Laura Tiebert is co-author, along with Alex Hahn, of the 2017 biography, The Rise of Prince: 1958-1988. Her experience delving into Prince’s extraordinary life inspired her to live like him for an entire year. She chronicled her journey at lauratiebert.com and went on to create an online course that guides students step-by-high-heeled-step through the process, from dressing up for everything you do, to being a spiritual seeker and yes, even adopting a symbol as your name. She’s currently at work on a new  book tentatively titled “What Would Prince Do?” The book is a spirited homage to the Purple One that makes the case that we could all learn a few lessons from Prince. Laura, formerly of Chanhassen, Minnesota, now lives in Phoenix with her husband and two teenage sons, where she writes from her home office, surrounded by way too much Prince memorabilia.

A series of black-and-white photos dating from 1977 show a young Prince posing for his earliest professional headshots. Look closely, and you’ll see that he’s sporting symbols on three-layered silver necklaces. The shortest necklace features a star, the next has a heart, and a large cross dangles from the longest necklace. Even at age 19, it appears Prince was attracted to these symbols, which he would go on to wear prominently in his stage costumes.

But it wasn’t until the release of the 1992 Love Symbol album that Prince debuted a bespoke symbol of his own, known as “Love Symbol #2.” On his 35th birthday, June 7, 1993, he adopted it as his name. At the end of 1994’s “3 Chains O’ Gold,” Prince makes his intentions crystal clear by literally burying his old identity.

Prince was a rock star, so of course, he could change his name to a symbol. But can an everyday person just go ahead and do that? Can any of us change our name to a symbol? It’s an outrageous idea, and one I explored in 2019 when I lived like Prince for a year. That April, I changed my name to a heart surrounded by the rays of the sun. Creating a symbol that represented me, putting it on a name tag and introducing myself that way for a month turned out to be one of the most intimidating and exhilarating exercises I did in the year of living like Prince.

In this presentation, you’ll learn how to make a symbol of your own that represents you. The exercise will probably help you see Prince in a new light. It will certainly help you see yourself in one.