As part of the Beacon Pointe Advisors Corporate Leadership Team, Allison (Alli) Warner sets the strategic marketing plan for the firm and executes marketing initiatives across a wide spectrum of focus areas, including brand management and communications, website and SEO oversight, marketing material design and presentation development, digital marketing and social media, content management, events, and market research, among other areas of focus.

Here is what Alli had to say when we asked her about personal branding and strategic thinking:

GenHERation^®: As a student, what steps should you take to discover your strengths?

Alli Warner: I believe that much of one’s path to success is rooted in personal confidence, and I see a lot of marketing leadership roles oftentimes lend well to the ‘self-starter’ personality type. Some of it is simply DNA and simply how you are wired, and the other part is understanding your strengths, building on those strengths, and crafting your personal brand around them. Start early on being self-aware—I learned early, too, that my weaknesses could help me. I could learn from them, and I did my best to turn them into value-adds. I would also suggest reading the StrengthsFinder book and taking the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment. I have done it a couple of times throughout my young adult/adult life and career. It has been eye-opening to see the results evolve over time as I’ve grown as a person and as a professional. I suggest identifying what you are good at and building from there. Lean into your strengths. With weaknesses, you can work on them, but you can also surround yourself with team members and colleagues whose strengths are your weaknesses and vice versa to create a well-rounded and successful team. 

GenHERation^®: When you are in school, what opportunities or experiences should you participate in to develop your leadership skills?

Warner: A lot of my life has been molded by sports. Find what you are passionate about and explore those interests, but then also be sure to explore things outside of that. Sports were my favorite thing to do, and I thrived in that space. But, I also took photography and woodshop classes in high school. Both were totally out of my comfort zone, and I had no idea what I was doing when I began those classes. I was surprised by how much I loved woodworking and building things with my hands and seeing the world captured in still moments through a camera lens. In my early days at Beacon Pointe and with zero real-life experience in real estate project management construction, I volunteered to lead the office remodel and construction project which is totally outside of running the Marketing Department. I had tons of fun on that project, and that confidence led to me running my personal redesign and renovation of my backyard and  my home kitchen. Moral of this story, build upon your strengths, but step outside of your comfort zone! 

GenHERation^®: What is a personal brand and how can you create a positive professional reputation for yourself? 

Warner: My mom told me to always be more formal than casual. Such good advice. It is easier to walk into a room and feel confident being overdressed than being dressed too casually for the situation. You also come off more sophisticated this way. And, she also always taught me to have good posture. Even if you aren’t confident inside, good posture and a good outfit can help you feel confident! You also need to be professional and eloquent in your communication. Do not start a professional email with, “Hey Allison!” but instead use “Hi or Hello Allison.” Also, personal handwritten (thank you) notes still go a long way at standing out from a crowd.

GenHERation^®: How can you communicate your personal brand to others? 

Warner: It takes time to build your reputation and your personal brand. LinkedIn is a great place to start putting yourself out there in a professional way and establishing your professional brand for others to see. Another great resource that my incredible boss (and Beacon Pointe Founder and CEO, Shannon Eusey) shared with me and other interns when I started with the company over a decade ago is the book Executive Presence by Sylvia Ann Hewlett. It is still very applicable today and is a tremendous read for anyone looking to build their personal and/or professional brand.  

GenHERation^®: How can you build your confidence as you progress through your academic and career journeys?

Warner: Identifying your strengths is key. If you embark upon opportunities that build off of your strengths, you are setting yourself up for optimal success and filling your confidence tank, so to speak. You can take that confidence and go into professional situations that are new to you or outside of your comfort zone and use your previous experiences to expand your repertoire and progress along your career journey. Thinking back to high school, there were times when things didn’t go as I had planned. I didn’t make the cut for a sports team or a grade on a test was not what I expected it to be, but I worked harder and got where I wanted to be the next year. Maybe you are really good at coding, for example. Don’t shy away because you don’t see someone like you in that class. Explore. Be open-minded. Be inspired by being challenged. I was blessed to have parents who instilled confidence fundamentals in me that I could do anything I put my mind to, but it required perseverance and grit. Also, high school is not too early to find a mentor! You can learn so much from someone else’s wisdom and having lived experiences that you haven’t yet crossed paths with. Heed their advice, ask lots of questions, and make the effort to be an engaged mentee. Lastly, find and surround yourself with people that believe in you. It can be parents, friends, teachers, coaches. Lean on them. And support them back. They genuinely want to see you succeed and thrive. 

GenHERation^®: What practices do you rely on to bring an idea to life?

