Personal Persona

The most difficult challenge of creating a persona is to include details that provide key insights, while still being general enough to apply to a greater segment of the population. A persona seems to serve as a bridge between the general segment and different individuals. As I wrote the persona for “Elizabeth,” I found that insights seemed to jump out at me, and that those stories and experiences that often seem trivial really are not.

Elizabeth – Budding Young Professional
Age: early to mid-20s (i.e. “20-something”)
Education: Undergraduate degree from a public university
Income (post-college): $40,000 – $48,000

Elizabeth is a 20-something who is making her transition from college to the real world, or already in the first two years of her career. She is educated with a bachelor’s degree from a large public university. Elizabeth earned good grades in college and is very bright, but was not a “star” graduate.

Sometimes Elizabeth has trouble finding her niche, both in social situations, job opportunities, and even with the products that she uses. She is fashionable, but her style is still closer to the girl next door than models on the runway. Elizabeth enjoys learning and intellectual conversation, and has difficultly striking the right balance between finding professional friends who are on the same intellectual level, while still sharing some of her more superficial interests. Elizabeth enjoys country music, though she is clearly a city girl. She listens to mostly mainstream music, and an avid user of the iPod touch. She also enjoys Broadway musicals, such as Wicked, Jersey Boys, and The Lion King. Elizabeth loves analyzing lyrics to any song, and always tries to find a connection to her life. She also enjoys using lines from her favorite songs in everyday conversation because she feels that some songs were practically written for her.

Heath is very important to Elizabeth, who buys largely organic food at local co-ops or Whole Foods. She enjoys cooking both for the health aspects and the monetary savings. Elizabeth subscribes to cooking magazines and frequently finds new recipes on websites and blogs. However, Elizabeth does enjoy going out to eat and it is one of her most common social outings with friends. Elizabeth looks for restaurants that are trendy, but still cater to health conscious customers. Elizabeth is typically the one to make restaurant decisions among her friends because she has been deemed as the most picky. She recently became vegan for the health aspects associated with that lifestyle. Again, Elizabeth finds difficultly establishing her identity as a vegan because she does not fit the vegan stereotype of a hippie, anti-conformist, PETA member. Elizabeth strives to show people that vegans can be normal, healthy people who still enjoy corporate American and eating great food, beyond only salads. Elizabeth always sets a goal to work out, but generally feels that eating healthy is more important than physical activity. If she does work out, she is more likely to do Pilates at home then go a gym where she feels intimidated by more athletic individuals.

One stereotype that Elizabeth does fit is the Type A personality. Elizabeth believes that sleep is overrated and generally waits for her body to send a signal that it’s exhausted before going to sleep. She enjoys setting alarms and checks email on her BlackBerry before getting out of bed. She has a love-hate relationship with the BlackBerry, as she loves the keyboard but hates the browser. Elizabeth always wants to be accessible to people who want to contact her, and rarely goes longer than a few hours without responding to texts, emails, or phone calls. She is also constantly connected to the web, an avid user of Facebook, and reader of online news sources. Elizabeth enjoys watching prime time TV, but tends to watch increasing amounts of shows online after they air, due to her busy schedule. She loves to-do lists and sometimes puts simple things like cooking, cleaning, and shopping on lists, along with more substantial activities, so that she can feel good as she formally checks these things off. Elizabeth still prefers paper agendas and lists to online calendars, and typically color coordinates recurring events.

Elizabeth always ensures adequate time to get herself ready in the morning. She gets up at least two hours before she has to be somewhere because rushing around makes her stressed. Elizabeth firmly believes that she cannot be her best at school, work, etc. without looking her best. The best way to describe her style is consistent. Elizabeth lives by the philosophy that you never know whom you will meet anywhere you go, so you should always be presentable. Elizabeth generally wears her hair and makeup in the same way, using a mix of drug store and higher-end products. She mentally plans outfits for a week, and tries to match each outfit to the situation. Her overwhelmingly favorite place to shop is Banana Republic, with a smaller mix from Tommy Hilfiger, Express, and American Eagle. Elizabeth is passionate about retail, and takes a considerable amount of time trying on clothes and making purchase decisions. She prefers to shop alone because she does not feel guilty about keeping the other person waiting.

Elizabeth is very much a planner, and has difficulty injecting more spontaneity to her life. She believes that every minute of everyday should be productive, from work to social outings. She is frustrated when friends call her to hang out at the last minute, but welcomes making plans days in advance. Elizabeth thrives on stress, and becomes very frustrated when people tell her not to stress out. She is an introvert on the outside, but an extrovert on the inside and enjoys talking to people, particularly people that she knows very well. Elizabeth does not focus on adding casual acquaintances, but rather building strong relationships with a few key friends. Elizabeth is an only child and is still extremely close to her parents. Being an only child is something else that Elizabeth constantly gets negative comments about, much like being vegan. Unfortunately, Elizabeth largely fits the only child stereotype that all academic literature has produced.

To sum up: Elizabeth – 20-something hopeful young professional, focused on climbing the corporate ladder and hoping that relationships will sort themselves out along the way. The girl next door with a twist.