I first met today's guest, Jess Zafarris, as a journalist in the marketing and advertising space (she was an editor for Adweek and is now editor at large at Ragan Communications and PR Daily).
But what we're really talking about today is Jess's other career–and other personal brand–as an etymologist and etymology author.
On her “Useless Etymology” channels, Jess presents word origins and history in an engaging and entertaining way, and is working on her third etymology book. We discuss how she concurrently built her careers as a journalist and a “pop etymologist” and how she’s balanced both.
Listen and learn:
- Jess’s career in journalism
- Her Adweek chapter, and building a name for herself
- “How could you be so incurious?...”
- Why this topic interests me (Christine) so personally
- Jess’s research background
- ”It's kind of like linguistic anthropology–linguistic sociology, more so…”
- Useless Etymology blog
- Building TikTok accounts for both Adweek and Useless Etymology
- “Once Upon A Word”
- Jess’s brand voice
- “I didn't want to jeopardize the career that was affiliated with my primary income…”
- Growing Useless Etymology
- Content lessons
- “Words From Hell”
- The violent history of the word “decimate”
- “Offbeat word origins for curious minds…”
- Jess’s book development process
- “Useless Etymology: The Book”!
- “I actually let my audience choose for me…”
- What lights Jess up about etymology
- “Have you ever tried to read the OED?”
- The positive opportunities “Words From Hell” has opened up
- Words Unraveled podcast
- The topic of Jess’s fourth book
Find Jess:
Books:
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to the Let's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!
❤️
Get Started on Your Personal Brand Journey with a sampling of Christine's Personal Branding Questions here: https://www.gritmon.com/talkaboutmybrand
Subscribe to the Let's Talk About Brand Newsletter that goes out weekly to ensure you don't miss a beat!
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