Cory Bretz has been making life story family history films since 1996.
Family Movie Story Books
A Powerful Collaboration between Family Historian Cory Bretz and Book Designer Extraordinaire Barbi Braude!
Teaming up to take your family history book over the top, Barbi and Cory bring years of experience making books together.
You can have Barbi and Cory work together on your family book! Cory will assist you in telling your story, interviewing you and your relatives, handling and summarizing genealogical and historical research, writing the text, and finding just the right images in your family photo collection. Barbi will design and structure your family book so it is beautiful, orderly, and cherished for generations.
Working with both Cory and Barbi together brings maximum efficiency to complex projects and ensures that you actually get your book done and published!
Set up a free consultation to talk about your family history book.
Barbi Braude
Barbi Braude has always been captivated by family history—curious about where her people came from and what they did for a living. From a young age, she was the one asking questions, snapping photos at family gatherings, and poring over old photo albums. That lifelong interest evolved into a professional passion: designing beautiful family storybooks that preserve memories for generations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, after creating countless keepsakes for others, Barbi turned her talents to her own roots. Alongside her cousin Irene, she gathered stories and traced family lines from ten countries, culminating in a stunning 412 page, six pound hardcover book documenting 188 relatives—no small feat (especially for the mail carrier delivering it!).
An accomplished graphic and book designer, Barbi is also an expert organizer, historical documents archivist, and downsizing specialist. She brings order to chaos—digitizing family treasures, organizing overflowing rooms, and transforming clutter into calm.
Cory Bretz
Cory Bretz is an end of life doula and personal historian who specializes in life reviews, family history, and deluxe legacy projects.
He loves interviewing, writing and helping people tell their stories to create family history movies and books that educate and inspire the next generation.
Cory is skilled with the steps for planning a sweet end of life experience and understands the healing power of difficult conversations and the bold work of reconciling grief.
The Golden Seeds Journey Workshop
The Golden Seeds Journey Workshop is about how to plan your remaining time and consciously gather up the goodness of your life and that of your ancestors into an educational and inspiring consumable bundle that contains a book, or a movie,
your mementos, old photos and historical keepsakes. Your loved ones will be blessed and inspired by all that your life has meant, and the wisdom and goodness of you, your spouse, your parents and grandparents.
During this variable length experiential workshop, each participant will receive a Golden Seeds Journey Workbook to follow along and begin to assess their own last season needs and wishes.
Topics include end-of-life planning, downsizing and preserving family history, photos and mementos, and creating meaningful and inspiring life review legacy projects like books and movies.
Doing this type of creative planning can help participants feel more purposeful, hopeful, relieved, and peaceful. The workshop is a combination of engaging spoken presentation by Cory and Barbi along with self-contemplation, group discussion, and Q&A.
Set up a free consultation to bring the Golden Seeds Journey Workshop to your group.