We build personal brands for Black/Diverse Founders and CEOs 🗣 | CEO & Founder of OSSAI

I’m Phil, the lad behind the scenes helping people like Jake Humphrey, Spencer Matthews, Mary Earps and Ferne McCann show up online in a way that actually sounds like them.

I’ve spent more all-nighters than I care to admit helping founders and public figures build personal brands that turn heads, start conversations, and lead to real opportunities.

Most of my work is being a translator: pulling the real insight out of someone’s head, shaping it into content, and building a system that keeps it consistent.

That means:

clarifying your message and positioning

turning your lived experience into posts people want to read and share

building a simple content engine you can actually stick to

I’m also funnelling everything we’ve learned at OSSAI into Pesora, an autonomous personal-branding tool built to give more people access to proven strategy without the full agency price tag.

If you’re a founder, CEO or creator with a spicy brain and a head full of ideas, but you’re struggling to get it out consistently, drop me a message. ✌🏿

Phil Ossai

Yesterday marked 4 years of OSSAI 🥳

I took this photo last night at Christina Taylor’s office while my little one was in dance upstairs at The ASH Company and it hit me... wow I've been in business for nearly half a decade. 

I'm old 😅 but equally I feel like I started yesterday.

I still remember 4th March 2022... full of naivety. Pre-Chat GPT days. Back before the AI slop. 

A LOT has changed since then... but a lot hasn't.

Here are 4 lessons that have stood the test of time.

1 - Human psychology doesn't change: curiosity, negative bias is a powerful vehicle to capture one's attention.

2 - Quality > quantity of followers. Don't get attention mixed up with intention. You can get leads at 500 followers, and nothing at 500,000 followers.

3 - On the other hand, if you want community growth, cross-pollinate your audience with related creators/founders. Collab carousels, collab Vids/TikToks/Reels... they are SO powerful.

4 - The science of social media growth and virality is: A/B testing every element of a piece of content, and with enough variants, the data will tell you exactly what you need to do to grow. It's not rocket science... but it is a lot of effort.

Thank you to all those who supported and believed in the vision before it was a reality. 

Amy Stephenson-Yankuba Aaron Burns Milimo Banji Mary Earps MBE Ellis Bennett FCCA Yafet Semere Jade Beard-Stevens Jim Meadows Indiana Julian Keenan Bettany Lyle Yorks Jake Humphrey Jane Hunt Robyn Liddell Claire Richards Nazia Haque Netta Jenkins sorry if I forgot to tag anyone!

Andrew Hulbert FIWFM thanks for the inspo on this!

Personal Branding for CEOs, Founders and Talent Brands via OSSAI Agency & Pesora AI

Your personal brand is your insurance policy.

I started OSSAI when I was in my very early 20s.

The fact that I’m able to sit in rooms with people who have scaled seven and eight figure companies, have 10 and 100s millions in the bank, while still in my 20s…

Plus I have access while their guard is down, while they’re vulnerable, while they’re open to hearing new ideas, and to have them trust my expertise, is an anomaly that I’m very aware of and very grateful for. 

I don’t say that to brag.

I say it to make this point:

The only way I was able to get into those rooms was because of the insurance policy I’d been slowly contributing to day in, day out, week by week, month by month, which is my personal brand.

My reputation tends to do a lot of talking.

I recently had a massive community reach out to me to do workshops for them.

The same goes for another speaking gig across borders.

That’s why I believe your personal brand opens doors, but also protects you when things don’t go so well.

If you’re let go.

If you’re struggling.

If things are tough.

I’ve had many bailouts from people in my network that I grew through LinkedIn, through Instagram, through TikTok, who supported me during tough times in the agency as a result of us meeting online.

If I hadn’t posted that content, I probably wouldn’t be where I am.

So yeah, your personal brand is your insurance policy.

🤞🏿

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Back from a London day trip to meet the man of the hour Jake Humphrey

If you were a fly on the wall, here's what you would've heard:

🗣️ "Business growth is expensive: Financially, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Consistency growth beats intensity any day of the week."

🗣️ "The view at the top of the mountain is the same as the bottom of the mountain: Another set of peaks on the horizon. There's always another goal so learn to detach your joy from the outcome and place it in the process."

A few things it got me thinking...

There's a unique energy being around non-Londoners. People who are supposedly disadvantaged when they don't live in the capital. The drive is built differently when opportunity isn't always on your doorstep.

My generation places such an importance on stupid stuff: revenue rather than profit, the badge of your car rather than character... and when you hear successful people speak the ego in you can think: 'it's easy for you to say now you've achieved it'.

But the challenge I'm setting myself is to actually try and adopt a wiser mindset this year.

I really shouldn't upgrade my car, or my living expenses... 
I need to keep my head down and act like it's nil-nil
I need to enjoy the journey more because this is the real game I'm playing now, not pre-season.

Anyway... back to work.

Don't get attention mixed up with intention.

The loudest personal brands don't always make the best content.

The founders with the largest followers don't always have the best businesses.

I have a United Fan page with 300k IG followers and a TikTok of 175k followers.

My '17k' LinkedIn following has 'made me more money' than that 475k following ever has.

A 300w light bulb can light up a room

A 300w laser can cut through steel.

Same energy, different focus.

Happy new month everyone 🚀

The Consistency blueprint: My 90-day goal-setting journal from the 🐐 Aaron Burns

What’s common knowledge to you…

… is a game changer to someone else. 

You’re sitting on a goldmine of insights, experiences and lessons. 

All you’re missing is the framework to structure your thoughts. 

💪🏿

Isobel Cowell

Head of Social @Kurogo | Creating Thought Leaders Through Personal Branding | Founder of Dear Future Marketer | LinkedIn Top Voice: Next Gen

Building engaged communities in-house at fashion and beauty brands.

Hi, I'm Isobel, Social Media Manager at Tropic Skincare.

At 21, I joined a personal branding start-up as 1 of 3 full-time employees. 6 months in, we'd grown to 8 and I was quickly promoted to Head of Social, growing our clients brands whilst managing my incredible team of content writers and account managers.

But as much as I loved start-up life, fashion and beauty was my calling.

I joined a growing luxury fashion reseller as Social Media Lead, leading the strategy and content for an audience of over 2 million on TikTok, and 600K on Instagram, averaging 1 million views on TikTok weekly. I also assisted in the launch of the #1 TikTok Live Shop in the UK, hosting and moderating shows weekly.

I now work at a growing luxury beauty brand, leading the strategy on all social platforms, working amongst an incredible brand team of 25 to bring the brand vision to life.

So follow along for all things career growth, and fashion and beauty marketing insights.

taplio

The Battle

Phil Ossai

Isobel Cowell

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taplio

The Battle

Phil Ossai

Isobel Cowell

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Phil Ossai's LinkedIn Performance

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