Let’s talk about lighting—because this one is a $30 fix that changes everything. Natural light is everyone’s friend. It looks good on almost everyone. But when that light shifts—or disappears—you need a backup. That’s why I use a ring light every single day. Most people don't realize this: A ring light fixes brightness. It also fixes color temperature! When the light is too cold, you start to look tired. Sallow. Washed out. When it’s warmer, suddenly you look more vibrant, more alive, more...

I want to start with something a little provocative. People are making judgments about us within the first 100 milliseconds of seeing our face. That’s not me being dramatic—that’s research. And even knowing that, even as a brand coach , I still feel it happening in my own body when someone shows up on screen and I can barely see them, or their face is completely dark, or they look like they just rolled off the couch. Whether we like it or not, our brains are scanning. What matters here is...

Filling the Frame on a Recent Podcast One of the biggest things I notice on video calls is how many people don’t fill the frame. They’re sitting far back. There’s a lot of space above their head. They’re not doing anything wrong . But the signal it sends is, “I’m not fully here.” When we were all in conference rooms, we learned to 'lean in' at the table to show engagement and signal our full presence. Also, that we had something to contribute. Now that so much of business is conducted over...