diff --git a/frontend/src/NewApp/Pages/GenerateCandidate.tsx b/frontend/src/NewApp/Pages/GenerateCandidate.tsx
index 347c4b4..7b00907 100644
--- a/frontend/src/NewApp/Pages/GenerateCandidate.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/NewApp/Pages/GenerateCandidate.tsx
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ const GenerateCandidate = (props: BackstoryElementProps) => {
                         } else {
                             setTimestamp(Date.now())
                         }
-                        if (data.message) {
+                        if (data.message !== '') {
                             setStatus(data.message);
                         }
                         break;
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ const GenerateCandidate = (props: BackstoryElementProps) => {
                             } else {
                                 setTimestamp(Date.now())
                             }
-                            if (data.message) {
+                            if (data.message !== '') {
                                 setStatus(data.message);
                             }
                             break;
@@ -366,24 +366,26 @@ const GenerateCandidate = (props: BackstoryElementProps) => {
         }
         <Box sx={{display: "flex", flexDirection: "column"}}>
                 <Box sx={{ display: "flex", flexDirection: "row", position: "relative" }}>
-                <Avatar
+                    <Box sx={{ display: "flex", position: "relative" }}>
+                        <Avatar
                         src={hasProfile ? `/api/u/${user.username}/profile/${sessionId}` : ''}
                         alt={`${user.full_name}'s profile`}
-                    sx={{
-                        width: 80,
-                        height: 80,
-                        border: '2px solid #e0e0e0',
-                    }}
-                />
-                    {processing && <Pulse sx={{ position: "relative", left: "-80px" }} timestamp={timestamp} />}
-                <Tooltip title={"Generate Profile Picture"}>
+                            sx={{
+                                width: 80,
+                                height: 80,
+                                border: '2px solid #e0e0e0',
+                            }}
+                        />
+                        {processing && <Pulse sx={{ position: "relative", left: "-80px", top: "0px" }} timestamp={timestamp} />}
+                    </Box>
+                    <Tooltip title={"Generate Picture"}>
                     <span style={{ display: "flex", flexGrow: 1 }}>
                     <Button
                         sx={{ m: 1, gap: 1, flexGrow: 1 }}
                         variant="contained"
                         disabled={sessionId === undefined || processing || !canGenImage}
                                 onClick={() => { generateProfile() }}>
-                        Generate Profile Picture<SendIcon />
+                                Generate Picture<SendIcon />
                     </Button>
                     </span>
                 </Tooltip>
diff --git a/src/utils/agents/persona_generator.py b/src/utils/agents/persona_generator.py
index f0b74c9..ab97583 100644
--- a/src/utils/agents/persona_generator.py
+++ b/src/utils/agents/persona_generator.py
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ class PersonaGenerator(Agent):
                 self.username = persona.get("username", None)
                 if not self.username:
                     raise ValueError("LLM did not generate a username")
+                self.username = re.sub(r'\s+', '.', g)
                 user_dir = os.path.join(defines.user_dir, persona["username"])
                 while os.path.exists(user_dir):
                     match = re.match(r"^(.*?)(\d*)$", persona["username"])