Journalists are often told how important it is to 'have a
personal brand' in order to get your name out there. But what happens if your name changes? Does the journalist then have to start from scratch, with their former byline disappearing and taking their 'brand' with it?
Essentially that's the question female journalists have to face if they get
married - do they decide to take on their partner's surname in their professional dealings, and run the risk that people will think they disappeared off the face of the earth, byline-speaking?
It's for this reason that I imagine a number of female journalists opt to stick with their maiden name when it comes to what goes on the top of their articles - it's certainly a lot easier, and there's no messing around with having to explain to contacts or sub-editors that you're the same person, you haven't disappeared anywhere or metamorphosed into another creature overnight, you just so happen to have got hitched.
