Who's ready for a glow-up?

(Hint: This is where you raise your hand.)

Hey there, my coruscant* friend!

It’s me, Amy Blaschka, former branding consultant, current social media ghostwriter, and longtime Forbes Leadership Contributor, coming to you hot off the Illuminate Me presses with my very first post.

You’re probably already familiar with my content on LinkedIn, Forbes, Twitter, or Instagram, or perhaps, I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with you to write your content. Or maybe you’re just getting introduced to me now because someone we both know thought it was a good idea. (Thanks, buddy!) Whatever the case, I’m jazzed that you’re here.

Three things:

First, I want to thank you for subscribing.

Believe it or not, this professional writer was (okay, *is still*) nervous about creating a newsletter. Even though people literally pay me to write for them, I hemmed and hawed on producing my own newsletter because I was worried that no one would care about what I had to say. (Spoiler alert: It turns out they *do* care and are eager to learn more, which is one of the reasons I moved past my fear and created this newsletter.)

Second, here’s what you should expect.

I think of Illuminate Me not only as a newsletter but also as my personal call to action, challenging me to deliver knowledge to those seeking it. As the name** suggests, I’ll do my best to illuminate you with nuggets of wisdom drawn from three-plus decades of real-world experience as a professional communicator, leader, and pretty decent human being.

That said, I’ll cover those areas most near and dear to me: communication, storytelling, writing, creativity, emotional intelligence, soft skills, leadership, and human behavior. And just to keep you on your toes, a wild card or two may appear.

The plan is to regularly share those insights—which will take the form of articles, videos, audio, and infographics—all infused with my own brand of “Amy-ness.” Most will be my original stuff, and some will be content I curate from those I admire, inspire me, or make me think.

Rest assured, each issue will be chock full of the good stuff you can immediately apply to your life and career.

The bottom line: I’m betting that if it’s illuminated me, chances are, it’ll enlighten you as well.

Finally, I want to learn from you. 

This isn’t just a one-way thing. I want YOU to illuminate me, too, so I’ll regularly pose queries and ask my readers for feedback—the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly (though hopefully, there won’t be too much of that).

You can also leave a comment by scrolling to the end or clicking a button like this:

And if you have a question or want to share something you think I’ll find interesting, please reach out at amy@amyblaschka.com. As long as you’re not a bot or a creep, I promise that I’ll respond to you since 1) it matters to me that you took the time to send me a message, and 2) I don’t farm out engagement to a VA. It may not be immediate (see #2), but I will reply.

Thanks again for joining the Illuminate Me tribe. I’m looking forward to our collective glow-up!

Shine on,

Amy

P.S. If you’d like to share this post with your friends, that would be awesome! And if you want to be SUPER awesome (and I know you do), encourage your friends to subscribe so they can join our tribe!

Click the button to spread some sunshine.

*Isn’t that a cool word? It’s one of my favorites. It means “sparkling” or “glittering,” which I believe we all are when we’re putting our talents to their highest and best use.

**About the name: As tempting as it was to go for the default {FIRST NAME} ’s NEWSLETTER format, the creative in me needed to have something a little more meaningful, something that resonated with me personally and professionally that could serve as an umbrella for the helpful content I share.

Cue my word for 2021: ILLUMINATE.

I love that this word is multi-layered in its meaning: to shine a light on something, clarify or make something understandable, make spectacular, and glow or light up.

It’s about taking helpful, positive action by seeking knowledge and sharing wisdom, and highlighting the brilliance in others. It also refers to someone thought to have an unusual degree of enlightenment. 

And then I thought, How cool would it be if someone said, “I wish there was someone who could illuminate me about how to make my content and communications clear and compelling?” and then BAM! that person was me?

At that moment, the Illuminate Me newsletter was born.