How to easily write your personal bio

A sentence-by-sentence template and guide.

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“Great, send over your bio and we’re set.” 

* looks around empty room *

Your bio...you know, that pesky little paragraph you write about yourself in the third person. While short, that one paragraph is tough to put together. How are you supposed to summarize all you know and are and do (the whole of your existence!) in just a few sentences? 

It’s basically a one-paragraph perfect storm...which probably explains why it’s the request for help I get most often. Usually with an SOS attached. 🛟

That single paragraph comes with a lot of pressure to sound amazing, yet humble; accomplished, yet down to earth—oh, and fun and funny, too. To distill who you are with a casual overview of the nitty-gritty on your work experience and education, both establishing your credibility as a human and creating a connection with whoever finds it. Phew.

Not to mention distilling it even further for your one-line Substack writer bio. We’ll cover that, too. 

Because it’s tricky, most bios come off stale and flat. Take this one that could be my own bio: 

Christin Thieme is a communications professional for The Salvation Army, an international nonprofit known for Doing the Most Good. Previously, Christin worked as an adjunct professor teaching journalism at California Lutheran University. She graduated from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a master’s degree in Specialized Journalism.

Snore, right? If it’s too bland, you simply blend in.

Thankfully, we can avoid that because you have the confidence to stand out as you. And so, taking the time to perfect your personal bio is not only a good writing exercise but a clarifying moment of personal development, too.

It comes down to one question: What do I want to invite people into?

And because it’s a paragraph you need in your back pocket, let’s get your personal bio pulled together so you have a working version ready for your about page, the next time you're appearing on a podcast or guest writing a post, as part of an application, in your social profiles, to be read as your introduction at an event or wherever you need a better bio!

What not to do in your bio

First, let’s get a few of these no-gos out of the way. In your personal bio, a mini-cover letter for your entire existence, let’s avoid: 

• Creating a “trophy case” of every award you’ve won and all the teams you’ve belonged to. That would be a fun list for your mom, not a bio. And all those (surely impressive) pedigrees would miss the mark on a key ingredient: heart.

• Filling it with small talk. Just say no to throwing everything you can think of about yourself into your bio and hoping for the best. (No favorite color or Enneagram number, please. At least not in your bio.)

• Telling an epic survival tale. In writing about yourself, one of the biggest misconceptions I see is that you must have survived an outrageous, train wreck of an experience to be in any way interesting. Wehn you inject drama, it can come across as insincere, which will only mean missing the mark on your real message. 

• Making it a sales page under the cover of a bio. Readers are savvy. They’ll sniff out an infomercial and move right along.

• Copying what you commonly see. In all of your writing, avoid cliches. The brain skips over abstract concepts (ie. “I’m a coach who helps people stand in their power”), filing it under something seen before and therefore not worth paying attention to. This is a good list of cliches to avoid. 

Keep these bio goals in mind

A well-written bio will: 

• Introduce yourself

• Share why you do what you do

• Explain how you’re unique

• Connect who you are and what you do with your audience and how you uniquely meet their needs

• Build trust as an expert, a guide

• Clarify the next step, your call to action

Your bio should be concise—about 10 sentences written in the third-person. It should include only what’s essential and interesting—easier said than done, I know.

Instead of abstract concepts (like helping people “stand in their power” above), use concrete specifics.

Something abstract, like power, is just an idea. It’s not something you can touch. When you instead use details, you put your audience there to experience it themselves. This is a technique creative writing expert Ash Ambirge of Meat & Hair (a really fun creative writing newsletter) calls “A Chicken in Every Pot, a Car in Every Garage.” That was Herb Hoover’s slogan during the 1928 presidential campaign when he promised America: “You’re going to have a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage!”

His opponent used the slogan: “Honest. Able. Fearless.” And he lost the election.

In everything you write, avoid abstract ideas (honest, able, fearless) in favor of concrete specifics (a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage).

Take inventory before you write

First things first, do not sit down to write your bio. That’s overwhelming. 

Instead, open a fresh doc and give some thought to these questions. Get your words—bullet points work just fine—down on the page as raw material to pull from when you write your bio later.

1. What is your title—what do you call yourself in your line of work? 

2. Who do you work with? 

3. How do you help them? What problem do you solve?

4. Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? What do you believe about your work? 

5. What are a few of your impressive and relevant achievements, clients, results, etc.—your big wins?

6. Any trainings, certificates, degrees? 

7. Any awards?

8. Been featured in the media?

9. When you’re not “on the clock,” what are you up to?

10. Your go-to call to action?

And, here’s the template!

Let’s pull the info from above into your new bio...

Start your bio in the present with what you do now. Just like a good story drops you into the action, you’re going to take the same approach with your bio rather than moving chronologically through your life.

