5 Tips for building your personal brand this year

It's 2025, and you've set yourself a resolution to boost your personal brand.

But the thing is, you don't know where to start.

I get it.

So that's why we're turning to the absolute OG experts in personal branding (arguably) to steal their tips for success.

You might've guessed it (you might've not)—but today we're looking at celebrity chefs and lessons we can learn from their approach to brand building.

So, here are 5 tips you can steal from their brand playbook to help you start building your own.

1. Define your purpose (early)

From the most famous celebrity chef you can think of to a successful TikTok home cook, every food creator has something that drives them. This gives viewers a reason to tune into their specific content.

Think about it.

Gordon Ramsay's meaning is a commitment to excellence. Anthony Bourdain's meaning was to try everything. Nigella Lawson's meaning is to make delicious cooking and hosting easy, combining sophistication with comfort.

So find your meaning first, then make sure all your branding decisions align with it. This means focusing on planning and finding your clear brand message right at the start.

By doing this, you'll be able to add intangible meaning to your brand.

2. Get personal

Jamie Oliver first found success through his early TV show, The Naked Chef. As the name suggests, Jamie got personal with his audience—filming the series from his home kitchen.

He included his girlfriend in scenes where she actually tried his food. Oliver shared tidbits of his life, like plans to meet the lads at the pub after filming. (He never did get naked, though.)

Plenty of other celebrity chefs follow a similar route—take Nigel Slater as another example. Slater is a food journalist as much as a chef, and he openly shares how food connects to his life.

So, how does this apply to your own personal brand? Share some images from your life, and don't be afraid to let people know about what goes on in your world—outside of business.

3. Do good work (and share it)

The amazing thing about celebrity chefs? You actually get to try their work and see if it stacks up.

It's all well and good watching a chef taste their own food and delight in the experience. But you can also make their recipes and see if they live up to expectation. So, it's important they do good work; otherwise, their following won't stay with them!

You can incorporate this into your brand-building by sharing your successful work and unique expertise. Post about how you work, stories from your field, or tips and tricks for success.

Doing this makes you stand out and draws in new audiences. It shows people you're unafraid of sharing your industry 'secrets' because you're just that good.

I mean, you don't see Nigella Lawson out here, terrified, thinking someone's going to follow one of her recipes exactly and take over her market, do you?

And that's because she has such a strong brand that even if someone replicates what she does, they're not replicating her.

4. Be aspirational, but still relatable

This one is really important. In order to get people to make their recipes, many chefs implicitly suggest that, if you make their food, you might be able to achieve their lifestyle.

Think Jamie Oliver in the early days of The Naked Chef. His lifestyle is the big drawcard for his cooking—he's young and easygoing, his mates are constantly popping in for food, and they're almost always doing something fun after dinner.

This makes audiences think if only they could cook like him, then they could achieve this kind of life, too.

The same idea goes for Nigella Lawson. Her relaxed, sort of naughty air when it comes to comfort cooking is aspirational to all hopeful hosts; her book, How To Be a Domestic Goddess, epitomises this thinking.

It makes us all think that if we get the right recipe of hers, we can be that confident in the kitchen—dazzling our guests with delicious meals that we just threw together.

So, try to strike the right tone in your posting. Be vulnerable and down-to-earth enough for people to relate to you, but keep things upbeat and motivational.

5. Be passionate

This lesson has got to be the most important of all. When it comes to celebrity chefs, or anyone cooking food on a platform, it's passion that really makes audiences buy in.

Because when it comes to cooking, you have to be all in. No one wants to eat food or follow a recipe that's so-so. It's got to be yum, and it's got to be made with love.

To elevate your personal brand, find passion in what you're doing and let your enthusiasm shine through. You can do this by actually getting excited!

Be loud in your videos. Talk at length about the little details (even if you think it's boring!). Basically, be a nerd. It shows you care, and it shows you're passionate.

So, as you dive into building your personal brand, take a page from a celebrity chef's book. Because just like a good meal, a strong personal brand is something people won’t forget in a hurry.

-Maggie, Copywriter