Your audience isn’t waiting for your next strategy tip. They’re waiting for the moment they finally feel you.

Tell the story you’ve been avoiding. It’s the one that moves people.

🟢 MY UPCOMING EVENTS Week of November 23rd, 2025 – I share my audio rooms, livestreams, and zoom trainings once a week here. You’re all welcome to join. CLICK RIGHT to see them all and use the links below to access. 🔥👇🏾


💻 Mon Nov 24th, 3pm ET – EXCLUSIVE FOR TLB CLUB MEMBERS “Weekly Business Coaching Support Call” Hosted by Bobby Umar. Learn more about TLB Club and be part of the growing community here👇🏾

LINK: https://lnkd.in/eh6WBsNN


🎙️ Tue Nov 25th, 4pm ET: LinkedIn Mastery Tuesdays - Holiday Networking Tips and Tricks. Join us on an engaging, conversation on all things LinkedIn. Learn LinkedIn tactics, strategies, trends, tricks & more to build your brand, network, & generate leads. Hosted by Bobby Umar, Christopher G. Johnson, Kenneth Lang, Melanie Mitchell Wexler, and Roy Kowarski

LINK: https://lnkd.in/eJpM-8p8


🖥️ Thu Dec 4th,  4pm ET - “Meet Julian & his AI, Athena: Learn how to build your own AI, just like "Her"” with guest expert Julian Phillips in our weekly #TLBClub Masterclass. 

LINK: https://lnkd.in/eAxxiZxM



⭐️My new TEDx Mastery Intensive launched! We are now doing a 90-day Accelerator and a Done-For-You Service to help you land a TEDx Talk this year GUARANTEED. You can DM me to learn more and book a call.

✅ Click right to see all my event details.
✅ REPOST: help spread the word! 🤓

#TEDxCoach #ThoughtLeadership  #PersonalBranding


--------
Hi I'm Bobby! I'm a LinkedIn Top Voice and 5x TEDx Speaker.
I help you land a TEDx Talk GUARANTEED. For Content, Connection and Digital Presence tips, follow me (55.3K followers) AND my hashtag #PowerOfConnection (327 followers).  Don't forget to 'Ring My Bell' to get exclusive and immediate access.

View newsletter: Build Ur Thought Leader Brand

How do you keep momentum when the year’s almost over? As 2025 winds down, this week’s lineup focuses on building momentum, deepening relationships, an

Open article: End the Year Strong with Connection, Strategy & Innovation by Bobby Umar • 4 min read

End the Year Strong with Connection, Strategy & Innovation

Before the crowd. Before the lights.
Just me… and the dinner rolls. 🎤🥖

There’s a special kind of silence in an empty ballroom.
The kind that whispers:
“Enjoy this peace… because in 10 minutes, chaos is coming.”

In this clip, you’ll see exactly what I mean:
🟢 A room full of brilliant engineers trying to sing “Happy Birthday” on beat 🎂
🟣 My 15-year-old daughter, Ryah, becoming an honorary gala guest
🟠 And the dramatic retelling of the Grade 10 dinner-roll disaster that shaped me into the man I am today (mostly carbs)

Here’s the truth about hosting technical events:
They often start stiff.
Formal.
A little… “we calibrated the fun out of this.”

But one good story?
One unexpected moment?
One harmless confession about eating 10 dinner rolls at age 15?

Boom—room unlocked.
Engineers laugh. Leaders exhale.
And suddenly, everyone remembers they’re human.

That’s why I love this work.
I get to turn a serious room into a warm one—
sometimes with nothing more than a joke and a microphone.

What’s the funniest or most awkward thing you’ve seen at a formal event?
Tell me below—bonus points if carbs were involved. 🍞😅

And if you enjoy these behind-the-mic moments, feel free to connect or follow for more.

One talk can change everything. Not because of the stage — but because of who you become on it. 🔥

When you give a TEDx talk, something shifts.

You stop hiding behind credentials.
 You start leading with your story.
 You realize your voice carries further than your title.

That red dot becomes more than a stage —
 it’s a mirror.
 You meet the version of yourself who stops waiting for permission.

And when the lights fade and the applause settles,
 something else begins:

Opportunities find you.
 People remember your message.
 Doors open that once felt locked.

Because it’s never just 18 minutes.
 It’s a declaration of who you are — and what you stand for. 💯

🟣 P.S.  If you had one message to share with the world —  what would you say from that red dot? 🤔👇🏾

taplio

The Battle

MICHELLE B GRIFFIN

Bobby Umar

Followers

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Performance ScoreMICHELLE B GRIFFIN's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreBobby Umar's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

MICHELLE B GRIFFIN

Bobby Umar

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}MICHELLE B GRIFFIN's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreBobby Umar's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreMICHELLE B GRIFFIN's LinkedIn Performance