To Be or Not To Be....an Influencer?

No one wants to be an influencer, but we all want to influence: inspire, motivate, empower.

That's the central messaging I've gotten from the podcast pre-production sessions I've held with women so far. It's pretty consistent with the 'Imposter Syndrome' narrative women often cite, and with what I've heard interviewing women throughout my career.

I'll never forget how, a few years ago, within a two-week period, two separate women who do not know each other sent me links to articles that had been written about them. They were both embarrassed. Why? Because they had wanted the articles to speak about their work. Instead the articles celebrated THEM. One woman said she couldn't bring herself to comment directly and referred the journalist to one of her staff, who then proceeded to sing the subject of the article's praises.

It's interesting doing the work I do, while feeling the same way. I once had a roaring argument with Cape Town TV's marketing manager because she wanted to add my picture on the The Womxn Show's banner. 'It's not about ME!' I emphasized, CAPS and all.

Eventually I realised that the term 'influencer' has gotten a bad rap in our current social media, Gen-Z driven culture. Here's the truth: if you gain an audience and/or following, you will be in a position to influence them and people WILL call you an 'influencer'. And actually, in order to reach the levels of visibility and influence that we need for positive, empowering change, somehow, we have to become okay with that. My personal trigger word was 'celebrity', sometimes said in jest, sometimes to antagonise and sometimes because that's just how people saw me because I was on TV. My ah-ha moment emerged when I realised that I can choose how to receive this word: as a form of shame or as a force for good.

There's a quote by American civil rights activist, Marian Wright Edelman, that goes 'You can't be what you can't see', and I have used this often. Over the past few years, I have paraphrased this for women: 'We have to be the representation we want to see.'

We all agree, after all, that we are almost invisible in mainstream media. We all agree that we need greater visibility, especially across our various intersections. Both Oprah and Whoopie Goldberg speak about their transformative moments seeing a person of color on TV for the first time.

I see women all the time doing the most amazing things: writing books, building businesses, running courses, gaining doctorates and more, but refusing to claim that space in public. Too many disclaimers. Too much self-deprecation. So much 'thank you, but...'.

I also believe that this issue is deeply tied to our obstacles / issues / perceptions around monetizing our knowledge, products and services. And by 'our', I am speaking about women. We are already doing the things. We have already done it. We are already experts. The next step is not claiming space but stepping into it.

My name is Lenina Rassool. I am a writer, journalist and multimedia producer. See more about me and access my writing here: leninarassool.wixsite.com/mysite

I also provide consulting services and ideation sessions for women who want to launch creative products such as podcast, books and personal branding. See more about that here: https://leninarassool.wixsite.com/mysite/post/it-s-time-to-talk-about-your-amazing-work

I run webinars on how I have packaged my knowledge into marketable products and created a sales funnel to sell my consulting and knowledge services. Click here for the details on the next one: https://leninarassool.wixsite.com/mysite/post/from-ad-to-sales-online-webinar *Details: 

WEBINAR: From Ad to Sale

DATE: Wednesday, 30 April 2025 OR Saturday, 03 May 2025

TIME: 6pm - 7pm on Wed OR 10am - 11am on Sat

COST: R200

Book & Payment LINK: bit.ly/fromAd2Sale 

WHERE: Online, link will be email to you 24-hours before webinar starts.