20 Short Professional Bio Examples About Yourself

Whether it’s a LinkedIn profile, your Twitter account, or your business website, having a professional-sounding bio needs to make a positive statement.

It should be brief to ensure readers don’t switch off or tune out.

This means that you have anywhere from around 10 words, in the case of Twitter bio, to 100 words, which is suitable for LinkedIn, to relay what you do, how you excel at doing it, and why readers should choose you over others.

Below, we have found 20 short professional bio examples that you can use for inspiration to help you write a professional bio.

20 Simple Short Professional Bio Examples About Yourself

1. Rebecca Bollwitt – Simple Short Bio Example For Instagram

Instagram is a visual and fun social media platform. So, Instagram demands a visually appealing short bio.

Award-winning blogger Rebecca Bollwitt uses emojis to help categorize the sections of her personal brand short bio on Instagram. Use of emoji also give it a bit more color, a lot of character, and they make it relevant to the platform.

She also keeps it very short on words, because Instagram is a platform where pictures carry more weight than words.

2. Linda Hulme Williams – Simple Short Bio Example For Work

Psychology Today is a professional industry website, which is yet another location for well-honed professional bios.

Linda Hulme Williams identifies with readers with her first sentence. She recognizes a problem that her potential clients are suffering from and shows that she has the empathy to identify why it is a problem.

This opening sentence enables Linda to launch into the rest of her bio. She explains how she helps clients and the benefits that help brings.

She also shows why she is a good fit, how she differs from others within the same field, and the professional credentials that qualify her to help you and your family.

In the final paragraph, readers find the slightly drier but equally important educational background information. Overall, the bio shows passion, empathy, and understanding, which is what most counseling clients want.

3. Audra Simpson – Short Professional Bio Example in Third Person For Professional Website

Audra Simpson is a Professor in the Anthropology Department of Columbia University. The University website is not only the ideal location to show off her qualifications, but visitors will expect to see these qualifications.

The professional bio is written in the third person, which is actually less common nowadays than it once was because many people prefer the personal touch of the first person bio.

A third person bio sounds more authoritative, allows the writer to relay information without sounding like they are bragging, and is more commonly used in professional situations like on university websites.

Audra’s website bio does a good job of getting across some quite complex language and topics in a short space.

It shows off her credentials clearly, without necessarily bragging, and it not only shows what she specializes in but how she goes about her studies and professional work.

4. Corey Wainwright – Simple Short Professional Bio Example in Third Person

Corey Wainwright is a content marketer, and we know that from her short professional bio on the HubSpot website. Her bio is written in the third person but it retains character thanks to the very personal information that it opens with.

The whole bio is less than 25 words and, as pointed out on the HubSpot blog itself, it makes Corey seem approachable while linking to her content. It almost feels like she’s giving away a secret about her personal life.

Right above Corey’s picture are links to her main social media profiles which means that readers have the opportunity to click through to her profiles where they will be able to find out more, should they wish.

This type of short professional bio won’t work for everybody, in every instance, but in the right situation, it can be highly effective. It is likely to have led to some clicks through to Corey’s social media profiles, which was part of the point.

5. Megan Gilmore – Short Bio Example For Social Media

There are a lot of social media platforms, and most professionals are advised to put the bulk of their efforts into one or two platforms, rather than trying to spread themselves too thinly over 10 or even five.

Doing so enables you to customize content for each platform, too. While this does mean that you should write a separate bio for each of your social media profiles, there’s no reason that you can’t use the bios themselves to cross-promote your other platforms.

Megan Gilmore is a cookbook and food writer. She highlights the kind of writing you can expect with the statement “no fads” and then goes on to show off some of her past experience by listing the books she has previously written.

After this, she includes a platform-relevant pointing emoji, links to her LinkedIn bio, and Megan even gives away access to some of her recipes as a means of showing her credentials to potential book buyers.

6. Tim Cook

You’ve probably heard of Tim Cook. He is, after all, the CEO of one of, if not the most valuable companies in the world, Apple.

He has been featured on the Apple website since 2011, according to the bio. So, many visitors to the site might already recognize him. However, Tim does not assume that any readers know who he is or what he does.

His bio is professional. It obviously highlights his current position as CEO of Apple and the fact that he serves on its board of directors.

Then, it goes on to explain that he served as the company’s COO and gives details of his earlier working career. Despite having an incredibly enviable CV, his professional bio does not make any assumptions and ensures that readers are given all the information they need to find out about him.

