A Women’s History Month reflection on presence, purpose, and why your story is your strongest brand asset by Barbara Rozgonyi
There is an old clock on my desk. It doesn’t tell time anymore.
Yet it feels more timely than ever, especially now, as I step into the next chapter of my work and my brand.
This clock once sat under my grandmother’s bed for as long as anyone could remember. When she passed away, I was three years old. I searched for it at her funeral, confused about where it had gone. I don’t remember the service, but I remember her. My mother insisted a three-year-old couldn’t hold such a clear memory. Then I described my visions of her, and my mother went quiet. “Oh,” she said softly. “You do remember her.”
That clock has followed me through every version of my life and work. Today it sits where I can see it while I write, consult, coach, and create. It reminds me of the reason I named my company CoryWest Media after my mother and grandmother. And it has become the most honest symbol I know for what I believe about personal brand.
The legacy you carry is the presence you project.
We Are Who We Were
That is the idea at the heart of my work through Brighter Presence.
Not a reinvention. A revelation. When I look back at the women who shaped me, my grandmother Verna Opal West Cory, my mother Audrey Marie Cory Rozgonyi, my aunts who were CFOs and nurses and the first women hired at plants before anyone called that historic, I see exactly who I have always been trying to become.
I didn’t always have language for it. Now I do.
Your story is your strategy. Your history is your brand. And the women who came before you, whether they knew it or not, gave you presence.
My Grandmother Never Called Herself a Leader
Verna Opal West Cory raised a houseful of children through the Great Depression. She died before I could really know her. But I knew her anyway.
She never used words like entrepreneur or legacy. She just built something that lasted.
My mother fought cancer from the time I was four years old. She wasn’t supposed to make it to my high school graduation, but she did. She lived to see me start college. Along the way, she shaped me into someone who performed with purpose, baking bread, practicing piano and clarinet, and chasing every goal to show her that her daughter was going to be okay.
Becoming a Storyteller
At first, I wasn’t planning to go to college.
A caring guidance counselor believed in me and helped me find a way to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After college and roles in sales, management, and marketing, I became a national sales trainer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. I loved it. But something in me knew I wanted to build something of my own.
After our daughter was born, I wanted to explore options that didn’t involve traveling three days a week. Career tests pointed toward two paths: florist or writer. A flower shop job wouldn’t cover childcare costs. So I chose to become a writer.
In August 1990, I opened CoryWest Media from our home in Oak Park, Illinois. I billed $75 an hour, which felt audacious in 1990 and turned out to be exactly right. A million-dollar writing career followed, along with a blog, a podcast, and a platform I have been building ever since.
What Brighter Presence Really Means
Brighter Presence is not about being louder or shinier.
It is about knowing where your light comes from and being willing to say so out loud.
My grandmother’s presence outlasted her life by decades. My mother’s determination shaped a daughter she never got to see grow up. My Aunt Mary became the first female CFO of a national company. My Aunt Ruth was the first woman hired at the GM plant in Danville, Illinois. My Aunt Aggie ran the largest surgical practice in town. My Aunt Helen managed an entire hospital floor.
None of them talked about leadership at dinner. And yet all of them led.
I grew up thinking that was simply what women did. That belief became the foundation for everything I have built.
Now, after 35 years in marketing, PR, photography, and communications, and with wiredprworks.com recently ranked among the top 100 PR blogs in the world, I am stepping into this next chapter with a simple conviction.
You don’t need to reinvent yourself. You need to remember yourself.
Your story matters. Your history builds your brand. The presence you carry was built long before you had a logo or a LinkedIn profile.
We are who we were.
Brighter Presence is the next evolution of my work, offering coaching, consulting, photography, and storytelling that helps you clarify and share what makes you distinctly, powerfully you.
The clock is still on my desk. The legacy it represents is timeless. What’s your brighter presence story?
Barbara Rozgonyi is a personal brand strategist, keynote speaker, founder of CoryWest Media, and publisher of wiredPRworks.com . For more than 35 years she has helped leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations find and share the stories that build lasting visibility. Her work has been recognized among the top 100 PR blogs in the world. She is based in Chicago, IL/Charlotte, NC and speaks nationally on personal branding, AI, and the future of communications. Connect at barbararozgonyi.com.
