Brielle Cotterman on Building a Personal Brand That Creates Visibility and Growth

“if I didn't have all of those experiences that I had growing up…I would never be able to do the work that I do now had I not had this really crazy, unique combination of experiences throughout my lifetime.”

In this episode, we sit down with Brielle Cotterman, personal brand expert, publicist, and founder of the Influential Leader Agency. Brielle shares her powerful journey from growing up on a rural farm in Indiana to becoming a trusted advisor helping founders amplify their voice, grow their businesses, and build iconic personal brands through strategic visibility.

Brielle opens up about the pivotal moments that shaped her career—including a deeply personal experience that led her to reclaim her own story and dedicate her work to helping others do the same. She explains why visibility alone isn’t enough, how founders can develop meaningful thought leadership, and why storytelling is the foundation of any powerful personal brand.

In this Entreprenista Podcast, Brielle shares how founders can build a personal brand that supports business growth, why storytelling remains one of the most powerful business tools available, and how visibility, credibility, communication, and relationships work together to create lasting influence.

You can listen to the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Here Are A Few Moments From The Podcast

Brielle explains why she spent much of her childhood feeling different from the people around her:

"I lived in rural Indiana on a literal dirt road. My nearest neighbor was about a mile and a half away. I lived in a farming community and I was always very different.

I was different than my family. I felt very different than the people that I went to school with.

I was classic overachiever. I was cheerleader, class president, the lead starring role in all of the high school musicals, and a world champion equestrian.

I never felt like everybody else knew something that I knew. I always felt a little bit different."

She shares the personal experience that ultimately shaped the mission behind her agency:

"Because my former husband was a prominent person, it was on the Washington Post and the New York Times and all of these really public platforms.

I felt like somebody was using this tool against me because the stories they were telling about me, none of them were from my perspective.

I saw how easily women's voices are taken from us.

I knew that I was never going to let that happen to anybody else."

One of the most powerful moments in the episode comes when Brielle explains what happened after she finally shared her own story publicly:

"I was so afraid that I was going to be labeled as a victim if I shared that story.

And so I hid behind that story for a very long time and played super small.

It finally got too uncomfortable for me not to share my story.

When I did that, two things happened. One, my business quadrupled in size in less than six months."

Discussing personal branding, Brielle offers a simple definition founders often overlook:

"Let's just define for two seconds what a personal brand is.

Your personal brand is how do you leave people feeling?

I personally want people to feel seen. I want them to feel heard. I want them to feel inspired.

And I want them to feel capable."

She explains why visibility without strategy rarely produces meaningful results:

"PR is a tool to get you where you want to go.

You can legitimately be the very, very best at what you do, and if the right people are not getting their eyes on who you are, what you do, what you stand for, and your work, you can be missing out on the type of exponential growth that is experienced only by strategic amplification of a really solid and well-built personal brand."

When founders ask where to begin, Brielle always starts with the same foundation:

"If you hire a PR person and you go into a PR agency and they don't first really get to understand who are you and what you stand for, you're not in the right place.

It's so important that you understand that doing the work of your personal brand, identifying your stories, practicing the way you show up, how do you tell those stories, that's the most important part.

What we are looking to create is iconic personal brands and legacy-building leaders."

You May Also Like

• Taryn Jones Laeben on Bridging Founders and Investors for Startup Success
• Elisa Marshall, Maman: How Small Details Built a 53-Location Brand
• Susie L. Sarich, SusieCakes: How Community-First Growth Scaled to 31 Locations

Curious about joining the Entreprenista League? ⁠Sign up⁠ ⁠here⁠⁠⁠ for a free info session.

Connect with Brielle:⁠

• @briellecotterman⁠ on Instagram - DM her ‘podcast’ to get the personal brand audit
• Brielle Cotterman on ⁠LinkedIn⁠
• ⁠Influential Leaders Agency⁠
  

Resources Mentioned:

• ⁠ClickUp⁠
• ⁠Lovable⁠
• ⁠Munch Studios⁠

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for women founders and leaders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠TuneIn⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠iHeart Radio⁠⁠⁠

Be sure to share your favorite episodes across social media to help us reach more amazing female founders, like you.

Updated on: June 24, 2026