7. Shaquille O’Neal

Many of the bios examples we’ve examined till now are written in the third person. Most people opt for this writing style as it sounds professional. It also lets them discuss their experience and qualifications. This way, it doesn’t come off as overly boastful.

It sounds informational. However, writing a bio in the first person can also be very effective and highly emotive.

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal gets plenty of stuff right in his LinkedIn profile, as you would expect from a man with a bachelor’s, a master’s, and a doctorate.

Shaq starts with his greatest achievement and the thing that most people will recognize him for. He goes on to highlight his unique achievements and what he has done since getting out of basketball. He is clearly a polymath and can add writing bios in the first person to his list of credentials and skills that already includes “purveyor of fun.”

8. Marie Mikhail

Talent acquisition might not captivate everyone. However, when seeking someone to handle recruitment for your firm, it’s crucial. You want the individual representing you to genuinely find it intriguing and captivating

Marie Mikhail doesn’t just tell us that she is passionate about recruitment, she tells a story to show us. Novelists and fiction writers are routinely told to show something, don’t tell it, and this is just as true in a lot of aspects of professional writing.

In this case, it turns a relatively dry topic into something a little more interesting and with some character and backstory.

In her LinkedIn bio, Marie shows us her professional experience, including her extra-curricular love of convincing people to take on roles.

Following this, she gives us details of her experience and relevant qualifications.

9. Richard Branson

Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group: a man as well known for failures as his successes, but there have been a lot of the latter.

In his bio, he gives an abridged version of his career to date, the last couple of sentences of his bio are where it really shines. He plays up to the well-known image of being a “tie-loathing adventurer” and being known as “Dr. Yes!”

10. Anthony Gioeli

Some people struggle to boast about themselves. Yet, it’s a vital professional skill. You don’t need to appear arrogant.

However, it’s important to emphasize your professional skills and accomplishments. These achievements attract people to use your services, consider you for a role, or engage with you.

Anthony Gioeli’s LinkedIn bio does boast about his professional accomplishments, but it is factual rather than boasting. Which is an achievement in itself when some of those achievements include negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with the likes of Vodafone.

His social media profile is also a good example of the benefits of good formatting because the paragraph and bullet point hybrid does a very good job of clearly and reliably setting out the information for readers to easily get through.

Although his is quite a long profile, if you’ve got it and you can format it well, you might as well flaunt it.

11. Katrina O.

Intrigue arouses curiosity. It is what persuades us to keep watching films or reading the next page of a book, even when we know we should turn it off or put the book down. It can also be used in a professional bio to encourage people to read more, click through, or get in touch.

Katrina Ortiz’s profile is all about intrigue. The first sentence of her bio reads “I caught fire coding.” This instantly makes you want to read more to quench your curiosity.

Even her display name, Katrina O, starts to build a sense of fascination.

After explaining the first sentence of her bio (no spoilers here, sorry) Katrina then goes on to give details of relevant skills and the programming languages she has mastered.

12. Karen Abbate

There are quite a few points worth noting in Karen Abbate’s LinkedIn bio, starting with the layout. We love a list, and while it isn’t that unusual to see a bulleted list, it is more unusual to see a numbered list. In this case, Karen lists the six most important, or at least most prominent, things about her and her work. As she puts it, “in, out, nobody gets hurt.”

She has also mastered the brag.

• Point 1 highlights the brands that she has worked with, and it is an impressive list.
• Point 2 is another brag and it also highlights a little of what she does.
• Point 3 not only gives an insight into her education and experience but also her work while point 4 is a very personal piece of backstory.
• Point 5 highlights the benefits she has to offer.
• Point 6 is fun and personable while also showing a passion for her work.

It’s a relatively innovative way of getting all the required information into a bio and something you might expect from a talented creative director.

13. Gijo Mathew

Bullet points can help identify and highlight important information. They can improve readability, maintain order in an otherwise complicated list, and they can make your LinkedIn bio look a lot more effective than a bullet-free bio.

In his well-written bio, Gijo Mathew uses bullet points to provide supporting evidence that backs up how he can help clients with their work. It makes the page look more intriguing and helps break information down.

Attempting to write the points out in full would have been clunky and almost impossible to follow along.

14. Genevieve McKelly

Using a site like LinkedIn can be viewed as a form of social media marketing. In some cases, rather than promoting a business or website, however, you’re promoting yourself, and you need to approach it in a similar way.

