The MyHeritage Interview Series: educational blogger Susana Galeano

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photos? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

How far can the maternal instinct go? Susana Galeano Jordan knows that it goes a long way, dedicating her whole life to children.

A professional graphic designer from Mexico, she's also a Montessori guide and has been a children's caretaker since she was 12 years old. Her love for children is related to her position in the family. She's the youngest of many brothers, whom started to have kids when she was still very young. She learnt how to take care of them and to teach them.

Later, with kids of her own, she ended up working as a Montessori guide at her daughters' school, teaching, among other, computer lessons to disabled children.

Through that experience she got interested in working with children and to help their parents in the process of bringing them up. That's how she started her own blog, "kuttykids", focused on education related issues. It's her way to express her disposition and passion to help parents educate their children.

But let her tell us more about her:
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: educational blogger Susana Galeano" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Genealogist and Family Stories Blogger Caroline Pointer

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photos? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

"Genealogy is not boring or stuffy," says Caroline Pointer, the author of Family Stories, a blog about her our family's stories. She is also in the process of launching a genealogically-related business that centers around making people more aware of genealogy.

Caroline set up her blog to find out more about the online genealogy blogging world and to test the waters before she launched her company. While the blog is for everyone's enjoyment, it is specifically written for those who have never thought, heard or seen the word 'genealogy'. Her trial has turned out rather well, with Caroline making some great blogger connections, while also becoming more comfortable with sharing her family stories online.

Caroline wants to help people start thinking about what their family story actually is. She wants to inspire and motivate people to find their family story and express it.

This is what she told MyHeritage:
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Genealogist and Family Stories Blogger Caroline Pointer" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Student Genealogist Elyse Doerflinger

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photos? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

This time we have a special interviewee for our interview series. Elyse Doerfinger is only 19 years old, but she is already a seasoned genealogist, which makes her a bit of a prodigy in the usually older genealogy scene. Elyse is a member of the Youth Genealogists Society and the Graveyard Rabbit Student society, a student and a blogger. Her blog 'The Graveyard Rabbit Student' is dedicated to everything cemeteries; preservation tips, tips for organizing pictures of headstones, and websites where you can find a picture of your ancestor's headstone. Her other blog 'Elyse's Genealogy blog' provides tips or lessons she's learned while being involved with genealogy, as well as posts about family members and family stories, new websites, products and pictures such as the one displayed here, of her and genealogist Dick Eastman. She recently drew lot of attention to that blog by proposing that older genealogists should embrace technology more.

This is what she told us:

You recently wrote a post saying that genealogical societies should embrace technology more. Why do you think that?

I think it is a great way to not only enhance the research of the members, but it is also a great way to attract new members. It is a great way for genealogical societies to market their events to potential new members and to other genealogical societies. The possibilities are endless and for the most part, free! It would be a waste to ignore the technological resources that are just waiting to be utilized.

You are a member of the Youth Genealogist society- can you tell me a little bit about them?
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Student Genealogist Elyse Doerflinger" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: genealogist Pablo Briand

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photos? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

It only takes a photo, a conversation, a story, to awaken the genealogy investigator in us. Pablo Briand knows this from his own experience. He set off to inquire about his own roots with the help of technology and Internet tools, without which he may not have become the genealogist he has been for almost 20 years.

Combining his interest in technology and genealogy, Pablo hosts his project on a blog called "Gen Briand", where he writes and sheds light on genealogy related topics, rather than just providing historical data. He wants to help fellow genealogists bring their records alive and provide information that can let them draw the living context of their ancestors.

He also keeps a website depicting the origins and story of his family, which goes back 500 years.

Pablo is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but he has lived in Miami, USA, for the past eight years. He has French roots, which is why his family website is in French, as well as Spanish and English. There's no doubt he's a man with a passion for genealogy. This is what he told us:
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: genealogist Pablo Briand" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Irish American storyteller Brian Reynolds

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photos? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

The Irish are known as great storytellers and Brian Reynolds is one of them. He runs the Irish American Story Project; a website set up to capture stories of Irish culture and emigration to the US. The site carries stories of luck, love, family and other tales. Find below the answers to the questions we asked Brian.

How did you get involved with this project?

