A good profile should leave the reader with the feeling that a stranger has just been brought to life on the page before them. It should introduce the reader to someone without attempting to capture that subject's entire life story. Compelling people naturally make for compelling profiles, but there are also ways of approaching the genre that can bring even the dullest subject to life.
The New York Times uses metaphors and personal history to describe Denmark's new minister of social affairs, Karen Jespersen. The article calls Jespersen a "lightning rod" for controversy because of her views on immigration and uses its early paragraphs to place her within the context of contemporary problems in Denmark over that issue. Some of this context might be unnecessary, such as the paragraph on Dutch asylum-seeker Ayaan Hirsi Ali. However, the profile gets back on track when it turns to Jespersen's childhood to show the diverse influences on her current profession by exploring her student years and commenting on the role her mother played in shaping her character. Jespersen is "hard to label," the Times admits, and it does not try to box her identity tidily in one brief article.
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