One thing that social media marketers are told is that they need to encourage engagement, which means trying to spark a conversation or get readers involved in some kind of discussion or other activity.

Genevieve McKelly bio tells us all about the books she is reading and the podcasts she is listening to before inviting us to tell her about our own reads and listens.

It’s a great way to start a conversation but it also makes Genevieve sound more approachable which makes it even more likely that her profile visitors will engage in the desired discourse.

After the personal questions, she then throws in a question related to her role and what she is looking for.

15. Darrell Evans

Customer pain points are problems that potential clients experience. These could relate to the product or service you offer. By positioning your product or service as a solution, you address these pain points.

This approach shows empathy with potential customers. Moreover, it offers them a way to alleviate their concerns.

In this LinkedIn bio, Darrell Evans highlights spending a lot of money on marketing to yield no results as being a major pain point for businesses. He then identifies himself as the solution: the painkiller that beats the pain, if you will.

He then highlights who he is, what his company does, and gives you some facts and figures to try and convince you that Darrell’s brand of painkiller is the best and will provide you with the relief you need.

16. Fernando Silva

Most professional bios start with the professional and end with the bio. That is, they highlight the professional credentials of the individual. They showcase the qualifications, work experience, and what they can do for a business or clients.

After this, they might briefly show a personal like or some other personal tidbit in order to appear more personable and friendly to the reader. This isn’t the only way it works out, though.

Fernando Silva, in his LinkedIn bio, turns the formula around and starts out with personal information. He lets them know that he is a “city dweller who loves to travel”.

He then gives us some professional details, such as the fact that he is experienced in working in SaaS, before telling us that he likes to meet new people.

17. Nikki Ivey

There is no greater way to connect with potential leads and customers than to tell a story that they can connect with. It shows empathy and identifies a shared history. It shows your personal side and it encourages conversation.

It means that the reader is already emotionally invested in you and your future, and they will want to see success for both of you. Creating that narrative can be tricky because it needs to be heartfelt and personable, but it also needs to be relevant to what you do while attracting plenty of attention.

Nikki Ivey shares a heartfelt story about her past and how it led her to become the “sales coach wing-woman” that she is today.

18. Raphael Parker

You can use your bio to tell any story you may want, but you do need to ensure that it is relevant, in some way, to what you are trying to achieve.

Generally, this means getting across important information about your experiences, qualifications, or skills. This doesn’t mean that you have to simply write a dry list of those achievements.

Raphael Parker opted to highlight several things he has done in the past to show off some of his skills. He leaves quite a lot to the imagination, but also gives a lot of information away. That’s a lot to achieve in just a couple of lines of LinkedIn bio content.

19. Allison Zia

You can use the first sentence of your bio almost like a headline. The headline of a news article is designed to hook the reader.

It pulls people in so that they read the rest of the story. Typically, the headline is only a few words long, which means that it has a lot of work to do in a very small amount of space.

Some of the most effective bios do something similar using the headline or the first sentence of their bio.

Allison Zia’s first sentence is “I like to solve problems” which is a bold statement that will hook most readers and encourage them to read more.

At this point, it is the role of the rest of the bio to keep the reader’s attention. Allison manages that by highlighting what she does, using examples, and showing off her specialties and her professional skills.

20. Ann Handley – Personal Brand Website Bio Example

Ann Handley is a skilled and experienced marketer. Somebody that most people in marketing will have heard of at some point. As such, she has plenty of credentials and a years of experience that she could boast about in her bio.

Instead, she only gives a little information and encourages you to click and read more. Her personal website bio have seen several iterations, and the most recent is possibly one of the shortest.

It is, in fact, the header of the home page of her personal website, but it highlights her professional achievements as a writer, partner of a major marketing company, and speaker, while also encouraging visitors to get in touch. Powerful stuff from a skilled marketer.

Simple Short Professional Bio Examples About Yourself – Recap

In conclusion, while we’ve provided some exemplary short professional bio examples to help you write one, the key lies in customization.

Tailor your professional bio to align with each platform’s ethos and intended audience. By doing so, you not only cater to the varying preferences of your readers but also enhance your chances of leaving a lasting impression.

Writing a short bio isn’t just about stating facts; it’s about storytelling, and the most compelling stories are those that resonate with their target audience.

So, take the time, evaluate, and write a short bio that not only represents you but also engages your reader.

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