The members of Life Story Professionals of the Greater Washington Area offer a wide variety of services. Our members include specialists who work with clients to create books, videos, and audio memoirs, as well as photo organizers and archivists. We recommend interviewing more than one LSP to determine if you’re a good fit for each other. For reference, see our questions to ask before hiring a personal historian.
Bryon Barlow
Specialty: Video
Bryon Barlow, a passionate amateur photographer for many years, decided to pursue capturing life stories on video as an encore career based on personal experience with life story videos. His role as the family photographer led him to become the keeper of a collection of multi-generational family photos. He realized that photos alone were not enough, and decided to record video interviews of his mother. After her death, these recordings became a precious memorial for his family. Bryon focuses on adults of retirement age who want to tell important life and family stories. He includes discussions of important family photos and puts the story teller’s life in the context of major historical events. These videos are a way to pass along legacies to future generations, and are a wonderful way to remember the storyteller forever.
Website: www.lifestorylegacyvideos.com
Ronda Barrett
Specialties: Video | Books |Archiving
Ronda Barrett is a story facilitator, producing books and documentaries that explore the life stories of individuals, families and organizations. Ever since her efforts as a filmmaker in the mid-90s to help pregnant HIV-positive women to document their stories for their children, Ronda has been focused on the stories of everyday people. After years of telling the organizational stories of her clients at a DC marketing firm, in 2003 she was inspired to return to individual and family stories. She established “Honor Your Story” and has been helping people to document their histories ever since. Her thoughtful approach guides clients through a review of their experiences as well as their photos, documents and memorabilia. In her role as a family history facilitator, she brings a team of genealogists, graphic designers and archivists to the process to help transform memories into a legacy to be shared. As featured in The Washington Post, she is part of a community of life story professionals working to promote the benefits of capturing personal histories. She encourages people to embrace the approach that resonates with them and then jump in and get going!
Website: honoryourstory.com
Email: ronda@honoryourstory.com
Phone: 301-395-5989
Facebook: Honor Your Story
Terri Blanchette
Specialties: Preservation/Archiving | Writing
Terri Blanchette is an historian, writer, and heritage preservation specialist in the Virginia and greater Washington DC areas. She has a Masters in U.S. History with certification in Museum Studies and Archiving. She has written extensively for national history organizations, delivered numerous talks, workshops and seminars on preservation, and has researched and written corporate histories for some of Washington’s most prestigious firms. Following decades in the museum field, she realized that much of the important history, which ultimately comprises our national story, is held in private homes and businesses and much of that story is left untold and being lost to time through deterioration and neglect. To address this need, she founded TimeSorters, LLC – a one-of-a-kind company with the specific goal of helping individuals and businesses to capture, organize, preserve and protect those things that make up their unique histories.
Website: timesorters.com
Email: tblanchette@timesorters.com
Mobile: 571-336-7678
Debbie Brodsky
Speciality: Video
Debbie Mintz Brodsky is the founder of DMB Pictures, a boutique video production company specializing in producing broadcast-quality personal stories for families, non-profits and small businesses. Brodsky, a three-time Emmy Award-winning television producer with more than 20 years of experience, focused much of her career in public television, working for South Carolina ETV (PBS), WETA (PBS), and MHz NETWORKS. She also spent time at TLC, Fox, “Entertainment Tonight” and “Reading Rainbow.” Her many years of professional interviews have included such notables as Senators John McCain and Bob Dole, Tiger Woods, and former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. She also produced and directed the Emmy-nominated feature-length documentary “Teens in Between,” which followed five recent immigrant teens through a year in their lives. The core of what Debbie loves to do is enable people to feel comfortable on camera so they can tell their most authentic and engaging story.
Website: dmbpictures.com
Email: debbie@dmbpictures.com
Phone: 301-547-3490
Christina Lyons
Specialty: Books
Christina Lyons is a freelance writer, editor, and personal historian based in the Washington, D.C. area. After nearly 30 years of experience in journalism, including writing profiles of members of Congress and other leading newsmakers, she began helping other people preserve their memories and write their own stories. She believes strongly that everyone has a compelling story, and she employs her skills in interviewing, researching, and writing to weave together compelling narratives. Born and raised in the Los Angeles area, Christina worked for many years for Maryland newspapers working as an editor and writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. for more than 15 years. Christina is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and the Washington Biographers group. She also is an at-large board member of the Maryland Writers Association and leads a teen writers club on behalf of the MWA. She is certified in Reminiscence and Life Story Work.
