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We all know this section is overrated. 

If you want to find out more, let’s chat and meet.

It will be the most accurate version of both of us. 


Sandra Macele

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished professionals, thought leaders, disruptors, and people who have “excited to announce” tattooed somewhere on the inside of their eyelids.

Tonight we’re here to talk about belonging.

No, sorry.

We’re here to talk about fitting in.

Brené Brown explains the difference perfectly:

Belonging is not negotiated externally. It’s belonging to yourself so deeply, you don’t betray who you are for acceptance.

Just this explains why many up here feel so disconnected (and invisible).

It is because we try to FIT IN.

Fitting in is being whoever we need to be, so we don’t get rejected.

And LinkedIn is excellent at this.
Corporate too.

So people learn to say:
- what looks like success
- sounds like “leadership”
- and “feels safe”

Because of:
- risk management
- social proof
- corporate consequence

Clear.

We all comply to some extent.
Me.
You.
The “here are 7 lessons” genre.

But here’s the problem when you create content for business.

Nobody remembers the person who fits in perfectly.

So if you’re a job-seeker, fitting in can be a survival approach.

Understood.

But if you create content for business ... 
with fitting in, you basically erode your brand.

You end up sounding like:

- “I’m humbled to share…”
- “Leadership is a journey…”
- “Here are 3 lessons from …”

If someone sees “belonging approach” as wreckles ...

I hate to create you nightmares ...

... but it is a very successful differentiation strategy in a very noisy market.

So when your content is written to avoid rejection…

…congrats. 

It’s also written to avoid any kind of impact.

______________
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For the people who think dangerously well. ​>​>​> Scaling Intellectual Authority / Thought Leadership 🌃 (Storyteller, raised on cyberpunk fiction.)

Which system scr*wed millennials the most?
Starting with:

The corporate gold star addiction.

😑 

Corporate life taught us that if you:
→ stay quiet & polite,
→ don’t take credit,
→ don’t take space,
→ don’t question anyone senior,
→ don’t have your own opinions,

you’ll be “rewarded” with …
… another job where you still can’t speak your mind.

And now you write a LinkedIn post and your entire body (including your hair) screams:

“DELETE!”

Previously to this one was:
The school system people-pleaser program.

The place that taught us, you will be punished for trying to be original.

But memorizing dead people’s opinions will give you an A+.

Then we wonder why adults freeze at the idea of publicly thinking for themselves.

Before the school system, we had the original PR firm.

The family model of “Don’t embarrass us!”

Our first audience was a kitchen full of silent judges who could smell “embarrassment” the way wolves smell fear.

And they ran the same slogan for 20 years:
“What will people think!?!?”

But the worst offender is:
The “Be small so others feel comfortable” culture.

→ quiet kid praised for being “mature”
→ loud kid shamed into becoming quiet
→ creative kid told to pick a “real” career
→ sensitive kid told they’re “too much”

And by adulthood …

You walk into rooms trying to take up the least possible space.

So when millennials say, “I’m scared to express what I think,”

OF COURSE YOU ARE!

Because expression feels like the betrayal of those invisible systems that trained us to survive by staying ornamental!

BUT.

Being and staying small doesn’t protect anyone.

__________
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Writing demands two sacrifices.

First, the courage to show yourself.

Second, the strength to endure social judgment once you do.

To write with power is not to assemble sentences with AI.

It is to arrive with your whole mind and soul.

Visibly.
Or invisibly. 

Your intelligence, yes.

But also yesterday’s failure, still warm.

And the older failures, fossilized from 10 years ago, for which you never forgave yourself.

You do not leave behind
your shame,
your guilt,
or your private sense of justice.

They come with you.

They can seep into 
a single carousel.
a newsletter.
a post like this.

And suddenly you are visible as a full-color human.

Which is exactly why so many choose suffocation instead.

They make themselves small in expression to survive the gaze of those who distribute social validation.

Eww.

Approval.

Who would admit to needing it.

And yet.

Social validation is the revenue.

This is where the great collective pretending begins.

…

Emotions?

In a professional setting?

On LinkedIn?!?!?!

Disgusting.

Except for the inconvenient fact that nothing has ever moved people at scale without emotional intensity.

Awe.
Anger.
Hope.

Because emotion sets thought in motion.

But to work with emotion is an act of craft.

It requires restraint, as much, as courage.

It requires “an artist”.

An inner intelligence to measure.

A good “artist” knows ... or I would argue FEELS ... 
where to sharpen
where to withhold
and where to release the scream.

THAT is what powerful content does.

And that is why …

… good content is rare.

___________________
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PS. Thank you, Lauren Ducrey, for your poetic inspirations, reminding me why I love what I do.

I remember being a kid, doing something stupid, and then my dad's left arm hooked me like a clamp, yanked me off the ground, my feet kicking air for half a second, and then his right hand came on my bu**cheeks.

Hard.

I cried so much my eyes blurred.

Later, in my bedroom, in front of the mirror, I was inspecting the painful part like evidence.

I remember I had to wipe my face with the back of my hand, so I could even see.

Across both cheeks, I had five fingers in bright red color.

Like a stamp.

I was 6 or 7.

For a full disclosure -
I grew up in a time and a place where hitting a child was normal discipline.

Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for my dad …
I was a creative, sensitive kid, and those things planted something.

A fire I still carry.

Because now, when someone challenges me, I don’t fold.

I plant my feet like an unhinged rooster on a pile of cowsh*t,
chest out,
eyes blazing,
utterly convinced I was built for this moment, and my whole mouth goes:

“Whaaaaat?? You talking to meee?!?!”

And then life happens and starts smacking you in ways a hand could never compete with.

It smacks you with betrayal.
Humiliation.
With loss.
With the slow drips of disappointment.

And that does something to people.

What fascinates me is how differently we live with the leftovers.

> Some people get marked by hardship and freeze.
> Some people get marked, and they build. They take the pain, the anger, the buzzing voltage of it, and they pour it into something that stands.
> Some people self-destruct.
> Some people destroy others.
> And some people walk through it like it didn’t touch them at all.

My vision on things shifted when I learned to say thank you to pain.

I stopped asking it to be fair and took it as it was.
Then I used it like fuel.

Because pain has energy in it, energy wants direction …
So I gave it direction.

And if you don’t waste it on destroying, it can actually build.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but here it is.

Happy 2026. 
I am back to work.

DISCLAIMER: Last time I hosted a LinkedIn event. It was a complete dumpster fire ... because it never happened. 😄 🙌 

(technical oopsie-daisy)

Let's go again!

Team Wellbeing:

Our host
Annika Mohlin 🌱
— Self-leadership, boundaries, sustainable ambition

Josh Perry
— High Performance Coach (creation vs survival mode)

Emily Heird, LPC/MHSP
— Licensed therapist & mental performance coach

Team Marketing:

Jenni Reher
— Marketing strategist, creator of Find Your Weird™

Sandra Macele
— Identity & positioning strategist (thought-leadership infrastructures)

Robert van Tongeren
— Content strategy that makes you look like a genius

Join us tomorrow!

For the people who think dangerously well I Scaling Intellectual Authority I Thought Leadership I ex CMO & Creative Director 🌃 Storyteller, raised on cyberpunk fiction 🇪🇺

Robert van Tongeren and 100 other attendees

You’ve all seen it: The trauma-dump with a CTA. And then you wonder: Is this brave… or ...?

This audio Live is a real-time debate between people who build attention and people who protect nervous systems.

We are answering:
- Who decides when sharing becomes “over”sharing?
- When does “vulnerability” become “emotional burden” for the audience?
- Should you post while you’re still bleeding, or after you’ve processed?

We made a panel of 3 marketers vs 3 wellbeing coaches!

Team Wellbeing:
Our host Annika Mohlin 🌱 —  Self-leadership, boundaries, sustainable ambition.
Josh Perry — High Performance Coach (creation vs survival mode)
Emily Heird, LPC/MHSP — Licensed therapist & mental performance coach 

Team Marketing:
Jenni Reher — Marketing strategist, creator of Find Your Weird™ 
Sandra Macele — Identity & positioning strategist (thought-leadership infrastructures)
Robert van Tongeren — Content strategy that makes you look like a genius

Log in tomorrow, and bring your best questions ;) muahahaha ...

Today’s event is postponed because LinkedIn requires a PhD in Interface Archaeology to host an audio conversation. 

I overestimated both my qualifications and the platform.

But ... their ongoing commitment to experimental user experience is truly one of a kind 😂 

We will regroup with the team and come back with a new date and time.

🙌

Brand & Content Strategy for High-Trust Service Businesses

Most B2B firms are stuck in the same trap:

– Content ignored and ineffective
– Messaging that blends into the noise
– Pipelines that rely on referrals or outbound

It doesn’t have to be this way.

With the right positioning and a strategic content system, you stop chasing attention and start attracting it. Your message cuts through, your brand earns authority, and your pipeline fills with qualified conversations.

That’s where I come in.

I’m a marketing strategist and former CMO. Over the last decade, I’ve:

– Helped multi-million-dollar companies sharpen their positioning and win premium clients.

– Published 100+ articles to an audience of 20,000+, with readers at Google, Stripe, Deloitte, and others.

– Built content systems that generated $100K+ in revenue from scratch without ad spend.


📬 If you’re ready to stop blending in and become the obvious choice in your market, send me a message and let’s talk.

Omara Khaddaj

Most companies are chronically disappointed 
with their marketing results. They assume:

Their strategy is sound and that the issue 
lies in doing more or doing it better. 

So they add channels and increase output.

In reality, the problem is usually upstream.

There is no clear narrative or agreed positioning,
so everything they say sounds like everyone else. 

When you sound like everyone else, 
buyers categorise you as a commodity. 

Response rates fall, attention disappears, 
and budgets get wasted repeatedly.

A few questions to spot the gaps:

– What problem do buyers come to us for?
– How would a non-expert describe us?
– What category do we belong to?
– Who is our product really for?

If you can't answer these consistently, 
your marketing won't create demand.

Marketing Consultant | Building brand and content systems that win clients for B2B and service-based companies.

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Sandra Macele

Omara Khaddaj

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taplio

The Battle

Sandra Macele

Omara Khaddaj

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);}Sandra Macele's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreOmara Khaddaj's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSandra Macele's LinkedIn Performance