Building a powerful personal brand, maintaining privacy: Lessons from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

By Preciousgift Ajudie-Ogunsanya, Personal Branding Specialist

In today’s world, where everyone seems to be sharing every detail of their lives online, personal branding can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re a private person or someone who just doesn’t want to put everything out there.

But here’s the truth: you don’t have to overshare to build a strong, authentic personal brand.

A lot of people think personal branding means constantly posting pictures of your life, family, or personal struggles just to stay ‘’authentic’’ or “relatable.” But that’s not the case at all. The most respected personal brands are built on expertise, storytelling, and impact—not on sharing intimate life details.

Authenticity doesn’t mean telling everything

There’s a big difference between being authentic and oversharing. Authenticity in personal branding means showing up as your real self, standing by your values, and letting your audience see the depth of your knowledge, skills, and personality.

Oversharing, on the other hand, is when you reveal too much personal information that either makes you uncomfortable later or distracts from your actual brand message.

People have cultivated powerful personal brands while maintaining firm boundaries around their private lives. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for instance, is widely respected for her literary contributions and feminist advocacy, yet she has successfully kept her family life out of the public eye.

In a recent interview, she briefly acknowledged her role as a mother but firmly stated that she preferred not to have the conversation revolve around her children.

This is a masterclass in balancing authenticity with privacy. Chimamanda didn’t pretend she didn’t have children, but she made it clear that her brand wasn’t built on them. It was built on her work, her thoughts, and her storytelling.

These are strategies for building a strong personal brand without oversharing:

Decide what you want to be known for
your brand isn’t about your daily routine, your family, or your struggles (unless those things are core to your message). It’s about your expertise, values, and the impact you want to make.

Ask yourself:
• What topics do I want to be known for?
• What problems do I help people solve?
• What do I enjoy talking about professionally?

By focusing on these, you shift attention away from your personal life and toward your knowledge and skills.

Share what feels comfortable and valuable for you.
You don’t have to share personal stories to be relatable. Instead, share valuable insights that help your audience. This could be:
• Lessons you’ve learned from your career
• Mistakes you’ve made and how you fixed them
• Industry trends and your thoughts on them
• Stories about challenges that align with your brand message
For example, if you’re a career coach, you don’t need to share your entire job history, but you can talk about specific lessons you learned along the way that will help your audience.

Use your expertise as the foundation of your brand

Some of the most respected people in different industries aren’t known for their personal lives—they’re known for their work.

Think of authors, athletes, business leaders, and even some influencers who focus on their expertise instead of their personal lives.

Take Vusi Thembekwayo. You probably don’t know much about his family, what his house looks like, or what he eats for breakfast. But you do know he’s one of Africa’s Best Business Mentors. His brand is built around his knowledge, not his personal life.

You can do the same. Focus on what you know, what you do, and how you help others.

Show personality without getting too personal

Being private doesn’t mean being robotic or boring. You can still show your sense of humor, your opinions, and your unique way of seeing the world—just in a way that aligns with your brand.

For example, you can:
• Share behind-the-scenes moments of your work without revealing personal details.
• Use storytelling that focuses on professional experiences rather than personal ones.
• Inject humour and personality into your content so people connect with you, even without knowing much about your private life.

Think about Issac Olayiwola, aka Layiwasbi. He shares jokes about his upbringing, but only in ways that serve his message as a comedian and social commentator. You get a sense of who he is without knowing everything about his life.

Choose the right platforms
Not all social media platforms require personal sharing. If you’re not comfortable with sharing personal stories, platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, and Email Newsletters might be better for you than, say, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, where personal content often gets more engagement.

On LinkedIn, you can build a strong brand by writing thoughtful posts about your industry. On Medium, you can share in-depth articles about your expertise. With a newsletter, you can engage directly with your audience without ever feeling pressured to overshare.

Set boundaries and stick to them
A strong personal brand doesn’t mean you have to respond to every comment, answer every personal question, or share more than you want to. You have full control over what you put out there.
If people ask for personal details you don’t want to share, it’s okay to redirect the conversation to your area of expertise.

Let your work speak for you
At the end of the day, the best personal brands are built on impact, value, relevance, and consistency. If you focus on creating meaningful content, helping others, and being consistent, people will recognize your brand for the right reasons- without you ever needing to overshare.

The key is to be intentional about what you share and build your brand around what truly matters to you.

Precious gift is a Personal Branding Specialist with extensive experience working on the personal brands of C-suite executives across diverse industries, including Agriculture, Waste Management, Real Estate, Security, Confectionery, Education, Coaching, and more. She helps Visionaries and Intentional Individuals who aim to inspire and lead within their niches transform their expertise, experience, and skills into mentorship platforms, coaching programs, and published works

She can be reached via her LinkedIn page or email at thepreciousgiftajudie@gmail.com for Speaking engagements, training, or personal branding consultations.