PROFILE COVER LETTER
A profile is a depiction of a person through writing. A profile is to a writer what a portrait is to a painter. A profile attempts to tell you who someone is through interviews with the subject, or their family and friends. Oftentimes when someone is writing a profile they’ll shadow their subject over the span of a week or a few months in order to provide an accurate depiction of who their subject is. The New York Times (the inventor of what we now call a “profile”) proves that profiles can be written on anyone. They’ve written profiles on actors like Sarah Jessica Parker to singers like Kim Petras to even Supreme Court Justices like Samuel Alito. Profile’s allow readers to peek behind the curtains on the lives, personalities and habits of people who many would know nothing about otherwise. A profile has the power to take a grandiose character and turn them into someone people can empathize and care about.
Profiles are important pieces of media because they have the ability to bridge differences between people. For example let’s pretend you’re an avid hater of Kim Kardashian. You think that Kim Kardashian has horrible taste in clothes, she’s selfish and rude, and that she’s just too disconnected from society. One day, you see a profile has been written on Kim Kardashian. You decide to read it and you find out that her favorite ice cream flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip, just like you. You might discover that she’s allergic to tree nuts and is bad at math. While you probably won’t become the world’s biggest Kim Kardashian fan, you might find that she isn’t as bad as you thought. You see nuances in her personality that you hadn’t seen before. This is what a profile has the ability to do. Profiles can change your understanding of a person.

PROFILE ON AISHA BI
Born in Pakistan Aisha Bi grew up in a world surrounded by people who weren’t very different from her. Pakistan is largely a Muslim country so Aisha was very used to interacting with people who shared the same religion as her. “Mainly a Muslim country, Pakistan isn’t very diverse in terms of religion”, says Aisha. The official language of Pakistan is Urdu which is Aisha’s first language. Despite going to an English school from a young age, amongst Aisha’s friends, family and city Urdu was always she used to communicate. In an interview with Aisha she described her relationship with English like this, “ In my country I used to go to an English school where my books were in English and I could write and read in English but couldn’t speak it. I had no confidence in speaking. Although I tried my best to speak but still couldn’t speak it. Sometimes I felt I couldn’t do it because of my social circle. All of my friends, especially my family, spoke in Urdu” .
This all vastly changed for Aisha when two years ago she emigrated from Pakistan to The United States of America. Settling into her new life as a New Yorker, Aisha experienced a big culture shock. Aisha realized that New York was completely different from the life she had been used to in Pakistan. In New York everyone spoke English to communicate with each other. At first Aisha felt isolated- she had never had issues communicating with people before. Now in America, Aisha had a lot of trouble talking to people. Aisha felt like her English skills weren’t good enough to talk to native speakers or participate in class. Despite her insecurities Aisha decided to persevere and improve her English speaking skills. At school Aisha slowly started to make friends, the more comfortable she got with her friends the more she began to practice her English skills. Aisha got into the habit of being vulnerable and talking English even despite the fact that she was still learning. Aisha also had the help of teachers, like her English Teacher
Ms. Marx.
Aisha credits Ms.Marx with helping her develop her reading, writing and speaking skills. Ms.Marx would stay after school and take time to tutor Aisha in her English skills, she also encouraged Aisha to write things like essays, poetry, and short stories. This all helped Aisha familiarize herself with different ways of writing that she hadn’t been used to before. Ms.Marx also helped Aisha with her verbal skills by recommending Aisha different media like movies, videos and apps that she could watch outside of school. When it came time for Aisha to apply for college, she was very nervous at first. Aisha felt as if her English skills wouldn’t be good to write a college essay. But, once Ms. Marx saw Aisha worried she helped guide her through how to write the college essay. Aisha describes her relationship with Ms.Marx like this, “She had the biggest role in my learning journey. She got my back in almost everything I was struggling with”.
Once Aisha overcame her insecurities and became more confident she realized that by knowing English she had so many more opportunities now that she didn’t have before. She felt more empowered. Now Aisha was able to apply to colleges without worrying about language barriers and he was able to help out her family in ways she hadn’t been able to before. Aisha describes her new confidence like this, “I was able to solve my own problems like completing my college application, and helped my mother with groceries and siblings with their appointments.”
Learning English also changed Aisha’s worldview. Now that Aisha was confident in her ability to communicate with others, she found herself getting to know different cultures and people that she would have never known before. In Pakistan she was surrounded by people who were similar to her but now she was getting to know people of all different backgrounds. Despite all of the challenges Aisha endured in order to learn English, she doesn’t regret it at all saying “ I believe that learning a language helps us represent background and identity, and that is the best way to show love and respect to other people through learning about their tradition, culture and ethnicity.”