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Company Profile Children say and do the most adorable things, yet hectic schedules and never-ending demands leave parents little time to relish them. My Memory Catcher™ gives parents and other relatives the rare opportunity to stop and capture those fleeting moments, preserving their child’s whims and wonders in a treasury of memories they’ll cherish for a lifetime. Launched in July 2009 by award-winning public relations go-getter, educator, and motivational speaker, Keri Gee Semmelman, My Memory Catcher is a personal historian service specializing in collecting the delightful stories that make up a child’s day – the ones parents can’t bear to forget yet are often too busy to write down themselves. Central to the memory catching venture is the Parent Historian™, Keri Gee’s team of specially trained reporters skilled at eliciting heartwarming stories and carefully capturing them to convey the love and pride in which they were told. All of her Parent Historians have extensive experience working with children and families as journalists or community leaders, making them the ideal conduit for turning memories into legacies. In a series of regularly scheduled telephone interviews, parents (or any relative or loved one they choose) recount to their dedicated Parent Historian all the insightful, creative, and downright funny things their children said and did over the past few weeks. Interviews are conducted in an environment that is happy and caring, with lots of giggles and plenty of “aaahhs.” Upon completion of the project, parents receive their collection of stories in a distinctive journal, a lasting testament to their love for their extraordinary child. My Memory Catcher is inspired by Keri Gee’s philosophy that the more parents take time to notice, joyfully react, remember and reminisce about their children’s adorable moments, the happier they and those around them will be. As such, the Huntington Beach, Calif. company seeks to heighten happiness within families and communities around the world by generating “good news” that makes people smile. Storytelling, it is said, is an emotional experience that strengthens bonds between the teller, the listener, and the subject of the story. By building the framework in which parents share their children’s actions, My Memory Catcher strives to unite families and make a less stressful, more fun home environment with even more laughter to go around. Parents are most frequently interviewed for My Memory Catcher, though they may designate a grandparent, care provider, or someone else who spends valuable time with their child to speak with their Parent Historian. Families enroll in three month, six and one-half month, or 12-month packages, with interviews occurring once every two or three weeks to maximize memory retention. In addition to a spiral-bound journal, parents may choose from a variety of personalized gift items that allow them to share their child’s special moments with loved ones for generations to come. From storytelling picture frames to a newspaper/newsletter format where every story is about the child making the headlines! Keri Gee also offers a “Power of Memories” workshop, a 90-minute, interactive stroll down Memory Lane that teaches participants how to “catch” their memories and offers 10 core steps for turning memories into happiness. The workshop, typically offered through parent and community groups, is ideal for anyone interested in learning how to improve their mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing through the laughter and happiness their memories generate.
About Keri Gee Semmelman
Keri Gee Semmelman knows first hand the power of memories in uniting families. Growing up, she loved listening with her brothers and sisters to the funny stories her parents told about her loved ones. The belly laughs that filled their home and the happiness that lingered created a special family bond that lasts to this day. As a teen babysitter, she would often write down all the adorable things the kids in her charge did, and then share those stories with their delighted parents when they returned. Years later, she saw how excited parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles became when she asked them to tell her something precious their child (loved one) had done lately. Now, Keri Gee has turned her hobby into her calling, combining her passion for storytelling and love of children with more than 20 years experience in public relations, journalism, and public speaking to create that same happiness for families everywhere. A multiple award-winning public relations professional and past Orange County Public Relations Person of the Year, Keri Gee has an acclaimed record of developing and implementing cutting edge communications approaches that enable her clients to reach their greatest potential. She founded PRIDEA, a boutique public relations firm, in 1998 to provide strategic public relations support with an emphasis on community relations and special events that grab the attention of the media and target audience. She is also a speaking coach and sought-after motivational speaker and is regularly invited to address organizations in the areas of leadership development, team building, fundraising, and effective communications. Among the renown clients she has served in the corporate and non-profit sectors are the Women’s Cancer Research Foundation, Chapman University, The Boeing Company, and Unisource Worldwide, Inc. From her early days as a camp counselor to her role as public relations director for the Long Beach Camp Fire Boys & Girls, Keri Gee has spent her life working with children, and making them laugh is one of her greatest thrills. You might even say she’s a pro at it, having done a two-year stint as “Huggee the Clown” for a couple of recreation centers in her college days. Throughout her career, she has been the driving force behind programs that celebrate children, such as the Family Tree Garden in Orange County’s (California) Irvine Regional Park which honors parents of adopted children and educates the community of the need for more adoptive parents. She also innovated a system of recognizing student achievement in vocational training for the California Department of Education’s Regional Occupational Program (ROP). As a career mentor at several universities and adjunct professor at Chapman University, she plays an instrumental role in guiding young people as they embark upon their professional path.
Keri Gee holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Recreation Leadership and Journalism/Public Relations from California State University, Long Beach. She has been honored by the Public Relations Society of America Orange County Chapter (OC/PRSA) with a prestigious PROTOS award for outstanding achievement and with a Distinguished Service Award, the chapter’s highest honor as PR individual of the year. A dedicated community volunteer, she has been a board member and event chair for many nonprofit organizations and has received recognition awards from the American Cancer Society, Camp Fire USA, the Volunteer Center of Orange County, and Orange County On Track. She has also won numerous local and regional speech contests sponsored by Toastmasters International. For more information about My Memory Catcher™ visit www.MyMemoryCatcher.net or contact Keri Gee Semmelman, 714.847.1512; kerigee@MyMemoryCatcher.net.
