Forget everything you thought you knew about professional bios
If you’ve ever cringed (or worse) at the thought of writing your professional bio, you’re not alone.
And I have a hunch why.
Too many of us have been looking over someone else’s metaphorical shoulder and imitating what we see them doing. List accomplishments? Sure, can do. Establish credibility? Ok, I’ll try. Appear human? Here’s hoping…
We’ve been copying the answers without understanding the question.
There’s nothing wrong with listing accomplishments, establishing credibility, or appearing human — in fact, I encourage that. But I do take issue with unconsciously doing something that may not be serving you.
So here’s a reframe: instead of thinking of a bio as a resume summarized, imagine it as your purpose-told personal story. And the purpose of this story? To spark curiosity and inspire connection.
That’s it.
Really.
But for this to work, you need deep clarity around three things: 1) your goals, 2) who you want to connect with, and 3) why.
Because knowing yourself and knowing your audience will allow you to resonate with the people you want to connect with and repel the people you don’t — by sending strong signals.
Here’s what I mean:
As for myself, I see, live, and engage with the world from a place of magical realism. Like magic is literally around every corner, oozing up through the earth, traveling through the air, electrically charged — making my hair stand on end. I love even writing about it because I feel it. This colors what I do and how I do it; the environments, people, and causes I’m drawn to. It signals something.
And we want to signal things. Because these signals travel out in the world like ambassadors on our behalf. And when the signals find resonance, there’s connection. And where there’s connection, there’s possibility. When the signals find dissonance, there’s disconnection. And that is the universe and strategic communication doing you a favor. Because they’re helping you bypass people and situations that won’t serve you.
If someone thinks magical realism is at odds with a non-fiction world — or more colorfully, if they think I’m nuttier than squirrel poo — getting that cleared up early saves us both a lot of potential time, pain, and frustration.
What are your signals? Hint: they’re most effective when they reflect your values, principles, and personal point of view.
While we’re upending everything, let’s topple that last bastion of professional bios: what’s conventionally considered a professional accomplishment.
Standard accomplishments include awards, degrees, accreditations, professional roles, affiliation with famous organizations, personal prominence, books, films, TV appearances and media mentions, etc.
If you’ve earned those, huzzah! Be loud and proud. But if you haven’t, don’t despair.
Significant accomplishments exist in the not-so-standard realm, too — life experiences, family and/or community roles, trauma survival, personal milestones, cultural contributions, etc. Maybe this looks like living with neurodivergence or a chronic illness, being an emancipated minor, raising a child with special needs or caring for a parent, activism, union organizing, learning an ancestral language or practice — any number of experiences that should not be discounted just because they aren’t validated with certificates, brand names, or price tags.
Overall, it’s not just that bios are hard to write — which they are — it’s that you’re not easily defined. And thank goodness for that! The world needs more multipotentialites, intuitives and healers, creatives and artists, intersectional, neurodiverse beings and beyond. The world will be a better place when it knows about you.
But for it to get to know you — in a real, meaningful, resonant way — you’ve gotta get beyond the boilerplate bio.
Anita Stubenrauch is an ex-Apple creative and the founder of Cause:Effect Creative, an agency that helps brands express visionary ideas with poetic power.
