Gina Trapani, Life Hacker

Her excitement at becoming the founding editor of the site in no way prepared her for its meteoric rise in the online world. She said, "I've been shocked by the success of the site. I think everyone was, because it was sort of accidental. For most sites this company publishes, they deliberate for months about the name, the design — and LifeHacker just came together really quickly."

Since the site's inception, Trapani and three other editors have tested and reviewed thousands of software applications, gadgets and web tools in search of ways to work faster and more efficiently. They publish approximately 20 entries per day on a range of topics, mostly related to technology and personal productivity. But true to the site's name, they also publish a number of articles on non-technical life hacks, such as "De-clump Sugar with a Slice of Bread," and "Speed Up Laundry with Tennis Balls."

The prolific output of LifeHacker.com makes for long work hours for Trapani. Her work-life balance is eased by the fact that she works from home in sunny San Diego (she moved to the West Coast two years ago). In addition, her partner of over a decade is a non-techie.

Trapani beams when she talks about how great it is to have an analog girlfriend in a digital world. "I really love it," she said, "because she grounds me." Her girlfriend has no qualms telling her "Guess what: The whole universe isn't web 2.0."

Trapani, who is a Googleholic to the point of being the author of one of the most popular Firefox browser Google add-ons (Better Gmail), jokingly lamented that they don't use an online tool to sync schedules: "It's a little frustrating. I'd like to share the Google calendar."

Instead they are strictly offline when it comes to managing their time as a couple. "We literally have a whiteboard calendar on our refrigerator at the house," Trapani explained. "That's how I know what her schedule is."

When it comes to technology, Trapani said her girlfriend is "just not that into it." That, to Trapani, is a positive: "I think if we were both super into the web all the time, I'd be overloaded."

Interestingly enough, throughout her life, most of Trapani's role models have not come from the world of technology but from the typical icons of lesbian culture.

"This is pretty predictable for someone who came out in the '90s," she said, "but the Indigo Girls are my heroes, because they're such beautiful writers and ardent activists. I swear, their music saved my life in college."

And her biggest crush growing up was on Jennifer Beals. "I was in love with Jennifer Beals when I was 6 years old, when she was in Flashdance," she recalled.

Nowadays she catches Beals on The L Word, which she watches "religiously." While she loves the show, she views it with a critical eye: "I love that there's a show on TV about queer women who are the stars and everything. I just wish that it could be better. There are times when I'm really disappointed, but maybe I hold them to a higher standard."

She refers to the glamorous characters on the show as "alien lesbians," because they don't really represent "my friends back in Brooklyn" or any of her more recent friends in California.

Trapani, however, has come to represent the interactive web 2.0 world of blogs as an icon herself. She has put her years of experience on paper with the release this spring of her second book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better, a collection of more than 100 personal productivity tips. She calls the book her "proudest accomplishment," as it was a lifelong professional goal for her, whereas LifeHacker.com was her "biggest accidental accomplishment."

"I'm so proud of, and humbled by, the community of readers that gathers at the site every day," she said, "and the good karma that passes back and forth as my editorial staff and I set out to help readers, who in turn help us. It's a pretty amazing job."

For more information on Gina Trapani, visit GinaTrapani.com.