Marina Byezhanova, Co-Founder, Brand of a Leader

As the owner of a personal branding agency for CEOs and Founders, can you tell us about your journey into entrepreneurship and what led you to start your business?

To be honest, I never set out to be an entrepreneur. I had my sights set on a big corporate career. That was the plan. But everything shifted when a former colleague visited me while I was newly pregnant with my first child. She casually suggested we start a business together. At the time, entrepreneurship wasn't even on my radar, but that conversation planted a seed.

I started thinking seriously about it and realized that building something of my own could give me the flexibility I wanted as a new mom. That was the initial motivation. What surprised me was how much demand there was right out of the gate and how quickly I fell in love with the entire journey.

Eventually, that path led me to co-found Brand of a Leader, a personal branding agency for CEOs and Founders. That's where I really found myself. I discovered how much I thrive when I get to create, work in my zone of genius, and stay deeply connected to my "why." For me, entrepreneurship has become the most authentic way to build a life and a business that are fully aligned.

You've grown your agency to serve clients in 12 countries. What were some of the key challenges you faced in scaling internationally, and how did you overcome them?

Our growth has been 100% organic. We've never had a sales department, and we've never done any kind of outbound sales. All of our clients have come to us, initially through referrals and Google search, and more recently, we're seeing a rise in discovery through AI search as well, which is really exciting.

Scaling internationally has come with its fair share of challenges. Some of them are fairly practical, like juggling time zones. We've worked with clients in places as far as Australia, and coordinating calls with a globally distributed team takes a lot of intentional scheduling.

There are also deeper, more nuanced challenges when it comes to personal branding. Cultural differences definitely come into play. In North America, for example, there's generally more comfort around self-promotion and stepping into the spotlight. In other parts of the world, like some Asian countries, there's often more hesitancy around personal visibility, and it's important that we're sensitive to that.

That said, one of the most rewarding discoveries has been how much our clients actually have in common, regardless of where they're based. Whether it's a solopreneur in the U.S. or a woman founder in Saudi Arabia, we've consistently seen the same core desires: to lead with authenticity, to share their story without coming across as self-indulgent, and to build a personal brand that aligns with their mission and values with the goal of supporting the business they lead.

One limitation we still face is language. We work exclusively in English, so while we've built strong global reach, we don't yet support content creation or podcast outreach in other languages. It's something we're aware of as a growth opportunity, but for now, our focus remains on delivering exceptional value in the English-speaking space.

You mentioned leveraging AI capabilities in your business. Can you share a specific example of how AI has transformed a process in your agency and the impact it had?

We've approached AI very intentionally. Rather than using it to replace human creativity, we've looked at every part of our process to identify where AI or automation can support efficiency while preserving and even elevating the human elements that matter most.

For us, personal branding is deeply human work. It's about empathy, care, intuition, and originality. One of our core values is "We're in awe," meaning that we're genuinely inspired by our clients. That kind of emotional connection can't be outsourced to AI, so we've doubled down on anything that makes our clients feel seen, understood, and cared for.

Where AI has truly transformed our workflow is in the middle of the process. We don't use AI to create thought leadership content because we believe great content starts with real expertise and authentic insight. That's also what makes content uniquely valuable: AI does not create original content. And that's why we lead expert-led interviews with our clients or draw from the podcast interviews we book them on. The ideas are always theirs.

Where AI comes in is during the structuring, editing, and repurposing stages. For example, we use AI tools to help organize long-form transcripts, identify potential video snippets, or clean up transcripts. This allows us to streamline our operations significantly. In fact, we've reduced team size while increasing output quality, simply by allowing AI to take on the tasks that don't require human creativity.

But the final product always goes through at least one or two rounds of human editing because preserving the client's voice, nuance, and tone still requires human intuition.

Our goal is never to automate authenticity. We use AI to free up our team so they can focus more deeply on the work only humans can do.

As an entrepreneur who values work-life balance, how do you maintain a highly profitable business while avoiding the '80-hour workweek' trap many founders fall into?

I've been very intentional about designing a business that works for my life and allows me to stay deeply connected to my "why."

First, I prioritize what I call stacking. Whenever possible, I find ways to layer value across different areas of my work. For example, I don't just do a podcast interview to check off a visibility box. That same conversation fuels thought leadership content, gives my team insight into my voice, and opens doors for future business or media opportunities. One activity, multiple returns. That principle applies to how I structure my time in all areas.

Second, I've leaned hard into zone-of-genius work. I've built a model where I spend the majority of my time doing what only I can do: high-level strategy, creative vision, and deep client insight. Everything else is either automated, delegated, or eliminated. I'm ruthless about that and conduct regular energy audits to ensure that I remain on track.

And finally, I'm very clear on boundaries. I strength train multiple times a week, I travel, I spend intentional time with my kids.

You've achieved significant growth without traditional SEO or PPC investments. What unconventional marketing strategies have you found most effective for attracting high-profile clients?

