This morning, I attended  “Context and Consequences: A Conversation with Shirley Sherrod,” at the National Association of Black Journalists’ 35th Annual Convention in San Diego.

Sherrod has made headlines over the past two weeks for her forced resignation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted video excerpts of Sherrod’s address at a March 2010 NAACP event on  his website. The NAACP initially condemned her remarks and U.S. government officials called on her to resign. Upon review of the unedited video in context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, apologized soon after and Sherrod was offered a new position. Sherrod has not yet decided if she will accept the job offer.

Sherrod spoke to a round table of journalists about how she feels the media (namely Fox) made something out of nothing. She later went on to note that she plans to sue Breitbart.

I was awestruck by how real Mrs. Sherrod was. As she sat on stage, admittedly in the midst of a career crisis, with notable journalists, and was interviewed by CNN’s Don Lemon, she held a sense of confidence and self assurance that can only come from being yourself and knowing that you have been being yourself. Consistently.

“How I’ve reacted, it’s not an act. That’s how I am.  I couldn’t act any other way, ” she said of her reaction to the firestorm.

Mrs. Sherrod wasn’t shaken by allegations of her racism because she knew at her core that she was not racist. She knew that her actions have never been racist. And if anyone were to do a little digging, they would uncover the same thing.

Because she is living her brand.

Are you?

You should know that someone is always watching you. Can you say, as Mrs. Sherrod did that how you are is not an act? If you can say that, even when no one is watching, then you are living your brand.

Brand inconsistencies can come in all sorts shapes and sizes. One day it may be your clothes, but another day it may be how we speak, how we treat people or how we deal with clients and customers. If you get a reputation for dealing with your clients in a fair and equitable way, that reputation will follow you. If all of the sudden you stop paying your employees and /or subcontractors, what do you think this will do to your brand?

Think about this: if you were to face a crisis in your business or personal life the first thing your adversaries will do is begin to try to dig up “the dirt” on you. They will immediately go to someone who may have a “beef” with you. I remember that’s what we were trained to do as journalists to get the other side of the story. But if your brand is strong, and you have been living your brand, there will be no dirt to be found.

Allows let your end goals guide how you carry yourself. How do you want your clients and customers to think of you? If you work for a company, how do you want to perceived by your superiors? When you’re schlepping around on weekends, are you still living your brand? Or do you revert to a careless and less polished version of yourself: a person who may use foul language, treat people rudely, and show up in public places dressed inappropriately?

At the end of the day, when you put yourself in the public eye, know that someone is always watching. Living your brand means not acting real, but being real, so that there’s never any inconsistency.