Career Starters
Building the first chapters of a career and trying to understand what might make you distinctive.
Applications now open
The MBA Mentorship 10.
10 people. 6 months. One opportunity to build what comes next.
I'm choosing 10 people from around the world to personally mentor for six months as they build the next chapter of their career, business and personal brand.
The mentorship itself is completely free.
Applications close 30 September 2026 at 11:59pm UK time.
Why I'm doing this
I want to give something back.
Over the past year, LinkedIn and the wider My Brand Academy community have introduced me to extraordinary people from all over the world.
Different countries. Different backgrounds. Different careers. Different opportunities available to them.
I've spent much of my career helping people understand what makes them different, find the story within it and turn that into something meaningful.
Now I want to give some of that experience back.
So I'm choosing 10 people I genuinely believe I can help.
Marc Maley
Founder, My Brand Academy
Who this is for
For people who are still building.
This isn't really for established CEOs or senior leaders.
I'm looking for people who are earlier in the journey and serious about what they might become.
Young & Early-Stage Founders
Building something of your own while also learning how your own identity and story can become part of its growth.
Individual Contributors
Doing valuable work but ready to build greater visibility, recognition and professional opportunity around it.
Career Changers
Moving into a new chapter and trying to make sense of how your past experience can support where you want to go next.
Hidden Talent
People who know they have more capability than their current reputation or visibility communicates.
People Finding Direction
You know there's more you could be doing, but haven't quite figured out what the next version of you looks like.
You don't need thousands of followers.
You don't need an impressive job title.
You don't need to have everything figured out.
In fact, that's rather the point.What we'll work on
This isn't a course. It's mentorship.
Once every month, the 10 of us will meet together live on Zoom.
The conversations will be shaped around the people selected and what they actually need.
Understand what makes you different.
Explore the experiences, perspectives and patterns shaping who you are and how you show up.
Make sense of where you've come from.
Turn experience into a story that gives your identity meaning and direction.
Decide what you want to become known for.
Connect who you are with the audience, problems and opportunities you want to move towards.
Build a reputation that actually reflects you.
Create greater consistency between who you are, how you express yourself and how other people experience you.
Have something worth saying.
Turn your experiences, thinking and expertise into content that genuinely belongs to you.
Turn clarity into momentum.
Use greater visibility and understanding to help create the career, business and professional opportunities you want.
10
People
6
Months
90
Minutes each month
UK
Time zone
How I'll choose the 10
I'm not looking for the best CV.
I'm not choosing people based on follower count, seniority, job title or who can write the most impressive application.
What I really want to understand is:
01
Who are you?
02
Where are you now?
03
Where are you trying to go?
04
What's getting in the way?
05
Do I genuinely believe I can help?
How to apply
Three simple steps. No elaborate application.
Take the Free Personal Brand Archetype Assessment
Complete the assessment honestly based on how you currently see yourself and how you tend to show up.
Generate your Personal Brand Playbook
During applications, the personalised Playbook is available for $2.75, essentially the cost to us of generating it.
Your Playbook is yours whether or not you are selected.Email your Playbook to us
Send your completed Playbook to:
[email protected] Subject: MBA MENTORSHIP 10 APPLICATIONIn your email, briefly answer these three questions:
- Where are you in your career or journey right now?
- What would you most like to change or achieve over the next six months?
- Why would being part of the MBA Mentorship 10 matter to you?
That's it. No video pitch. No essay. No need to impress me.
I'd rather understand you.Your application starting point
A CV tells me what you've done. Your Playbook helps me understand you.
YOU’RE NOT JUST APPLYING. YOU’RE GETTING SOMETHING YOU CAN USE.
The Personal Brand Archetype Assessment wasn’t created for the MBA Mentorship 10.
It’s an established My Brand Academy assessment already being used by people around the world to better understand who they are, how they currently show up and how they can build a personal brand that’s genuinely based on them.
Thousands of people around the world have already used My Brand Academy to help understand and build their personal brands.
When you complete the assessment, your answers don’t simply disappear into an application form. They are used to create your own personalised Personal Brand Playbook, built around your individual archetype, identity, strengths, patterns and opportunities.
And that Playbook is yours.