Website: www.bylyons.com
Phone: 301-802-8284
Pat McNees
Specialities: Books | Life Story Writing Teacher
Pat McNees was an editor in book publishing (Harper & Row, Fawcett) and a freelance journalist before (in 1990) she began writing biographies and organizational histories and helping ordinary people (not just celebrities) tell their life stories — sometimes as memoirs, sometimes as biography. She was president of the Association of Personal Historians and co-editor of My Words Are Gonna Linger: The Art of Personal History. She teaches life story writing at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda and in Montgomery County libraries. Clients for whom she has written organizational histories include the NIH Clinical Center, the Young Presidents’ Organization, Crown Equipment (a lift truck company), and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She has spoken at several national writers conferences about helping people and organizations tell their life stories.
Websites: http://writersandeditors.com
http://patmcnees.com
http://comfortdying.com
Email: pat@patmcnees.com
Nanette Fimian Randall
Speciality: Books | Workshops
Nanette Fimian Randall has been a personal historian, biographer and ghost writer since 2006. Prior to that she was a corporate human resources professional for 20 plus years in companies of varying size and structure. Memoirs by Design began with a simple touchstone – the memory of one father, whose story was lost after his passing. Nanette believes that regardless of age, stature, experience or reputation, we’re all storytellers and our best tales come from real life, learned lessons, and family history. Memoirs by Design offers a variety of other services, such as anniversary, business, pet, children’s and posthumous stories, as well as publishing solutions to fit any budget. Memoirs by Design began in the Denver, Colorado area but is now proudly based in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Nanette offers several guided writing and non-writing workshops, including The Power of Story and The Guided Gratitude Workshop.
Website: www.memoirsbydesign.com
Email: nanette@memoirsbydesign.com
Phone: 303-885-3790
Sheryl Sieracki
Specialty: Books
Sheryl Sieracki has always loved listening to people’s stories. After retiring from a career writing and editing technical and corporate publications, she started her business, Legacies of a Lifetime, where she helps clients preserve their unique life stories while discovering the patterns, meaning, and value in their life. Whether creating a first-person narrative through one-on-one interviews or coaching those who want to write their own memoir, Sheryl brings more than thirty-five years of experience in interviewing, writing, editing, and project management to create a richly rewarding experience for her clients and a legacy for future generations.
Website: legaciesofalifetime.com
Email: sheryl@legaciesofalifetime.com
Phone: 410-570-3111
Bruce Summers
Specialities: Interviewing | Books | Archiving | Digital Preservation
Everyone has life stories. Bruce helps clients record and share their life stories and preserve and share the photos and objects that animate life stories. Bruce became his family’s historian at age 14. He started interviewing family members, sifting through family records, photo albums, correspondences, and perusing family correspondence and organizing threads of genealogy. He majored in history, he joined the Oral History Society of the Mid Atlantic Region, became a journalist and dreamed about one day starting an Oral History Business. This dream was deferred during his time as a Peace Corps Volunteer and then decades as an executive with national non-profits. In 2012 he became a professional Personal Historian working with clients to record and share their life stories and memories. He joined the Association of Personal Historians, became a global board member, and served as their director of Regions and Chapters. He is a founding member of the Life Story Professionals of the Greater Washington Area. His personal history work was featured in the AARP Magazine.
Website: https://bwsummers.wordpress.com/about/
Email: summersbw@gmail.com
Teresa Townsend
Specialities: Life Story Workshops | Books |Preservation
Teresa Townsend has always enjoyed listening to the stories of family members and elderly neighbors, but with each passing of a loved one, the stories were fading. She understands the importance of capturing those stories now. She founded Tapestry because she wanted to help people share their legacy with future generations. She eventually added photo and memorabilia preservation to her business. She loves how Tapestry has grown into a true weaving together of stories and photographs. Teresa is certified in Reminiscence and Life Story Work, a certified Guided Biography Instructor, and a certified Photo Organizer with the Association of Professional Photo Organizers. She resides in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Website: tapestrylifestories.com
Email: tapestry@tapestrylifestories.com
Phone: (540) 271-2525
Heidi White
Specialty: Books
Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, Heidi White is a former Case Writer and Editor for the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. With a degree in Journalism and over 30 years of professional writing experience, Heidi now applies her interpersonal and writing skills to help others record and publish their personal life stories. In 2013, she and her father published Meine Geschichte (“My Story”), which her father, who has dementia, now thankfully recalls as “his memory.” In order to gain a better understanding in assisting those within the aging community, Heidi has worked tirelessly with Blue Ridge PACE (Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly), Care Is There Geriatric Care Management, and the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) Friendly Visitor for Individuals with Dementia Program. She encourages people of all ages to preserve their life stories in whatever form (written, video, audio, or other) works for them!
Website: http://writewordassociates.com
Email: writewordassociates@gmail.com
Phone: (434) 265-5405