Why I wrote this series
At the start of the year, I watched portfolio careers go mainstream—suddenly positioned as a shortcut to financial freedom and control.
While this was certainly exciting, how the idea was spreading gave me pause.
I too orginally came to this model for financial reasons (I lost my corporate job in 2023). But as I have stuck with it, I’ve realized the true value wasn't financial independence.
It was the perspective it gave me to rebuild my career from a different center.
These essays are less a template and more a personal reckoning about my thoughts on integrating work and life. They’re also my confessions as to what I believe this career model offers and demands.
Because most of us arrive here when something breaks spiritually. And we stay because we have accessed something profound: a structure that allows us to finally move through the world without abandoning formerly exiled parts of ourselves.
Happy reading! - love, Brie 🧀
The Personal Brand Industrial Complex
The personal brand model is no longer just ineffective—it’s actively extractive. Designed for an earlier digital economy, it now demands constant self-performance with little return. In an era of algorithmic overload and AI sameness, personal branding yields diminishing visibility, poor ROI, and psychological burnout. It’s time to replace "You, Inc." with a more liberating paradigm: creative sovereignty and asset-first, portfolio-based careers that reward depth, ownership, and evolution.
Charles Handy Saw This Coming
Building on the from the first essay The Personal Brand Industrial Complex I introduce you to Charles Handy, the OG portfolio careerist. Then I argue that the portfolio career model is a more liberating alternative to the personal brand, one focused on integration and self-authorship.
The Sovereign Builder
This essay is still “under construction” but will be published soon!
Stay tuned.
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I call my style of portfolio career coaching “a soft container for bold clarity.”
It’s part creative lab, part mirror. Intended for those building a reputation rooted in ideas, not just output. Get access to my storytelling course, plus 1-on-1 guidance to help you shape your thinking or new business. Less "content strategy," more resonance architecture + biz dev.
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