ESPRESS ME – PERSONAL BRANDING & STYLING WORKSHOP

Last Thursday, May 19, was Anvil's first ever ESPRESS ME Personal Branding & Styling Workshop, held at the artsy CO/OP Cafe. Workshop speakers were Anvil’s very own Lexter Ang and Valerie Lim, with Lexter having 10 years of experience in corporate design and marketing strategy; and Valerie having 8 years of experience in social media management and styling.
Registration started at 7PM with the very stylish members of Anvils poured into the CO/OP café and had their Polaroid-Instax taken against the interesting interiors of the restaurant. Groups of tables were clustered together where new and old Anvil members had the chance to catch-up and get-to-know each other while having their dinner before the start of the workshop.
ESPRESS ME, Why ESPRESS ME? This inspiration came from the delightful drink “espresso”, a strong black coffee brewed in such a way to give optimal flavors and caffeine content. And according to Director Lorina Tan, this basically is also the intention of the workshop series - to be able to deliver to our fellow Anvil members - the optimal knowledge and practical content in just a few hours.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell.” – Seth Godin
What is your Story? Personal Branding and Styling is all about the stories that other people tell about you when you’re not in the room – in other words, other people’s perception of us, the reputation that we leave after each interaction, and both reputation and perception is controllable!
Polaroid shots were distributed to our Anvil participants who were asked to write three impressions of the random pictures that they were given. It was interesting and fun exercise where the participants wrote adjectives about fellow Anvil colleagues, and everyone ended up laughing at the end.
Lexter Ang, our Personal Branding speaker, guided us through a series of questions that participants need to introspect and to reflect, a process to create our own unique value proposition and core method positioning statements. Even though, according to Lexter, this usually takes one whole day normally, participants were able to create our own statements in less than an hour!
“Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.” – Ralph Lauren
BTS – Body, Talk, and Style: Valerie Lim, our personal styling speaker, worked us through the different elements of developing our own styling brand through colors, essential wardrobe items, posture, and body language. Valerie also shared to us that having an open body stance, body gestures, with great body posture can immediately fill a room with your presence. And how having that X-factor through body, talk, and style, is what makes us different and distinctive from other people.
Even more interesting, Valerie called some Anvil volunteers on stage to show how a simple clinching a belt on a long blazer jacket, or wearing a statement necklace and accessories, can change the whole aura of an outfit. Volunteers then were asked to catwalk amidst the cheers and applauses of their fellow Anvil colleagues. Lots of insights, laughter, and great company - the first ever Anvil ESPRESS ME – Personal Branding and Styling Workshop was a success! Kudos to the workshop’s Chair – Sherwin Chuacokiong Diu, Co-chair – JR Co, Event Directors - Harvey Uy and Katherine Rose Chua, Event Consultants – Director Lorina Tan and Lexter Ang. Our event’s hosts and moderators – Hillary Ang and Karyl Coseto. Volunteers for the personal styling segment – Kevin Tai, Edward Co, Sharon Lim, and Melanie Gale Sy. Our volunteer photographer – Eugene Siytiu. And of course, to our workshop speakers – Lexter Ang and Valerie Lim.