We've never invested in outbound sales, SEO, or PPC. We also don't have a sales team. And yet, we consistently attract high-profile clients and rank second in Google for "personal branding agency," as well as now also in AI search results. That visibility has come entirely from thought leadership. We walk the walk and do as we preach. At Brand of a Leader, we've been intentional about positioning ourselves as thought leaders in our industry and creating lots of valuable and original content on the topic of personal branding for CEOs. Whether it's through my podcast guesting, long-form articles, or LinkedIn posts, our focus is on constantly creating thought leadership content, which engines end up recognizing as valuable. That's the power of thought leadership in today's landscape. It drives both traditional SEO and AI-driven search without relying on paid tactics or trying to game the algorithms.

Can you share a story about a time when you had to pivot your business strategy? What prompted the change, and what did you learn from the experience?

When generative AI started gaining traction, our initial reaction was denial. We were firmly in the camp of "this won't affect us." In our minds, personal branding required too much nuance, emotional intelligence, and original thought, which are things AI couldn't replicate with quality.

But we quickly realized that denial was a losing strategy. AI wasn't going away and, more importantly, it could be incredibly helpful if used intentionally. That shift in mindset prompted a full pivot in how we approached our workflows.

We reevaluated every step of our client delivery process and identified where AI could support us without replacing the human touch. As I mentioned earlier, we began leveraging AI in the middle of our process, structuring transcripts, supporting content formatting, and editing video snippets. All of the creative and strategic work remains human-led. We actually doubled down on the parts that require intuition, care, and originality, as those are still our (and all humans'!) differentiators.

Embracing AI on our own terms made us leaner, sharper, and more effective. It also reinforced the importance of staying grounded in our values while staying open to innovation.

You've mentioned the importance of creating systems and processes from day one. What's one specific system you implemented early on that you believe was crucial to your success?

It's hard to pick just one, but if I had to, I'd highlight the structured process we developed for building our clients' brand identity and brand strategy. From the very beginning, we knew that personal branding, while creative and deeply personal, needed to feel grounded and tangible. So we built a proprietary framework that maps out exactly how we uncover and articulate a client's brand: what's happening behind the scenes, where they're involved, and what deliverables to expect at every stage.

That clarity has become one of our key differentiators. Branding is often perceived as abstract, and many of our clients have shared that when they interviewed other agencies, they were met with vague or conceptual responses. In contrast, our clients consistently tell us how much they value knowing there's a clear, strategic process guiding everything.

I also do a fair bit of public speaking, and when I walk through our brand strategy framework during keynotes, the feedback I receive is overwhelmingly positive. I've had CEOs and executives approach me afterwards to say it was the first time personal branding actually made sense to them. It gave them a structure to work with rather than just inspiration.

As someone who brings their children along on entrepreneurial retreats, how do you balance being a parent and a business owner? What lessons do you hope to pass on to your children about entrepreneurship?

I don't frame entrepreneurship as something my children should aspire to. I have no desire to push them in any direction other than what feels like their true calling. What I do aim to pass on are the life lessons I've gained through my entrepreneurial journey: the joy of learning, the power of gratitude, the habit of reading, and the importance of taking care of your body and mind. Those are lessons I consider universally relevant, whether they choose to be entrepreneurs or not.

When it comes to balancing parenting and business ownership, I think less in terms of a balancing act and more in terms of weaving it all in together. I travel quite a bit for work, and recently I've started bringing my children with me when I can. It's a way for them to experience new places, meet new people, and get a sense of the world I operate in. My older one has even attended two of my keynotes, which has been really special.

I also practice what I call "stacking," which means looking for ways to overlap experiences meaningfully. Instead of compartmentalizing work and life, I try to show my kids that work is a fulfilling, exciting part of life.

Looking back on your entrepreneurial journey, what's one piece of advice you wish you had received when you were just starting out, and why?

A few years into my entrepreneurial journey, I came across the concept of energy audits, and I genuinely wish I had known about it from day one. It's something I now try to share with every founder and team I work with, because it's been a complete game-changer for me.

So many people ask how I manage everything on my plate and still find time to rest. The truth is, I do rest and quite a lot. It's thanks to the fact that I've built my workflow around energy, not time. I believe that the more energy we have, the more we're able to accomplish. The question I regularly ask myself is: "What gives me energy—and what drains it?"

Doing an energy audit means taking stock of everything on your plate and identifying what energizes you and what depletes you. The things that drain your energy must be delegated or outsourced, so they're no longer on your list. What drains you is almost always energizing to someone else. And the things that give you energy are the things you need to do more of.

I get that this isn't always feasible at the very beginning. When you're starting out, you're often wearing every hat in your business. But I believe energy audits should still be on your radar early on.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I am very passionate about the work I get to do, and I love to connect with other passionate leaders. Please send me an invite to connect on LinkedIn!

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