Whether you’re selected for the Mentorship 10 or not, you’ll still leave with something designed to help you understand and build your personal brand.
People are already using their Playbooks around the world to help them think differently about their positioning, story, content, visibility and the opportunities they want to create.
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED A FULL PLAYBOOK, YOU OF COURSE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER ONE, JUST SEND US THE ONE YOU HAVE! :)
During Mentorship 10 applications
$2.75
Essentially our cost to generate your Playbook.
We've invested heavily in the technology and AI that generates each personalised Playbook in real time.
During the Mentorship 10 application period, we've removed the normal commercial margin because we don't want geography, background or financial circumstances to determine who can apply.
Money shouldn't decide who gets the opportunity.
Potential should.
Start With My Free Assessment
Already have a Full Personal Brand Playbook?
You do not need to purchase another one.
Important dates
The first Mentorship 10 starts this October.
Now
Applications Open
30 September 2026
Applications Close
October 2026
Participants Selected
October 2026
Mentorship Begins
6 months
October 2026 → March 2027
Before you apply
A few things you should know.
It's group mentorship.
The MBA Mentorship 10 is intentionally a group experience rather than ten separate 1:1 consulting relationships.
Sessions run on UK time.
Participants may join from anywhere in the world, but live sessions will be scheduled according to UK time.
Commitment matters.
If selected, we ask that you make a genuine effort to participate throughout the six-month programme.
Respect the room.
Group members may hear personal or professional information shared by other participants. We expect everyone to treat those conversations respectfully.
Documenting the journey
I want to understand what changes.
The Mentorship 10 is also an opportunity for My Brand Academy to understand and demonstrate what can happen when people intentionally develop their identity, story and personal brand over time.
We therefore intend to document appropriate parts of the six-month journey.
Selected participants will receive separate participation terms.
These may include permission for My Brand Academy to identify them as participants and, where agreed, use their:
- Name and professional biography
- Image and approved photographs
- Progress and programme outcomes
- Feedback and approved testimonials
- Approved extracts from the programme
- Case studies relating to their journey
Specific recording, content and usage permissions will be explained before participation begins.
Participation does not mean every mentorship conversation becomes public.Selection & participation
The important stuff.
Selection is not random.
The MBA Mentorship 10 is not a prize draw or random competition. Participants will be selected by My Brand Academy based on suitability for the programme and where we believe the mentorship can make a meaningful contribution.
Application does not guarantee selection.
Submitting a Playbook and application does not guarantee a place in the programme.
The Playbook is not a ticket.
The $2.75 purchases your personalised Personal Brand Playbook. It is not payment for entry into the mentorship and does not increase your chances of being selected.
You keep your Playbook.
Whether selected or not, your Personal Brand Playbook remains yours to use.
Existing Playbook owners can apply.
If you already own a Personal Brand Playbook, you do not need to purchase another one in order to apply.
The mentorship has no participation fee.
The 10 people selected will not be charged a fee to participate in the six-month Mentorship 10 programme.
Important:
Successful applicants will receive full participation terms before accepting their place. These will cover areas including confidentiality, recording and content permissions, conduct, attendance, data and privacy, intellectual property and use of approved programme material.
One final thing
There is no perfect applicant.
I'm deliberately hoping to bring together people from different places, backgrounds, experiences and stages of their journey.
You don't need thousands of followers.
You don't need an impressive title.
You don't need to know exactly where you're going.
You just need to be serious
about finding out.
Start My Application
Applications close 30 September 2026 at 11:59pm UK time.
Marc
Marc Maley
Founder, My Brand Academy
Creator of Identity Intelligence
The story behind the system
I spent my career helping build some of the world’s biggest stories. Now I help people make sense of their own.
For more than two decades, I have worked across entertainment, brands and leadership, helping shape stories for globally recognised franchises, organisations and people.
Again and again, I saw the same pattern.
The people with the greatest potential were not always the people who were most clearly understood.
They had experience, ability and ambition. What they often lacked was a way to interpret their story and express it with clarity.
That insight became the foundation of My Brand Academy and Identity Intelligence.
Your Story Is Your Strategy.
Identity Intelligence brings together storytelling, personal branding, professional experience and research to help people understand who they are, so they can intentionally build who they become.
Connect with me on LinkedIn