Brand Up 2.0: Propel Your Early Career Success

Brand Up 2.0: Propel Your Early Career Success is your indispensable guide to high-octane success in the modern workplace as you navigate your budding career. Whether your ambitions lie in the corporate world, the start-up scene, or non-profit, you'll gain expertise in interviewing, networking, personal branding, reputation management, social media, and more. The book has been endorsed by Mel Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and other prominent figures in career development, entrepreneurship, and business.

This comprehensive guide packed with strategies and tools is tailored for early career professionals seeking jobs, new roles, promotions, and a thriving future in our interconnected world. The book features invaluable career-building best practices and helps young adults tell their unique stories that highlight their best selves and answer the million-dollar question: Why Choose You?

Author Stacey Ross Cohen, a personal branding and digital leadership expert, guides you through the process of building a positive personal brand and a digital dossier that will set you up for success, no matter your career path or goals. Stacey's engaging writing style, filled with anecdotes and New York wit, inspires action with bite-sized expertise, real-world anecdotes, and wisdom from job recruiters, HR professionals, CEOs, and entrepreneurs who have built outstanding personal brands. Her message is clear: Early career professionals must cultivate a sterling digital footprint in today's digital landscape. To thrive offline, you must thrive online and build essential life skills.

Stacey's co-authors, Allison Kluger and Kudzi Chikumbu, enrich the book with their distinct expertise and perspectives. Allison Kluger is a Lecturer of Organizational Behavior at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Kudzi Chikumbu, a lifestyle influencer and marketing authority, expertly connects and builds community through creator marketing, partnerships, and education.

Brand Up 2.0 follows Stacey's best-selling book Brand Up: The Ultimate Playbook for College and Career Success in the Digital Age, offering a step-by-step guide to building strong digital leadership skills and making your mark.

Meet Stacey’s brilliant co-authors, Allison Kluger & Kudzi Chikumbu

Allison Kluger

Allison Kluger is a four-time Emmy-nominated producer with over 25 years of experience in broadcast media and entertainment, from network television (Good Morning America, The View) to new media platforms, including electronic retail, interactive television, and digital media. She is also a freelance writer and media consultant. Her superpowers are innovative content creation, expert messaging, and media coaching.

Since 2013, Allison is a Lecturer of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). She teaches four courses, three of which she created: Reputation Management, Strategic Communication, Personal Branding (which she teaches with Tyra Banks), and Strategic Pivoting for Your Next Chapter (which features guest speaker Alex “ARod” Rodriguez). Allison has also created seminars and workshops on “Executive Presence for Women,” “Storytelling as Strategy,” “Personal and Business Branding,” and “Media Training.”

Allison is the recipient of the Dorothy J. King Lecturer in Leadership for 2017–2018 and the MSx Teaching Excellence Award from Stanford GSB, 2024. She is an advisor for many of her graduate students’ new ventures. She also mentors young women and men in leadership and personal branding and gives lectures and keynote speeches worldwide. She is a voracious reader and is currently writing a book. She also officiates weddings and raises her two boys and Australian
shepherd with her husband. For more details, testimonials, videos, and photos, visit www.allisonkluger.com.

Kudzi Chikumbu

Kudzi Chikumbu, a lifestyle influencer and marketing authority, expertly connects and builds community through creator marketing, partnerships, and education. He works at the intersection of digital content, community, and communications to discover and amplify diverse trailblazing talent. Kudzi is a sought-after speaker who firmly believes that “authority is your cheat code to success.”

He was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa as an accountant and management consultant, shaping his views on race relations and diversity. Kudzi began his career at Deloitte in South Africa. He went on to complete his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kudzi is the creator of the social media phenomenon Sir Candle Man, which brings a new, relatable, and inclusive voice to the fragrance industry. Sir Candle Man has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, WWD, NY Mag, and The Rachael Ray Show. Kudzi also authored the book Let It Burn: Illuminate Your Life with Candles & Fragrance.

Kudzi has been listed in Fortune Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list and The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen: Hollywood’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under. He received ADCOLOR’s Innovator Award and was recognized as AdWeek’s Experiential Executive of the Year, the Culture Creators’ Tech Honoree, and Variety’s Hollywood’s New Leaders. A torchbearer for authenticity, Kudzi lives in Los Angeles.