f r e s h s t a r t

Monday, January 02, 2006

 

Bio

Have you ever had to write your own brief bio? I had to write one this fall for a board meeting of the nonprofit I work for. Our director wanted the board to know a little about all of the staff members. I read the bios that other staff members had written to get an idea of what they wanted us to touch on: job, education, a few thoughts about the job, and something personal. I came up with something like this:

"Eliina joined the staff of ______ this September as a domestic violence court advocate. She is also a first year law student at DePaul University's College of Law. She feels good about helping victims obtain orders of protection and enjoys seeing the law in action. Eliina earned a BA in chemistry from Northwestern University before seeing the light and realizing that she preferred working with people over the lab life. She enjoys knitting and hanging out with her awesome dog Henry."

You can sketch an interesting picture of yourself in a paragraph or less. Like a personal ad, you know they're written for a certain audience and meant to accentuate the positive or to portray a certain image. If I was trying to get a date or a job I would certainly talk about other aspects of my life.

I think that they way we portray ourselves is a fascinating topic, and I enjoy seeing how different people approach the same task. For that reason I can't resist reading a long string of brief bios. I came across the staff bios for the book reviewers at Curled Up with a Good Book today, which is why I started thinking about the topic. They all, appropriately, discuss books and reading. Many of the bios of the folks who contribute to Gapers Block mention Chicago, and various interests of the contributors. This is to be expected, since that site is about Chicago news and events.

When Lindsay had a piece published in Shiny Gun, she had to come up with a bio to include. Its a good one, and a short one. Its at the very bottom of the page. Me, I'm not yet sure what my one-liner would be.

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