Cari Taplin, CG
Cari Taplin, CG, tweeted her new BCG-associate status the day she learned about it: “I just learned I got my CG! @BCGenealogists Thank you! #genealogy.” She had already blogged about the portfolio preparation process when, with great relief, she turned hers in (“BCG Portfolio Madness”). To acknowledge the support of all those who helped her on her application journey, she blogged again, “Great News: I did it!” Cari loves to write, and her engaging personal style comes through in her blog with the unique, clever name, Genealogy Pants. Her published work also includes “Electronic Resources: Organize and Publish a Family Tree,” a course for the National Institute of Genealogical Studies; articles for the NGS Magazine; and six Legacy QuickGuides. She enjoys writing genealogies, so the portfolio's Kinship-Determination Project was a breeze for her.
Cari writes, and she lectures, too: “I guess if I had to pick one thing that really makes my day it is lecturing and seeing people be genuinely interested in learning how to do something or genuinely enjoying the story I’m telling. I love helping people figure out a different way to work at a research problem.” To date she has made many presentations to local groups, and she’s aiming for the national stage.
Even while preparing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, Cari was drawn to research. “In any class where we were assigned a research paper, I was secretly happy while everyone else groaned.” The step from art to genealogy followed the fun stories Cari’s grandparents told. One hinted at a family connection to cowboy actor Roy Rogers. Cari worked briefly as a receptionist for a firm with a high-speed internet connection. She spent free time between incoming calls researching the story online. Then she began searching obituaries, which led to interviewing older relatives, and finally she joined her local genealogical society. (She discovered along the way that the story was a myth.)
Among all the folks who befriended and mentored Cari on her certification journey, she especially recognizes the late Birdie Monk Holsclaw. “I owe so much to her. She took me under her wing; we met at least monthly to work on projects and discuss genealogy in general. She was the person who told me I should become a speaker, and so I did. She was the first person who encouraged me to write an article and helped me proof it. She told me I should seek certification and so I did. She was such a wonderful person and I owe nearly all of this to her.”
But Genealogy Pants? It is, Cari explains, her quirky sense of humor: “'Genealogy Pants’ [is like] calling someone 'smarty pants’ or 'fancy pants.’ I just got tired of hearing the same old words in people’s businesses 'tree,’ 'roots,’ 'ancestor,’ 'ancestry,’ 'branch,’ and so on. I like to stand out in a quirky way.” She will now stand out as a Board-certified genealogist. She of course works from home dressed in her pajama pants.
Cari prepared her BCG portfolio in the midst of moving her family from Colorado to Texas. If she can do that, she can do anything. She alerts us in her blog, “I’m so excited to start this next part of the genealogical journey, watch out!”
Cari can be reached at . Check out Genealogy Pants, or follow her on Twitter, @cataplin. Welcome, Cari!
CG or Certified Genealogist is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by Board-certified genealogists after periodic competency evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.