At a glance
Lead with the value of your work.
Start with who you help, the outcome they want, and the main concern your approach addresses. Then explain how your consulting, writing, and speaking support that work. Use one sentence to make the value clear and a second to explain how people can work with you. Choose a concern you can credibly address.
You have built a business, advised clients, written a book, or earned your place on a stage. Yet a simple question can still leave you giving a surprisingly complicated answer: What do you do?
The difficulty may be deciding what belongs first. Every title represents work you have earned, so leaving one out can feel like making yourself smaller.
You do not have to explain your entire career in the opening sentence. Give the other person enough context to understand your work, then let the conversation become more specific.
For an established woman with several ways of serving her audience, the useful question is: What should someone understand about my expertise before I tell them how I deliver it?
Find the work your roles have in common
Write down the problems you address in your consulting, the ideas you teach in your book, and the subjects you speak about. Look for a specific connection you can explain without using words such as impact, empowerment, or transformation on their own.
A leadership consultant might help newly promoted managers lead former peers. Her book could teach the conversations that transition requires, while her keynote helps organizations recognize where new managers need support. Those are three ways to address a recognizable problem.
Start with that problem. Consultant describes a working relationship. Author describes published work. Speaker describes a delivery format. None of those titles, by itself, explains your subject or whom you serve.
Three questions to find your central message
- Who comes to you for help, and what is happening in their life or business?
- What can you help them understand, decide, or do?
- Which part of that work appears across your consulting, writing, and speaking?
If there is no meaningful overlap, be honest about it. A business advisory practice and a novel may belong to different audiences. You can introduce the work relevant to the conversation without forcing every interest into a single commercial promise.
Build an introduction in two sentences
Use the first sentence to name the person you help, the outcome they want, and the concern that might make them hesitate. Use the second to explain how you deliver that work.
I help [ideal avatar] achieve [dream outcome] without [primary objection or concern].
Fill in the three parts
- Your ideal avatar is the specific person you are best equipped to help.
- Their dream outcome is the change they want, described in words they would actually use.
- Their primary objection is the concern that could stop them from taking the next step. They may worry about replacing their team, starting from scratch, or following an approach that feels wrong for them.
Choose one concern that comes up in real conversations with your audience. The word without needs a credible basis: explain what your approach lets them avoid.
For example, working with their existing team is a delivery choice you can support. Promising that growth will require no time or effort is a different claim.
Then add how people can work with you: I teach this through consulting, my book, and speaking. Name the format relevant to the conversation first. You do not need to list all three every time.
Illustrative introduction: a leadership expert
I help first-time managers build clear expectations with their teams without relying on scripted conversations. I teach them how to prepare for real situations through consulting, my book, and leadership workshops.
Illustrative introduction: an experienced business owner
I help established business owners build a team that can handle day-to-day decisions without replacing the people they already trust. Through private consulting, writing, and speaking, I teach owners how to clarify responsibilities and decision-making.
These are invented examples for adaptation, not client quotes. Replace the avatar, outcome, and concern with a combination your work can support. If you cannot explain how you address the concern, revise that part of the sentence.
For a casual conversation, the first sentence may be enough. For a prospective client, follow it with what the work involves and a relevant example. Keep the promise specific enough that you can explain what it includes and where its limits are.
Adapt the message to the person in front of you
Keep your central expertise consistent while changing the detail. Use the formula to clarify your message, then adapt the wording to the setting.
A prospective client needs to understand the outcome and how you address their concern. An event organizer needs to understand the audience and the session. A reader needs a reason to open the book.
When a prospective consulting client asks
I help first-time managers set clear expectations without relying on scripted conversations. In a consulting engagement, we work through situations they are facing, prepare the points they need to communicate, and practice how they will respond.
When an event organizer asks
I speak to new managers about leading former peers. The session helps them prepare for difficult conversations without memorizing a script, with practical ways to set expectations and give useful feedback.
When a reader asks about the book
My book helps people who now manage their former peers prepare for the conversations that change when they become responsible for the team. It offers ways to think through those conversations without prescribing the same words for every situation.
All three examples describe the same area of expertise. Each answers the immediate question without requiring the listener to understand the whole business. Use this approach on your website too: a shared introduction, followed by clear pages for consulting, speaking, and books.
Do not imply that buying a book leads automatically to a consulting engagement, or that speaking will reliably generate clients. Give interested people an appropriate next step, such as exploring your consulting page or sending a speaking inquiry.
Turn the introduction into a useful professional bio
A professional bio needs more context than a spoken introduction. Choose the details that help this particular reader judge your fit.
