From Ordinary to Extraordinary
I'm often asked to do profile reviews for folks that have waited a long time and don't know what is holding them back in their outreach. Most of the time the answer is clear- it's their profile! Even a well designed and well written profile can be missing it's mark when it doesn't do its main job of sharing who you *really* are with a potential birthparent. Layout and design isn't just how you fit words on the page, it's about how you make photos dance off the page. It's about how to give someone a "feeling" about you that's even hard to put into words. It's about sharing the real essence of your family with a birthparent in just seconds. When I work on profile revisions I like to untangle what it is in your current profile that is holding you back, and then how I can recreate your profile in a way that is truly expressive of your style and personality. I have many agencies that request that their clients that have waited over a year contact me for a review, and the feedback I hear most often is "I wish I had called you a year ago!"
If you are not seeing the success you have been hoping for feel free to email me and I'll share my feedback with you. I'll be honest with my impressions and give you targeted feedback on what you can improve on. Since seeing is believing I invite you to review the profile revisions below. I like to call them "From ordinary to extraordinary." A million thanks to the couples that have allowed me to present their "before and after" here!
Jace and Alicia
When Alicia asked me to review her profile I was happy to do so. I think profile reviews are important and I'm happy to give the sort of honest feedback that family and friends often won't. Since I don't know the couple at this point I'm able to distill my impressions of the couple based solely on the profile and then think about whether it's really representative of who they are. In Alicia and Jace's case their original profile was well-done in the sense that the design was professional looking and it was well executed throughout. The profile felt very formal- the fonts, colors and layout were all formal and professional, but what was really missing from their profile was the fun and playful spirit I saw in the photos. There was a disconnect to me with the style of the profile and intuitively who I thought they were. A short chat with Alicia confirmed my intuition. She was warm, funny and engaging… and that is the personality I wanted to see reflected in their new profile. A month after we first talked their new profiles were delivered to their agency.
For me design is really fundamental in expressing personality and style to a birthmom. A profile needs to be really expressive of a couple’s core beliefs and personalities so that a birthparent can come to understand who they are in a very short amount of time. For Alicia and Jace I wanted to make their new profile much more casual, break up the text into smaller more interesting sections, add pull-quotes for visual interest, and use brighter colors that are better suited to their fun personalities. We worked together to brainstorm new photos for their profile and they were great sports about spending a weekend taking photos for me. I think their new profile is just as amazingly fun as they are. It's my hope that a birthmom can glance at their profile and immediately see how fun, warm, loving and spirited they are. I loved getting to know them during this process and can't wait to hear how their journey progresses!
A note from Alicia
"Oh my goodness! Where do we start? Before we met Joanna our profile was stiff and just didn't represent our personalities well or what we feel we could offer a birth mother. Just look at the before and after! Joanna is a miracle worker! Talking to her on the phone, she made us feel comfortable and was so easy to talk with. When we got our profile proof back from Joanna we were beyond thrilled. What was so amazing is how well we felt she knew us, as it was represented in the profile so well. It felt alive instead of disconnected and impersonal. The colors and design were so us. Joanna understands the adoption profile process from the birthmother's perspective, as well as that of the waiting adoptive family. I cannot say enough good things about our experience with her."
Jace & Alicia
Los Angeles, CA
Mark and Lynn
