Virginia Russell’s parents were both alcoholics, and because of their neglect she grew up in an orphanage with some 250 other children. Corralled in crowded quarters, she said it was difficult to feel special or stand out, an experience that left her shy and tongue-tied. “I spent those early years going inward, trying to figure out who I was,” Russell writes in her book “Stand Out: A Woman’s Guide to Creating Your Personal Brand for Today’s Job Market.” “In an environment that dampened spirits and discouraged spontaneity, I became a quiet observer of human behavior, which led to a later interest in all things psychological, philosophical and spiritual,” she writes. “Though I wasn’t aware of it then, within the inner recess of my mind and soul was a self-help guru waiting to get out.” Later as she developed her voice, Russell worked at a recruiting firm that specialized in placing women in jobs, mostly sales and publishing. As time went on, she realized that most of the women she spoke with didn’t really want those types of jobs, and so she started to question them about what they did want and began helping them write their resumes and market themselves…
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