Katie Hopkins: champion of personal branding or bad news for women?

Former Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins has been in the news a fair bit recently. By being unpleasant about children on GMTV last week, she boosted the number of her Twitter followers from 15,000 to 35,000 and the clip of her on YouTube gained 3.5m hits in less than 24 hours.

Hopkins was the first apprentice to turn Alan Sugar down, according to her Twitter page. Since then, she has made a living as a TV commentator, someone to roll out when the show needs someone to say it like it is. But despite the inevitable outrage that follows most of her TV appearances, is she having the last laugh?

One thing is for sure, Hopkins lives and breathes her brand. Her message is always consistent, no matter what people think, and she is no different in person. I have met her. It was a few years ago and I beat her on The Weakest Link. Behind the scenes, she was just like you saw her on the screen.

Part-way through the show she revived a long-running spat with fellow Apprentice contestant Kristina Grimes, which had shaped most of the second series. It was a charity edition and I had won £11,500 for Sands, the charity of which I am a patron.

It's a charity that needs the air time. But instead of the much-needed publicity, the media were dominated with the spat between and Hopkins and Grimes, with very little mention of the charity at all. This is why Hopkins stirs up so much unrest. Her message can be damaging and often draws attention away from important issues.

Despite this, there is no denying that she has been incredibly successful in developing a strong personal brand. The rise of social media has only made brand-building easier to cultivate for both people and businesses.

Many businesses are personality driven so it's important to be consistent. We have a preference for people who are similar to us and for products that stand for something we agree with. When the messages you're delivering don't match, you become inconsistent and that can damage your reputation.

Hopkins is totally consistent. If I asked you to describe her in four words you could do it very easily. This is what we mean by a brand. What people would say about you and your company. How they would sum it up.

The problem is, she is frequently invited to talk about women in business on TV. We have a hard enough time being presented as dedicated, highly motivated, kind and determined business women as it is; often her views and opinions do more damage than good to the wider female population.

There are hundreds more women out there for TV companies to invite on to their shows, and that's where groups like HerSay and The Women's Room can really help. It's our collective responsibility to represent people well and to teach the next generation about women, business and the barriers that exist.

Hopkins also gives past Apprentices a bad reputation. It's hard enough shedding the "wannabe" image without past candidates reinforcing the stereotype. In The Apprentice, it is easy to think that you have to behave like a man because the producers and directors are egging you on behind the scenes, pitching you against others and stirring up the vitriol.

In the entrepreneurial world, women have long ditched the idea of the macho businesswoman in grey trouser suit and shirt. We are much more relaxed, but there is some way to go in the corporate world. Every week I meet women who tell me they are sick of the bully boy tactics. One recently described her company as "evil". Women are leaving in droves because they see things they don't like and behaviours that they don't subscribe to.

So, ultimately, who wins? You can't argue that Hopkins hasn't been determined to get herself known, dedicated to her cause and steely in her resolve – but at what cost? By her own admission her skin is thick. But I'm certain that notoriety gained by being nasty is an empty victory for anyone. The worst thing would be for others to think that she represents the whole population of women.We must work hard to ensure that isn't the case.

Jo Cameron is founder and CEO of the Achievers Academy for Women. She is also a former BBC Apprentice candidate

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