She was born, she married, she had children, she died. You’ve spent countless hours researching your family history. You’ve gathered the basic facts, resolved conflicting information, analyzed and correlated the data and cited your sources. But does that translate into a story that will interest your relatives or readers? This lecture will help you create a framework for telling your story in a meaningful and relatable way.
Linda Harms Okazaki is a fourth-generation Californian who is passionate about teaching people of all ages to research, document, and share their family histories. Her areas of interest include the western U.S., upstate New York, England, Australia, Japanese Americans and the use of DNA in genealogy. Ms. Okazaki is the past president of the California Genealogical Society and a charter member of the Nikkei Genealogical Society. She serves as a research consultant for both Ancestry’s ProGenealogists and Densho.org. Her column, “Finding Your Nikkei Roots,” is published bimonthly in the Nichi Bei News. Ms. Okazaki is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
This program is part of the Genealogy and Family History Symposium 2026, a two-day conference presented by the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) and the California Genealogical Society (CGS), featuring speakers from SFPL, CGS, the Oakland FamilySearch Center, SFgenealogy and other organizations presenting on a wide range of topics.
See the full two-day schedule.
LOCATION:Main Library - Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room B CLASS:PUBLIC TRANSP:TRANSPARENT END:VEVENT BEGIN:VALARM TRIGGER:-PT1440M ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:Event Reminder - Presentation: Once Upon a Time…Creating Compelling Stories Out of Mundane Facts END:VALARM END:VCALENDAR