Press
For press inquiries, contact Barbara at [email protected].
Just Getting Started!
Projectkin is not a platform, personal service, or consultancy. We do not make money from our community members or charge for events or programming. We are a community of family historians hooked on stories.
Modern tools and generous patrons allow us to hold this together on a shoestring budget. We care for and motivate each other with supportive discussions, tips, and tricks. Our focus isn’t on sponsors or affiliates. We’re centered on encouraging everyone to share their family stories.
Getting Noticed
Starting anything is hard. It’s taken some hoopla 🎉 to get noticed by the press and other taste-makers who care about family history. Slowly, however, it’s happening. Our social media followings have grown. Since our founding in 2023, we’ve been included in magazines, newsletters, and podcasts.
In October 2025, one of our special events with a county local history team for Belmont County, Ohio, was covered in their local press. In Storytelling, County GIS Maps and Land Patents: The Seven Ranges and Belmont County, Ohio, Bruce Yarnall of Barnesville Area News described the event's significance to their local market.
In September 2025, we were included in an article for Who Do You Think You Are Magazine about the growth of family history publications on the Substack platform. In the article, Emma Cox described Projectkin as the first stop for genealogists on Substack. See the last paragraph of the article.
In September and October 2025, we revisited the All About That Place series of programs, as a mini event, organized by the Society of Genealogists in collaboration with the Society for One-Place Studies, the British Association for Local History (BALH), and Genealogy Stories. More about that 2025 series here.
In April 2025, I was interviewed by J.D. Murgolo the storytelling alchemist over at Keepsake Chronicles. There’s a case where the interview was illuminating to me! It’s a good example of the power of conversation:
In January 2025, Projectkin.org was noticed as part of a larger conversation about the Genealogy community gathering on Substack. With programs like the “Push & Pull of Platforms,” we look forward to encouraging and supporting this larger conversation about platform independence.
In late September and early October 2024, we co-sponsored the Pacific Edition of the All About That Place series, a celebration of one-place studies organized by the Society of Genealogists in collaboration with the Society for One-Place Studies, the British Association for Local History (BALH), and Genealogy Stories. The program was a standout on YouTube.
In May 2024, we celebrated our “birthday” in a suitable fashion with a video post and commentaries on Substack.
Happy Birthday, Projectkin 🎂
As some of you will know, the Projectkin community was born as the Ponga platform was withdrawn from the market on May 22nd, 2023. The software gave family historians an innovative way to organize and add stories to old photos. Though beloved, it wasn’t enough to break through with the resources we had. As co-founders, we took the platform offline while…
For the occasion of RootsTech 2024, Melissa Ann Kitchen, family historian, writer, and now Projectkin member, interviewed Barbara for her podcast, Preserve Your Past:
In the fall of 2023, Emma Cox, an incomparable journalist and connector out of the UK and host for the delightful Journeys into Genealogy included us in one of her podcast episodes:
Earlier, even before “Post-Ponga” turned into Projectkin.org, Bobbi Chegwyn, a life coach for midlife women pick up the story for her podcast Fly Mom, Fly! about women reinventing themselves in midlife:
About Barbara
Barbara Tien leads the community, informed by her experience as a co-founder of the innovative Ponga.com platform. In May 2023, she started Projectkin.org as “PostPonga” to give Ponga members an off-ramp for their photo and story archives when she and her co-founders had to take the platform offline. Previously, she held senior roles in hardware and software startups, primarily in the networking and telecommunications arena.
Projectkin Patrons
Projectkin’s paid tier celebrates the work of nearly 30 patrons support us with in-kind contributions and the funding that covers operational expenses like our Zoom and calendaring service. Learn more about our Patrons, their backgrounds and publications.
More about Barbara and what motivated her in the family history space in this 2021 interview published soon after Ponga launched on All Home Care Matters: