Stop turning your bio into a summary of your resume. Do this instead.
Have you ever struggled with describing who you are and what you do? 🙋🏻♀️ I sure have! It’s one of the reasons I created my Build-a-Bio course.
As I prepare to lead my fifth cohort, here’s a tip learned from helping dozens of high-achieving, difficult-to-define, multi-hyphenate humans tell the world who they really are…
Instead of focusing your bio solely on credentials and accomplishments — aka, summarizing your resume — try framing your bio around your worldview.
As Sandra Bernhard delightfully demonstrates: “My father was a proctologist; my mother was an abstract artist. That’s how I view the world.”
Worldviews invite curiosity, connection, conversation, and that should be the goal of your professional bio. (If it’s not, there’s a good chance you missed the original assignment.)
By expressing your experience and expertise in ways that paint a picture of your worldview, you’re building a multi-dimensional impression of the real human behind the words.
You’re also providing a contextual frame for folks who follow more conventional paths to (*start to*) understand your atypical interests, pursuits, and career choices.
And you’re setting the stage for more diverse and divergent endeavors in the future — which, if you’re a multi-hyphenate human, are pretty much inevitable. 😊
Wonder what this actually looks like in the wild? Here’s an example from Tatiana McCabe, a member of Build-a-bio Cohort #3.
Before Build-a-Bio
Tatiana received a BA in Film at Emerson College in 2006 and an MFA in Computer Art with a focus in Motion Graphics from the School of Visual Arts in 2012. Having grown up overseas (Venezuela, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico, Hong Kong), Tatiana developed a passion for documentary photography and filmmaking at a young age…
First impression? The immediate focus on credentials is pushing Tatiana as a person out of the spotlight.
After Build-a-Bio
Tatiana McCabe embodies originality with a heart of gold. Humanitarian filmmaker by trade, half American, half Panamanian by chance, cold-brew-fueled ocean explorer by choice. Her international upbringing baked in a passion for exploring the far corners of the earth from an early age and she has spent most of her life telling stories from around the world. Not to brag, but she has been to 77 countries and plans to try to make it to all 195 someday…
Fresh impression! Tatiana is now front and center, loud and clear. And I notice I want to keep reading… 👀
(If you want to keep reading, too, you can find both of Tatiana’s complete bios in our Build-a-Bio Befores and Afters collection.)
If you do this, I can’t promise that a living version of Flat Stanley will suddenly get you in full 3D glory with Dolby Digital surround sound, but they’ll definitely pick up the depth that you’re putting down.
And who knows, perhaps you’ll inspire them with the realization that there are a lot more than two dimensions to play in. 🤗💛✨
For more content around crafting a professional bio, check out:
- Don’t wait — you need a better bio right now. Here’s why.
- Forget everything you thought you knew about professional bios
And if you’re ready to professionally pivot, level up, or both, learn more about my Build-a-Bio course or join a free Build-a-Bio Jump💥Start workshop.
Anita Stubenrauch is the author of Apple’s Credo. She’s also the founder of Cause:Effect Creative, an agency that helps brands express visionary ideas with poetic power, and the host of the Hyperactive Imagination podcast, a high-voltage channel for creativity.
