It all started on a family vacation in 1982 and I can thank my mom for my lifelong passion for genealogy. While in college, I began researching my ancestry in Oklahoma/Indian Territory, Georgia, southwest Virginia, and Maryland. Fast forward to 2002 when I turned my obsession into a career. For the past 35 years, I have researched families in the Mid-Atlantic (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) and broadened my geographic skill set to deep dive into my immigrant roots in Eastern Europe in the former territory of Galicia (Austria-Hungary) and other European countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Austria and Germany.

My career has had many milestones... I was a researcher on TLC’s Who Do You Think You Are? (Season One) and appeared in the Brooke Shields episode, which aired in April 2010.  In 2013, I became the co-coordinator for the Ukrainian Historical & Educational Center’s Nashi Predky Family History Group and served as a Commissioner on the Middlesex County Heritage & Cultural Commission (2011-17). In October 2016, I joined Legacy Tree Genealogists as their staff Eastern European Researcher and held positions as Senior Researcher, Team Lead, and International Research Team Manager. In December 2024, I moved back to doing private client work and creating digital course content focused on Eastern European research.

As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), I serve as the Chapter Representative for the New Jersey Chapter of APG and maintain memberships in local and ethnic genealogical societies. I also serve on the board of Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS).

My educational journey has not been a straight line. I attended my first national conference in 1999 and have enjoyed many events across the county since then. In 2012, I was introduced to genealogical institutes and attended Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). In subsequent years, I completed the ProGen Study Group (ProGen17) in 2014 and have taken courses at GRIP, the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR), and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG).

In 2021, I began working on accreditation through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) and in July 2023, I became an Accredited Genealogist®  in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

In 2023, I began offering online educational classes and coordinated the GRIP course -- Researching Your Ancestry in the Austrian Crownland of Galicia. Be sure to check out the Courses & Webinars page for more details on upcoming classes.

In 2024, I earned the Accredited Genealogical Lecturer™ credential through ICAPGen and was a course instructor in the SLIG Fall Virtual course -- Slava Ukraini! Genealogical Research in Ukraine.

Last year, I published a 140-page workbook—Workbook for Research in Galicia, Austria-Hungary—to assist those genealogists seeking a helping hand to navigate the complex process to gather information and find available records for their ancestral locations (town/village) in modern Poland and Ukraine.
 

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