There are some people we admire even though we have never met them.

For me, the late Tun Dr Hasmah Mohamad Ali was one of them.

I never had the opportunity to meet her personally. I cannot share a story about shaking her hand, having a conversation with her or taking a photograph together.

Yet, whenever I saw her in an interview, a video or a photograph, there was something about her that attracted me.

She seemed warm, gentle, and so comfortable being herself.

At the same time, she was clearly a strong woman in her own right.

Perhaps that combination was what made her so well loved.

As someone who works in public relations, her passing also made me think about something we talk about very often today: personal branding.

We are constantly being told that we need to build our personal brand.

Business owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs need one. Professionals are encouraged to be active on socmed, share their opinions, speak at events, appear in the media and make themselves more visible.

There is nothing wrong with any of this. Visibility does matter.

But sometimes I wonder whether we have become so focused on building a personal brand that we forget what a personal brand is supposed to represent in the first place.

It starts with us, as a person.

When Your Personality Becomes Your Personal Brand

When I think about Tun Dr Hasmah, I don’t immediately think about carefully crafted messages or image building.

I think about her smile and warmth, gentle personality and the way she carried herself.

I think about a woman who could stand strongly on her own, yet did not appear to feel the need to constantly prove that strength to everyone around her.

Of course, those of us who never knew her personally can only form our impressions through what we saw and heard publicly.

But perhaps that itself tells us a lot.

When someone c leave an impression on people who have never even met her, there is something powerful about the way she presented herself to the world.

Powerful, but not in a loud way, just genuine.

And that, to me, is personal branding at its most natural and strongest.

PR can Create Visibility, but it Cannot Create Everything

I have worked in PR for many years, and naturally I believe in what PR can do.

PR can help someone become visible and create publicity. It can bring a person’s story to the media, helping to position a business leader as a thought leader. It can educate people to understand who you are, what you stand for and what you have accomplished.

But PR cannot create everything. It’s not magic.

It cannot build genuine warmth nor forcing people to feel affection towards someone.

And it certainly cannot sustain an image for years if the person behind that image is completely different or fake.

People eventually notice.

That is why personal branding should never just be about how often your face appears on social media or how many interviews you have done.

Your personal brand is also built through small things.

How you speak to people, how you behave when nobody is paying attention, how you treat someone who cannot do anything for you, or how you respond when things go wrong.

Are you still the same person as how you portray yourself on social media?

Over time, all these things become part of how you are remembered.

You Don’t Always Need to be Loud to Have Presence

This is another thing I find interesting about Tun Dr Hasmah.

Today, we associate a strong personal brand with being highly visible and vocal.

You need to post regularly, have an opinion, stand out, and have people talking about you.

But there are different ways to have presence.

Some people walk into a room and demand attention.

Others don’t have to.

There is a quiet confidence about them that makes people notice anyway.

From everything I have seen of Tun Dr Hasmah publicly over the years, she seemed to belong to the latter.

Strong, but not overpowering.

Accomplished, but still relatable.

Gentle, but certainly not weak.

There is an important distinction there.

Being gentle does not mean you cannot be strong. Being humble does not mean you need to make yourself small. And having a strong personal brand does not mean you need to constantly remind people of your presence.

People can see it for themselves.

Perhaps the Strongest Personal Brand is Simply Being Yourself

Though I have not met her personally, I am still curious enough to read about her memoir. Her personality can make you feel connected to her from afar. The way she carries herself can leave an impression on you.

That kind of connection is difficult to come by.

As business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals, there may be something worth reflecting on here.

Yes, work on your personal brand.

Yes, tell your story.

Yes, use PR and media opportunities to build your visibility and credibility.

But don’t become so busy creating the person you want the public to see that you forget to live.

Because ultimately, a personal brand is not only what appears when someone searches your name online.

It is what people say about you when you are not in the room; it is also how they feel when they see your face.

And perhaps, one day, it is what they remember when you are no longer here.

For me, Tun Dr Hasmah will always be remembered as a woman who appeared strong in her own right, yet remained gentle, warm and wonderfully herself.

I never met her.

Yet she left an impression on me.

Rest in peace, Tun Dr Hasmah.

Some personal brands are carefully built.

Others are simply lived.