Learning to embrace change: Sehreen’s personal branding experience

Sehreen NoorAli is the co-founder of Sleuth, a VC-funded childhood health startup which shares information about symptoms, diagnostic pathways, resources and experts between parents of similar children. It was inspired by her own journey as a mother of a child with a rare developmental disorder.

When her child was diagnosed, Sehreen had to take a year off her flourishing career in tech to figure out what she was dealing with. As she spent every night until 3am scouring Facebook groups for advice, she realized she was just one parent out of thousands who were anxious to find the right information that would help their children.

Her startup journey was the result of a desire to use technology in a thoughtful way to serve this highly underserved market and provide parents with more answers than anxiety.

This post is a summary of her post-session interview. The complete video is linked at the end.

What made you decide to do this photo shoot?

Starting a company for me has been a personal evolution. I had a lot of Imposter Syndrome when I started. I always knew I’d be doing my own thing at some point, but I thought it would be a personal LLC rather than an actual startup!

So when I realized I was going to get VC funding for this, I had a massive crisis. Am I good enough to do it? I’m doing something that’s so meaningful, but am I the right person for this? The tech ecosystem can be really negative on people who don’t have technical backgrounds. As a BizDev and Sales person, I had experienced this my entire life. However, both my co-founder and other people in my life have been extremely supportive, pointing out that my lived experience makes this really meaningful.

This photo shoot is part of this arc I’ve been going through. I hate being in front of the camera. I feel really self-conscious. But I also want to own a lot more of myself and stand in my own power, so to speak. On a practical level, I need to show more of who I am and what we’re doing with Sleuth.

How did the experience before the shoot (Mood Board, Planning call) feel like for you?

Sehreen’s Mood Board had photos of WoC leaders she looks up to, and also reflects her search for the flavor of feminine she wanted to convey. Check out the board here.

It resonated with me! I’m a very what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person. I liked that the process really centered around the story I wanted to get out vs talking about poses.

I remember that you and I talked about color. There’s such a ubiquity of a certain ‘Instagram aesthetic’; pastel colors, perfect hair and a straw hat. Realizing that I didn’t need to fit into this narrative made things feel incrementally approachable for me.

I had actually created a Vision Board before I started Sleuth, with WoC leaders that inspired me. My Mood Board also reflected that. For example, I love photos of Leila Jannah; you can see the conviction in her pose and clothes. I also happen to love the leather jacket aesthetic!

For me, the big question was, how feminine am I trying to be? Is that really my aesthetic? The process made me reflect on who I am. I’m not just pastel, but I’m also not into all the big, bold colors out there. I wish I were sometimes though!

As a person, I’m a bit of a slow reveal. It’s not always obvious to people what my power is. I’m definitely feminine, but with a harder edge, and that’s exactly what my aesthetic is right now.

What was the actual experience of the shoot like for you?

Photo shoots are nerve wracking for me in general! For my previous photo shoots, I’ve always done my own hair and makeup, and it was fine. But I realized that now that I have to project a different image of myself, I should probably discard some of my DIY habits, especially around hair and makeup.

And then when I met you, it was immediately easy. I actually got comfortable being in front of a camera. For a person who absolutely hates having their pictures taken, it was definitely fine.

Umm … I’ll take that as a compliment? What helped you get comfortable during the shoot?

Haha yes, it’s very much a compliment! I don’t think you understand how much I hate being in front of the camera.

Everything in the lead-up to the shoot itself was what got me comfortable. The conversations we had made it clear that you wanted to capture me for who I am. You weren’t trying to make me fit into another template. You were trying to excavate more of me for myself, while also helping me see that I needed to get different moods.

You had asked me to be ready with stories in my head, which really helped as well. It meant that I was getting to remember my lived experience. We’re all conditioned to pose in front of a camera in a performative way, like stepping out of ourselves. But in this photo shoot, I got to step into myself while reflecting on the story I wanted to tell.

What did seeing the photos feel like? What kind of reactions did you get from friends?

I was really excited to see the pictures, and I love the one with the ‘Advocate like a Mother’ shirt because it feels like me on so many levels.

I was also confronted with my life experience, which was a little bit hard. I hadn’t done a photo shoot since 2013, so the pictures look a bit older, and I’m turning 40 later this year. That was in my head. But the response from my community has been really beautiful and helped me reflect on the fact that this is my lived experience, and it’s great!

Interestingly, I also liked more of the pictures where I’m smiling, even though I work on such a serious topic. It’s important for me to pair my thoughtfulness with lightheartedness.

It brought up a lot of feelings for me around aging. Turning 40 is not what I thought it would be when I was 20. It seems like we’re all going into adulthood later in life nowadays.

At first, it made me think about all the things I wish I had done sooner. But then, seeing the pictures reminded me that the experiences that I went through are exactly what has made me do what I’m doing now. I feel the most aligned in my life right now.

A friend messaged me about the photos and I said, “I feel old.” Her response was, “No, these pictures are perfect because they show your wisdom.” Most people are responding that way, commenting less on the pictures themselves and more on the representation.

It’s hard for me to reconcile that. Why didn’t I have that wisdom 10 years ago? But I’m also more baked as a person and I make much more clear-eyed decisions about my business than what I would have made 10 years ago. I have to hold both of those truths.

I’m also beginning to see that beauty standards do matter. I had never been a person who worried about aesthetics. When I was younger, I never wore makeup or straightened my hair. This was the first shoot in which I wore lipstick! I learned to wear makeup during 2020 because I’m beginning to realize that as much as I’m trying to push them away, I can’t escape them, especially as a woman in business.

Seeing the photos also made me reflect on how different I felt in the two outfits I wore. And now I have to get rid of half my wardrobe!

I was so much more comfortable in the leather jacket, jeans and boots than in the dress. I’ve always known that, but the fact that it came out so clearly in the photos is crazy to me! I feel so much more free in the leather jacket, it makes me feel like a badass. I feel like I can do so many things in that outfits, versus the dress which made me feel restrained.

Would you recommend this experience to a friend? What would you tell them?

I would 100% recommend this to a friend. And I’d say, Raj makes you go deep inside of yourself and think about how you want to show that to the world. I’m already thinking about what I’d want to do the next time we work together. I’m doing so much press right now, the experience made me realize the importance of alignment between my personal brand and that of Sleuth. I also realized that I need to push myself out of my comfort zone that I refused to leave in this shoot; like insisting on not doing my hair and makeup, for example. It makes me uncomfortable just saying that; the only time I ever got my hair and makeup done was my wedding!