Cheri Mello is a math teacher with degrees in psychology, sociology, human and child development, and a master's in education.  She is a National Board Certified Teacher, the most prestigious and highest teaching credential in the educational world.

Sixteen years ago, Cheri began actively researching her family.  She joined many genealogical societies and family associations.  She has taken many research trips, including some to the Azores Islands, in search of her Portuguese ancestors.

Cheri is best known in the Portuguese genealogy circles.  She was a chat room host on the Genealogy Forum on AOL for ten years.  After it disbanded, she was a chat host for Lusaweb, a Portuguese-American online community.
She wrote numerous articles on researching Portuguese ancestry and lectured extensively about Portuguese ancestry in Los Angeles, San Diego, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and New Bedford, Massachusetts.  She runs an Azorean genealogy list on Google Groups.  Three years ago, she was recruited for a co-administrator of the Azores DNA project.  She now lectures on DNA as well as Portuguese genealogy.

kinklector@gmail.com