Ringleader

Barbara Tien, BA/MA

Barbara is the ringleader at the Projectkin community. Previously, she was one of the co-founders at Ponga.com, a software platform pioneering storytelling in pictures. That experience gave her a deep appreciation for the power of family history storytelling and the privacy challenges of sharing stories with modern platforms.

Today, she's focused on growing Projectkin into a generous community where family historians can motivate and inspire one another with creative storytelling projects of all kinds. The community is free, platform-independent, and invites members to share and engage in each other’s stories through blog posts, interactive tools, and a dozen or more online events each month.

Barbara has been a public speaker and teacher since her days as a product manager, team leader, and director for technology companies. As a startup founder, she pitched investors and led workshops. In addition to weekly livestreams and three or more programs a month for Projectkin, Barbara has given formal talks for a range of organizations, including the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree, the Western Indiana Genealogical Society, SecondLife Genealogical Society, the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library.