Keri Gee Semmelman, PRIDEA/My Memory Catcher
Happiness Business Raises Spirits A multi-generational twist on a personal historian service (in which adult children typically recall their own history and that of their ancestors), the primary focus of My Memory Catcher is to help busy parents and their relatives remember, retell, and relive their most recent, happiest moments about their child. The business also helps other people capture their happiest stories about other loved ones, or even about a beloved pet. Those anecdotes are then developed into journalistic-style stories and preserved in a priceless written journal for families to read again and again together and to share with others. A crowd of more than 50 community leaders, educators, family matriarchs and patriarchs, and colleagues gathered at the Bower’s Kidseum in Santa Ana, Calif. on Oct. 1, for the historic launch. Attendees experienced first-hand how that process of remembering, retelling, and reliving beloved stories increases their happiness and to hear Semmelman explain the need for her unique business, which she created as part of PRIDEA, her Huntington Beach-based public relations consulting company. “In good times and bad, we can all benefit from good news and the increased happiness that comes with it,” Semmelman said. “My goal is to make people even more aware that good news is all around them every day and to use their positive memories to reduce stress and heighten their fun and happiness.” Amid the air of nostalgia was the participation of special celebrity Mary Ann King, whom guests remembered fondly as Miss Mary Ann, the hostess of TV’s Romper Room from 1966-1976. The remainder of the evening was also a trip down Memory Lane, complete with classic children’s music and age-old treats like Ding Dongs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, in which guests shared their fondest and funniest childhood memories, causing 126 outbursts of laughter (yes, they kept track since laughter is a key channel to happiness). “The things children do, do you remember them, and do they still make you smile?” King asked the captivated crowd. “That’s the brilliance behind My Memory Catcher. Keri Gee and her team will inspire you to key into your children even more to help you preserve your memories so you don’t ever forget them.” Armed with her nearly 30 years in the public relations industry and degrees in journalism and recreation and leisure studies, Semmelman, a former Orange County Public Relations Person of the Year, has developed a team of “happiness historians,” of which she is one, that serves as a sort of public relations promoter for families. For those sharing stories about children, designated parent historians, who are the cornerstone of the My Memory Catcher process, phone parents, grandparents, or other loved ones indicated by the client at prescheduled times once every two to three weeks to engage in a 20-minute journalistic style interview about all the sweet, insightful and downright hysterical things the children they love recently said and did. Interviews continue with the same person for three, six and one-half, or 12 months, depending on the package the family purchased. At the end of the package, Semmelman weaves these brief anecdotes into lengthier stories and returns them to the family in a written journal. Other personalized gift items let the family share the stories with other loved ones and ultimately to archive the stories for when the child is old enough to embrace them. Semmelman, who is known for the unique and inspiring ways she draws positive publicity to nonprofit groups and other worthy causes, piloted My Memory Catcher for more than one year prior to the launch by interviewing several parents for different lengths of time. One parent, Shelley Hoss, an Orange County executive director of a nonprofit group, shared a videotaped testimonial with guests about the value of the My Memory Catcher experience.
“Retelling my son’s adorable moments and reading the journal I received at the end of the My Memory
Catcher process caused me to reflect in a deeper, more meaningful way about his development and my being a parent. I’m so excited that Keri Gee has launched My Memory Catcher because it is the ultimate good news.”
While My Memory Catcher’s main focus is on capturing the adorable things children say and do, Semmelman has seen a rise in inquiries from people who want her to capture the cute and adorable things their pets, spouses and other loved ones say and do – adding credence to Semmelman’s firm belief that amid these trying times, My Memory Catcher is exactly what people need right now and forever.
Orange County Business Coach Susan Bock, who attended the event, extolled the unique nature of Semmelman’s business concept.
“Keri Gee has created a service whose delivery and end result are unlike anything available to families and individuals today,” Bock said. “How truly fitting it is for a person with her passion and desire to help others to seek to generate happiness by inspiring people to focus even more on the good that’s right in front of them.”
About Keri Gee Semmelman, My Memory Catcher Passionate Owner:
Multiple award-winning public relations professional and past Orange County Public Relations Person of the Year Keri Gee Semmelman is the owner of Huntington Beach, Calif. based PRIDEA, a boutique public relations firm founded in 1998 to provide strategic public relations support with an emphasis on community relations and special events that grab the attention of the media and target audiences. An experienced youth educator and community leader with a love of storytelling and children, she has combined her expertise and passions into My Memory Catcher, an innovative new part of her business that seeks to generate happiness within families and entire communities by helping them remember, retell, and relive their happiest moments one wonderful memory at a time. For more information about My Memory Catcher™ visit www.MyMemoryCatcher.net or contact Keri Gee Semmelman at 714-847-1512; kerigee@MyMemoryCatcher.net.
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