At the beginning of your time at Curious Cardinals, we asked you to write a bio about yourself to share with parents and families. Once in a good state, we send your profile to families with relevant needs to help them find their best-fit mentors.
Your bio is a way to take initiative and agency to secure high numbers of well-tailored matches.
Writing your bio is an exercise in marketing yourself on our platform. You've already shown an ability describe your strengths, journey, and personality in your live interview. Still, we've shared prompt questions below which will get you 90% of the way. You just need to make it flow cohesively!
We're also ready to help you with proofreads, edits, and feedback! (Genuinely, our team loves to edit people's writing.) As you write, remember that your goal is to come alive on the page, sharing your unique perspective on passions and inspirations mentor.
What's in a good bio? đ
The most successful bios are illustrative, full of your personality, and specific. They thoroughly capture who you are, your learning & passion journey, wisdom that you want to share with your mentees, and your intention as a teacher and mentor.
FLAUNT your Individuality and be specific
You are so much more than your school and major, so show who you are beyond your credentials. The audience who view your profiles are parents and students, and they are eager to relate to you and identify potential nodes of connection. Writing in the first person may help your profile feel more approachableâlike Franck did so wonderfully!
âď¸ Some guiding questions to consider: What do you care about? What motivates you? Who are mentors who have inspired and shaped you? How would your best friends describe you? Why should a student want to work with you? Who would you most uniquely connect with? What do you like to do in your free time? Why are you excited to mentor with Curious Cardinals?
2. Be concrete about the VALUE you can offer to students
Sometimes people shy away from showcasing their superpowers because they fear coming off as boasting. Donât let that hold you back. Simply reframe that as sharing your genuine value. Rather than ask your audience to do the work of guessing your superpowers, make yourself clear! The onus falls on YOU to make your value explicit.
In conveying your unique value, also give visibility into to what working with you would be like to save a parent or student from trying to imagine this.
âď¸ Some guiding questions to consider: Who are you best suited to mentor? How do you plan to ignite a student's inner curiosity? Whatâs unique to your teaching style and mentorship approach ? What would sessions with you look like?
Jonathan, an engineering mentor, emphasizes the hands-on nature of his sessions and shares what he specializes in teaching.
âI can guarantee one thing â I will make my teaching as immersive and engaging as can be! I can promise that your child and I will be creating fun engineering projects from scratch.â
3. Complete your profile with engaging photos and video
Your mentor profile is your opportunity to show your interests, passions, identity, and accolades in a holistic way. Yes - completing your profile is required for matching to occur, but how well it is crafted has a bigger impact on finding your next mentee than you might realize.
đ¸ Add a photo of you working on something fun and refine your teaching video. For inspo, watch Lula, Ronak, and Ericâs takes on it!
Questions your bio should answer
Introduction: Who are you? Which aspects of your identity are most important to share? Where did you grow up, or where is home for you? What school, or kind of schools did you attend in K-12? Are you an athlete, artist, musician, writer, biologist, thespian, designer, historian, physicist? A combination of many titles or something else? What are you most passionate about and hope to teach?
Accomplishments & passions: What are you studying and where? Where are you from + whereâd you go to school? What did you do that was unique in high school? (Please brag!) What are some of the most unique things youâve done? What are the most impressive ones, i.e. awards youâve won, internships youâve held, etc? Where do you want to take your interests in the future?
Personality, lifestyle, & fun: What do you like to do in your free time? What are your niche hobbies and interests? Favorite books, entertainment, video games, sports, or music? How would your friends describe you, and how do you build relationships? (Parents want to know that youâre human, and kids are often looking for mentors who share their taste for fun.)
Your mission as a mentor: What's your mission as a mentor? What matters most to you about this job? What impact do you hope to have on your mentees a few months from now? If youâre experienced at teaching or tutoring, what do you like most about teaching? Do you have any stories to share from your work with past students?
Request help & editing
If desired, we're happy to help you edit your bio! Please reach out to Dan for help in your Slack support team. Dan will also check your bios the first time they've been submitted and share feedback for you to implement.
Update your bio at least twice a year
Whenever you have an update to one of the four paragraphs above, update your bio! We encourage mentors to pick two times a year to update, generally at the end of summer and winter breaks.
You can review and self-publish your profile at any time, so go back and tune up your profile to let your talents and uniqueness shine through! You can update your bio whenever you have something new to share: a new accomplishment, internship, award, hobby, interest, teaching anecdote, or passion project of your own!