[First and Last Name] is a [title/how you refer to yourself] who works with [who you help] to [how you help them].

Or

[Name] is a [title/what you call yourself] who is known for [the problem you solve].

Next include a sentence to illustrate why what you do matters. This part is key to give your audience a sense of why you do what you do, of what inspires you.

[First Name] believes [what you know about the work you do].

Here’s where to share your track record. Brag a little! Share up to three of your most impressive and relevant achievements—your big wins.

[He/She] has [landed/created/supported/produced/secured/garnered] [insert your most compelling experiences and wins, top tier results, big accomplishments, etc].

Include the essentials on what brings you to where you are today. Share your relevant and notable trainings, certificates, awards and degrees. If you’ve been featured anywhere recognizable, include that, too.

[First Name] is a [trained/certified/awarded] [insert relevant trainings, awards, honors]. [He/She] holds a [insert degree] in [insert area of study] from [insert university].

If it’s appropriate in the context of where your bio will be used, share an interesting or quirky fact about you. Tell us where you can be found when you’re not working to add a touch of the you behind your work.

When [Name]’s not [another way to say what you do], you can find [him/her] [insert a touch of your personality].

Finally, again depending on your bio’s intended venue, tell your audience what to do next. If you have a specific call to action (even to follow you on your preferred social profile), include it here.

[Follow/Grab/Download/Join/etc.] [insert call to action].

For example…

When it is all pulled together into a nice little package, a personal bio might sound like this: 

Christin Thieme is editor-in-chief for The Salvation Army in the western U.S., where she directs content marketing efforts to tell stories about people making an impact for good and prompt others to action. Whether she’s interviewing a best-selling author, a government leader in Cuba, a single mom in Los Angeles or a coffee farmer in Vietnam, Christin knows telling our story is something everyone needs to feel connected in this world.   

Christin holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and taught journalism as an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University for four years until bringing home her own live-in student. She’s the host of the 5-star Do Gooders Podcast and holds multiple first-place prizes from the Evangelical Press Association. When not writing about other people (or herself in the third person), she’s often helping creatives get more eyes on their work using content or playing some version of superheroes at home with her three boys.

Subscribe to The Content Brief by Christin on Substack to take control of your content (and make it simple) at thecontentbrief.substack.com.

Better than that snooze-worthy one up top, right? 

For a shortened version, I might say: 

Christin Thieme is editor-in-chief in The Salvation Army USA Western Territory, where she tells stories about people making an impact for good and prompts others to action. She holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California, previously taught journalism as an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University and helps creatives simplify their content strategies on Substack. See more at thecontentbrief.substack.com.

Now, about your Substack Writer Bio 

Similar to your personal bio, your Substack writer bio is a "mini sales pitch" to your readers. It should address: 

• "This is who I am"

• "This is what I do"

• "This is what you can expect to hear about from me"

• “And this is why you can trust me”

Start with the nuts and bolts of establishing your credibility before adding a “Helping [who you help] [how you help them]” line. I like to divide the two with the bar: | . Remember you can always (and should) update your bio so don’t feel like you have to perfect it in your first draft.

Here’s how I list mine: 

Nonprofit Editor in Chief. Podcaster. Former J-school Professor. | Helping creatives take control of their content (and make it simple) in The Content Brief. 🪄

Finally, a few editor’s tips for your new bio

• Like anything you write, once it’s drafted step away from it for a few hours, at least. Come back to it with fresh eyes and edit for spelling and grammar along with readability. Read it out loud a few times to make sure it sounds natural, or try having it read aloud to you with a free text to speech tool like Natural Reader.

• Decide where you’ll house your bio (Asana, Google Drive, etc.) so you always have it easily accessible. Bonus points for keeping a professional headshot of you stored alongside your bio (chances are you’ll need both!).

• My sentence-by-sentence template will result in a bio of no more than 10 sentences, but there’s times you’ll want a shorter, one- or two-sentence bio. You don’t need to start from scratch! Pull what’s most essential for that context (and see an example of how to do this above). 

• Adjust your bio to best fit its intended use. A personal bio going on a “meet the team” page, for example, will need to read a bit differently than a bio for an upcoming podcast appearance. Consider the draft you now have your foundational bio that you can customize as needed before you send or post it for any specific purpose.

• Set a monthly or even quarterly calendar reminder to review and refresh your bio. Just like your bio is not one-size-fits-all, it’s also not one-and-done. It should evolve and grow with you.  

I can’t wait to see your bio(s) in the wild!

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear in the comments if this resonated or if there’s something you’re going to try. Seriously, drop a comment or hit reply. I'd honestly loooove to hear from you. Typing into the void isn't nearly as fun as interacting with a real human—you! 🫶 

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Thanks! I pour a lot of love into this space and I hope you can feel it. It wouldn’t be the same without YOU!