We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cathleen Daly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cathleen below.

Cathleen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of my blog-turned-business, Discovering Daly, came by way of me wanting to identify a word that I didn’t feel would put me into a box. When I started my blog, I always knew that it was going to grow into something beyond just a blog; I just didn’t know WHAT that was yet. I wanted to be able to have a free space to write about whatever I wanted to whether it was fashion, travel, food, or just overall life experiences. Through that process, I landed on the word “discovering” and I knew that was the word as it perfectly described how I felt about my life. I am always discovering new passions, perspectives, people, and placees. I also love to use words cleverly and had to take advantage of my last name, “Daly” pronounced “daily.”

And that is how the name “Discovering Daly” was created. Now the brand can be experienced in a variety of ways: if you visit my blog Discovering Daly, you can discover more about me, my passions, and my life. In addition, my hopes are for my community to also discover more about themselves in following my digital content and/or in working with me through my business services.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Growing up, I always had a love for the visual arts: fashion, architecture, writing, film, dance, photography, etc. These passions are what initially inspired me in high school to create a blog where I could share with others what I found interesting about the world.

In college, I decided to pursue my Bachelor’s in Communications where I studied how communication is used in any and every situation, industry, and relationship. I later went on to finish my Master’s degree in Public Administration with an Emphasis in Government and Policy. It was through my college internships and jobs as well as my post-college positions that I consistently found myself in marketing roles where I would help build the brand, communication, and marketing strategies for various organizations and individuals. My overall approach to marketing is influenced by my diverse experiences in fashion, politics, nonprofits, film + tv production, real estate, higher education, and construction.

Throughout this time, my blog continued to evolve and I grew a presence and brand voice on social media. I officially registered my blog into a business in November 2019 when I decided to start working on the side with individuals and businesses on helping them build their brand presence on social media through brand management and consulting. Now, in addition to my full-time in-house marketing role, I work primarily with personal brands and businesses through brand consulting, speaking at events, and producing digital content/resources. My overall goal for my clients are to help them identify their unique brand offering and tell their story in a creative, tangible way to their community while ensuring they stay authentic to their overall mission and vision.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My social media growth has been a journey. Because I enjoyed writing and had my blog growing up, I found it very easy and fun to tell my story on social media. However, I did have plenty of ups and downs with social media. I even went through a period where I deleted all of my social media (because I wasn’t liking how it was making me feel) and then later on had a change of mindset so I had to start from scratch again.

Early on in my social media development, I did experiment with different growth platforms from companies “promising more likes and followers” and various engagement groups, but very quickly learned that it was not an authentic experience for me or for my audience. I realized that my best engagement and connections developed when I was just being authentic and having fun with what I was sharing online. That authenticity value is the approach I still use today for myself and with my clients. It’s easy to get caught up in the algorithm changes and the trends (which are important to be in the know sometimes), but what has always worked for me, is just being myself and sharing what I find interesting about the world in a creative way.

I honestly don’t focus on the numbers; instead, I focus on the experience. I ask myself, “What do I want to share with the world?” and “What do I want the world to experience when they see what I create?” After that, the right connections and the right clients always seem to find me.

My advice to anyone starting to build their social media presence is to focus on your current community, how you want them to feel when they see your social media, and to be authentic to you. Don’t emulate someone else because it’s popular and don’t post just for the sake of posting; make sure it accurately represents you and what you love. Focus on what you are putting out there and the people who resonate with your message, service, or product will connect with you.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I learned early in my professional career the importance of identifying your core values in your work and life. Your core values are what help guide you in business decisions, client relationships, and your overall reputation in the industry. I identified that regardless of the industry, role, or location I was currently in that I wanted my work to reflect my core values of authenticity, creativity, growth, and consistency.

I believe that living out these values on a daily basis throughout my relationships, workplace environments, blogging and business endeavors, and social media presence are what have helped build my reputation within the market. My core values are the foundation of the experience in working with me and can help me both navigate if a client is a good fit for me and help potential clients identify if I am good fit for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: discoveringdaly.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/discoveringdaly
• Facebook: facebook.com/discoveringdaly
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/discoveringdaly
• Twitter: twitter.com/discoveringdaly
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZy0Z16d92m0gK_2bSn8cVg

Image Credits
Goodyear Economic Development Hub – Speaking Event, Rachel Fischer Visuals, Clicks by Nae