This month we would like to introduce you to Paula Faccio, AG®, who is accredited by ICAPGenSM for research in Italy. We interviewed Paula to learn more about her journey to accreditation, and are pleased to share some of what we learned about her.
Motivation
Genealogy was a passion of Paula’s from the time she was eighteen years old, and becoming a professional genealogist just naturally seemed like the next step for her to take. She recognized that accreditation should be a priority if she wanted to do this as a profession, so she started down that road. With credentials, she would be recognized as a competent researcher who understood the records of Italy, and clients could have confidence in her ability to access and analyze them.
Challenges with Italian research
According to Paula, one challenging aspect of Italian research is the fact that parish records in northern Italy and part of southern Italy have not been microfilmed. This makes the research more difficult, more time-consuming, and more expensive, because it requires onsite research.
Any researcher who has benefited from an abundance of microfilmed records for a locality should appreciate their own good fortune–and while we might like an excuse for an occasional trip to Italy, it would be quite challenging to do without that staple of genealogical research.
Advice for those pursuing accreditation
“Just do it!” says Paula. “It’s not an easy process, but definitely very rewarding and worthwhile. At the time I started the process to become accredited my level of English was very basic and I was the only Hispanic person in the classes. Many times, I found myself translating everything back and forth between Spanish, Italian, and English, because I was not sure if I was understanding everything correctly. Believe me, if I could do it with all my limitations, then you can definitely do it too! I cannot describe to you the joy that I felt when they told me: ‘Welcome to ICAPGen, you are now an Accredited Genealogist.’ I hope you can experience this same joy as well!”
The future for Paula
Having reached her goal of accreditation, Paula would also like to pursue the credential of Certified Genealogist.
Paula is currently working on two of her clients’ projects in southern Italy. One of the clients lives in Spain, so she is putting her language skills to good use! Being multi-lingual is a tremendous asset to a genealogist, and we congratulate Paula for being undaunted in her pursuit of accreditation, especially in those early stages when her level of English was so basic. She seems to epitomize her favorite quote: “Set your goals high, achieve them…and then exceed them!”
You can learn more about Paula on her website at http://www.yourpast.org/.