Use first person for a conversational introduction or personal About section when that suits your voice. Use third person when an organizer needs copy to introduce you. Follow the requested format and length rather than trying to force one bio into every setting.
Build your bio from four parts
- Name whom you help, the outcome they want, and the main concern your approach addresses.
- Include relevant experience or verified credentials that support your expertise.
- Explain the consulting, book, or speaking offer that matters to this reader.
- Give the reader one clear next step, such as exploring your work or making an inquiry.
Use the four parts to plan your bio, then join them into a short paragraph. The finished versions below are designed to read naturally when copied into an About page or speaker introduction.
First-person bio template
I help [ideal avatar] achieve [dream outcome] without [primary objection or concern]. My work draws on [relevant, verified experience]. Through [consulting offer], [book title], and [speaking topic], I help people [concrete application]. Learn more about [appropriate next step].
Third-person speaker bio template
[Name] helps [ideal avatar] achieve [dream outcome] without [primary objection or concern]. A [relevant specialty] consultant, author, and speaker, she draws on [verified experience or credential] to teach [specific subject]. Her session helps attendees [realistic takeaway].
These are working templates. Remove any placeholder you cannot fill truthfully.
If the book is still in progress, say that. If you have not delivered paid keynotes, do not imply that you have. Your actual experience deserves a clear explanation.
Keep the headline clear at a glance
For a LinkedIn profile or website heading, lead with your specialty and audience. For example: Leadership consultant for first-time managers | Author | Speaker.
Use the surrounding copy to explain the result and provide evidence. Avoid packing the headline with every credential and every topic you have ever taught.
A personal detail can make a longer bio feel more like you, but it should not displace the information someone needs to understand your work. Your hobbies are optional. Your area of expertise is not.
Support the message with relevant proof
Choose evidence that supports the work you want to be hired for.
Match the proof to the work
- A recording can show how you teach on stage.
- A published book demonstrates the ideas you have developed.
- A documented client example can show the kind of problem you have helped address.
Be precise about your contribution and the outcome. A speaking inquiry is different from a booked engagement. An engagement is different from a completed paid keynote.
Share client details only when you have permission, and give the context needed to understand a result.
How an established business can support a wider personal brand
FORDIVINE’s Michelle Roby case study describes how her experience as a business owner became the basis for consulting and speaking. The work included clarifying her message, organizing her knowledge into an offer, and building a website that explained how people could work with her.
The relevance here is the connection between her existing experience and the work she wanted to offer. It is a documented client example, not a promise that changing a bio produces the same result.
For your own introduction, keep one example ready. When someone asks how your approach works, explain a relevant situation, what you did, and what changed. You do not need to recite your entire resume to make the next sentence credible.
Test whether people can explain your work back to you
Say your introduction aloud to someone who does not already know your business. Ask them whom they would refer to you and what they think you would help that person do. Their answer is more useful than a polite compliment.
Check the explanation before you publish it
- Can someone identify your audience without asking three more questions?
- Does the result mean something concrete to that audience?
- Does the concern reflect what your audience actually asks, and can you explain how your approach addresses it?
- Can you support the expertise and experience you claim?
- Do your website, bio, and speaking page describe compatible work?
- Is the next step clear for someone who wants to hire you?
If the explanation keeps expanding, return to the decision beneath the copy. You may still be choosing which audience to prioritize or which part of your work you want to grow. More polished wording cannot make that decision for you.
FORDIVINE brings strategy, messaging, visual identity, content, and websites together for established women. If the uncertainty extends across your offers and public presence, explore how a complete brand engagement works. The introduction should reflect decisions your wider brand can carry through.
Questions about introducing a multifaceted career
Should I call myself a consultant, author, or speaker first?
Lead with the role most relevant to the setting, or start with the problem you help solve. In a speaking inquiry, your speaking topic belongs early. In a consulting conversation, explain your specialty and the client need. You can include the other roles once the central value is clear.
Can I keep consulting, writing, and speaking under one personal brand?
Yes, when they share a credible connection in expertise, audience, or purpose. Explain that connection, then give each offer a clear place. If the audiences and subjects are unrelated, use distinct descriptions or sections so visitors can find the work relevant to them.
How long should my answer to “What do you do?” be?
Start with one or two sentences and leave room for a response. Add detail when the person asks or when the setting requires it. The test is whether they understand your work, not whether you have reached a particular word count.
What if I serve more than one audience?
Name the audience relevant to the conversation and be explicit about the problem you address for them. On your website, explain the shared expertise first, then help each audience find its own offer. Avoid a broad promise that obscures meaningful differences in your work.