Warner: I like to work backwards. I see what the end vision or the end game is and then I plot my course with the actions and steps needed to get there. I love progress checkpoints and checklists—it allows me to track my progress and have “little wins” along the way. It also keeps me mentally disciplined to get where I need to go. I was so much better at projects than I was at test taking in school as projects have a finite start and end to them, and I did what I needed to do to get there, or go beyond the expected result. Test taking was harder. I never knew when “enough” studying was “enough,” and that lack of structure was painful for me! Another career example, at Beacon Pointe. We created a financial tip a week email and created a free subscription model so people could sign up to receive our weekly financial tips. In a short amount of time we had 2,000+ subscribers. It was so successful that people wanted us to create a book. So, my colleagues and I said, “Sure! Let’s do it!” None of us ever being previous book authors, I created a systematized process to lead our seven authors down a path of creating a table of contents, our chapter components, our book cover design, and manuscript reviews, found our book publisher, and developed a marketing campaign to publicize the book. There were lots of steps to bring this project to fruition, but designing a roadmap to get to the end goal is what kept us all disciplined and on track with deadlines and helped us bring our book to life. 

GenHERation^®: How can you be your own best advocate in places, such as school and the workplace?

Warner: You need to go back to the basics with this. Have confidence in yourself. As I progressed through high school and college and throughout my career, there were always people who complained or posed problems or issues—in sports, I had to overcome challenges or figure out a way to win, with homework there were assignments that had equations I had a hard time solving—but I always, one way or another figured it out and/or provided a potential solution. My mentality then and now is always to be a solution provider, not a problem creator. I genuinely think people in the career world appreciate this mentality, and it has helped build my personal reputation and allowed me to be my own best advocate. I wasn’t considered “popular” in high school, but people knew my reputation for being honest, a hard worker, and “someone you wanted on your team,” and so they started asking for my thoughts on problems they wanted to solve or projects they wanted to work together on. It was humbling and exciting! I would be remiss to say that there is pressure in being an advocate and putting yourself out there because you need to deliver on what you say you are going to do, otherwise it can be detrimental to your reputation and your advocacy will only go so far without a reputation to back it up. I encourage you to do a lot of things in person, especially in this “Zoom” world we now live in. Get in front of people, be seen literally and figuratively by peers and potential managers and bosses and others you can learn from; do in-person internships, set up informational interviews and lunches. Stand out in this digital world. You never know what opportunities will arise when you put yourself out there and allow yourself to be noticed. Be your own advocate and make things happen, don’t just sit on the sidelines and expect things to happen for you. 

GenHERation^®: What is your go-to interview question?

Warner: If you could have three people at your dinner table (could be either alive today or passed away), who would they be and why? My answers are David Attenborough, Abraham Lincoln, and my grandfather. David Attenborough because as a biologist, animal lover, and historian, he has a fascinating life and worldly travel experiences. Abraham Lincoln because he was a leader and visionary who did amazing things for the country and for people, and what he set in motion still stands strong today even though much has changed. My grandfather because he passed away when I was younger and I didn’t get to spend much time with him, but I knew he was an incredible man—served in the U.S. Navy, was the mayor of his local city, and a very successful man and philanthropist. These three choices demonstrate to anyone who asks me this question that I like to learn from history, am passionate about the environment and travel and open to exploring and learning new things, and that I care deeply about my family. Lots packed into that simple question!

GenHERation^®: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Warner: There wasn’t anything I would technically do differently, but I would’ve tried to have a little more fun amongst my achievement approach to life—it’s a double edged sword though, again a few of my strengths were discipline and achievement, but sometimes I had to sacrifice “fun” in order to achieve certain goals I had. Yet again, I wouldn’t do it differently because I love where I am today and what I did in my younger years got me here! Also, be friends with a lot of different people. I think of who I stay in touch with now. One of my best friends is my total opposite and she is one of the people that brings me the most joy in my life. There is such a great thing about being friends with people who aren’t totally like you but appreciate you for who you are. And lastly, don’t be afraid of hard things—look at challenges as opportunities. Be a ‘glass half full’ kind of person.

As part of the Beacon Pointe Advisors Corporate Leadership Team, Allison (Alli) Warner sets the strategic marketing plan for the firm and executes marketing initiatives across a wide spectrum of focus areas, including brand management and communications, website and SEO oversight, marketing material design and presentation development, digital marketing and social media, content management, events, and market research, among other areas of focus. She graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California where she was Co-Captain of the Division 1, Pac-12, USC Women’s Volleyball Team and Co-Captain of the USA Volleyball National Collegiate Women’s Team. She also received a Masters in Communication Management (MCM) from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at USC and is a graduate of the Charles Schwab Executive Leadership Program. Alli is very passionate about financial literacy and education. She is a founding member of the Beacon Pointe Women’s Advisory Institute and recently co-authored Your Dollars, Our Sense: A Fun and Simple Guide to Money Matters, an international best-selling book that has ranked #1 in six different business and finance categories. She also served as a past committee member for UC Irvine’s Center for Investment & Wealth Management Financial Literacy Summer Residential Program for four consecutive years. Outside of the office, Alli volunteers her time working with her family’s non-profit organization serving the military sector, The Patriots Initiative. She also enjoys being in the outdoors horseback riding, golfing, traveling, and spending time with family. Alli and her family reside in Carlsbad, California.