I lived in New York for three years, and being there I met many people whose family has emigrated from Ireland. They set up a new life in the US, and I just thought it would be great to have a website to record some of their stories.

There are some really beautiful stories on the website like 'The old Irishman from Louisiana' and the three part story written by Chris Brennan about his Irish American Family History.
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Irish American storyteller Brian Reynolds" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Multifamily Expert Laura Pergola

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photo's? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

Laura Pergola lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she has set up the Multifamilias foundation. The foundation brings families with twins, triplets or multiples together. Its mission is to offer advice and help on health in multiple pregnancies and to improve the quality of life of the children born at the same birth. This time Laura answers MyHeritage's questions.

When was Multifamilia set up and why?

The idea to set up Multifamilias started in 2000, when I tried to find information about the risks of a multiple pregnancy and the issues regarding the raising of multiple children but could not find it. Today we have a database of 7000 families. we offer them advice from a team of professionals from different fields. And we edit the only magazine about this topic in the Spanish language.

What is on your favourite family photo?
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Multifamily Expert Laura Pergola" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Tech Blogger Steven Finch

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photo's? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

Steven Finch is founder and CEO of Crenk.com, a weblog founded in 2007, reviewing web and mobile applications on the web. Steven also spots and analyses interesting web trends so he is well placed to give us some insight into technology and families. And as an Australian abroad, he knows very well what it is like to be away from his family..

What is your favorite holiday and how does your family celebrate it?

My favourite holiday is christmas.. and we normally spend it relaxing and having a BBQ back home in Australia. Then after lunch we head to my aunties place where we spend the rest of the day relaxing on the canal, swimming and drinking.

How international is your family?

My family is fairly international. My mum was born in Australia but her family originally comes from Blackburn in the United Kingdom. My dad was born in the UK too, in Liverpool, and his family comes from there too.
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Tech Blogger Steven Finch" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: founder of Family Tree DNA Bennett Greenspan

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photo's? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

Bennett Greenspan is CEO and President of DNA testing company FamilyTreeDNA. He founded the company in 1999, when he decided to turn his hobby into a business. Last month, MyHeritage started working together with Family Tree DNA to offer you the possibility to uncover your family roots through your DNA. A good occasion to ask Bennett all about his family.

What is on your favorite family photo?

"A Bar Mitzvah party...of the family and it looks unrehearsed for."

What is your favorite holiday and how does your family celebrate it?

"Sukkot... eating outside with the family and friends, telling stories and looking at stars."
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: founder of Family Tree DNA Bennett Greenspan" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Mom blogger Cecilia Mecca

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photo's? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

Cecelia Mecca is a mother of two and a real mom blogger. She runs the Baby Kid blogs, a series of blogs that discusses what baby products to buy, give tips on educational products and resources and answer any questions moms may have on blogging, parenthood and babies. This week she answers MyHeritage's questions.

What is on your favourite family photo?

My immediate family in front of a sign "Welcome to Caltebelotta" on a trip this summer to Caltabelotta, Sicily, the town where my great-grandparents are from.

What is your favourite holiday and how does your family celebrate it?

Christmas, hands down.
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Mom blogger Cecilia Mecca" »

The MyHeritage Interview Series: Genealogist Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Politicians, stay-at-home dads, academics or businesswomen...they all know the value of family and the joys of staying in touch with them. But what is on their family photo's? How often do they call their mother and what celebrity do they secretly admire? Get ready to find out through the MyHeritage interview series!

This week, we are talking to Schelly Talalay Dardashti. A journalist, she is the historian for both her Talalay family and her husband's Dardashti family, a well-known genealogist and author/editor of the MyHeritage genealogy blog.

Schelly writes two widely-known genealogy blogs: Tracing the Tribe and one focusing on international Jewish cemeteries. She also teaches Jewish genealogy online. Read what she answered to our nine family questions:

What is on your favourite family photo?

"While we have many contemporary photos, our most precious ones are of relatives who are no longer with us.

PHOTO: Schelly's great-great-grandparents: Menahem Mendl ben HaRav Leib Talalay and Kreine Mushe Iasin/Jassen, who lived in Mogilev, Belarus. Photo of a c1880s painting
Continue reading "The MyHeritage Interview Series: Genealogist Schelly Talalay Dardashti" »