Follow Friday – A Flashback to a Gem!

In the spring of 2009, I entered this world of online genealogy blogging. One of the very first podcasts I started following when I started learning genealogy online and later as a blogger was Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems Podcast. Lisa already had 2 years of blogging and podcast experience under her belt by the time I started blogging.  I remember thinking way back then that I wanted to grow up to be just like her.

In the early days of my blog, I participated in the meme Follow Friday. Genealogy Gems was and still is a fabulous follow. My Top Five, A Year in Review summed it up back in 2009. Oh my, that list has expanded considerably in the last 3 years, but these five are still mainstays.

I’m still chasing that dream; you know to be just like Lisa. Lisa has recently passed the one millionth download of her podcast. I can tell you that’s a lot of downloads and a lot of work. I applauded her for her dedication and professionalism to this industry. The Armchair Genealogist just rolled passed it’s 300,000th page view,  I have along way to go to measure myself against Lisa, whew! I’m only one third of the way there.

I continue to look to Lisa to learn not only about genealogy but about how she conducts her genealogy business. She continues to inspire me. In fact, I carry her with me everywhere I go…. on my iphone.  Did you know she has her own App on iTunes?  She’s very cool that way.

Over the years, I’ve often referred to Lisa on this blog. In a series of posts entitled Online Genealogy Learning- Time to Smarten Up, I reviewed her podcasts in a post about Online Genealogy Learning-Podcasts 101. You can’t mention Google for genealogists without using Lisa’s name, Beginner Genealogists- Are You Educated in Google Genealogy? outline the leaders and of course Lisa was showing us the way.  I couldn't begin to tell you how many times she probably made it into Monday Morning Mentions. She is an icon to online genealogists. 

At Rootstech last year, we met in person for the first time, it was my honour. She provided me with a copy of her latest book How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers, I reviewed it here. In fact, I liked it so much, it made it's way on my recent book list in Start Your Research Right: 12 Books for Your Genealogy Journey.

So when Lisa asked me to help her celebrate this milestone in her career how could I refuse, after all we have some history together.

Checkout Lisa’s infographic below Why Listen To Genealogy Podcasts, because while Lisa has  been around awhile she's still continues to blaze a trail for the rest of us. Thanks Lisa.