#TBT to My Maiden Name: Personal Branding After Divorce

When I got married, one of my mom’s friends pulled me aside at my wedding reception and put her hands on my shoulders. “Goodbye Becca Bycott,” she said, looking deeply into my eyes, tears in hers. “Hello, Becca Ramspott.” I felt one door closing and another opening, just listening to her words.

Little did I know that 11 years later, I would have to re-open those doors and walk through them again, after an unpleasant ending with my ex-husband. I wasn’t sure how to carry myself across that threshold. By the time my marriage ended, I had built a solid career in communications under my married name. People knew me as “Becca Ramspott” from conferences I attended, presentations I gave, blogs I wrote. It seemed awkward, spelling out that I had gotten divorced by changing my name. But I also felt that leaving a failed marriage wasn’t something to be ashamed of, no matter how hard it was to say it online. Was there a creative and positive way to go back to “Becca Bycott” and let people know about it?

I decided reclaiming my maiden name would have to be a gradual and deliberate process. First, I wanted it to be legally changed, with a new social security card and everything, before I made it “Facebook official” that I was divorced. It had to be the real deal. Secondly, I didn’t want my announcement on social media to be just about my…