I really don't like the UX notion of a "persona." Personas are not people. They're a trap that lures you into thinking that you understand a customer when, in fact, you don't. The only way to truly understand your customer's needs is through face-to-face conversations.

Put another way, a persona is an embodiment of the prejudices, beliefs, and imaginings of the people who invent the persona in the guise of an imaginary composite customer. They represent the creator's thinking about the customer, not the customer at all.

Once you dig past the superficial resemblance to an imaginary aggregate customer, personas are really realizations of the people who create them, not of the actual customers.