Serving our interpreter colleagues

My colleagues in the ATA Interpreting Division received the following email from the ATA office today. Why did Lorena and I step up?

We know it will keep us busy for a few years, but we are counting on our colleagues’ help on this team. We are still in the election process, so it is not completely certain. However, we want to do our best.

We have been planning for this for a while, and will start to get ready as soon as is reasonable. See you at the ATA Conference!

Here is what ATA sent out today, June 28, 2018.

The Nominating Committee of the Interpreters Division is pleased to announce that the following Division members have been nominated as candidates in the upcoming election of officers:

Administrator: Helen Eby

Assistant Administrator: Lorena Ortiz Schneider

Please take a few minutes to read the following statements from the candidates.

CANDIDATE FOR ADMINISTRATOR

Helen Eby

ATA divisions are intended to provide their members a place to grow in continuing education, in leadership, and in unity. At ATA, we bring together interpreters who practice in many different areas: medical, court, conference, workers comp, schools, government and others. The diversity of this group is compounded by the diversity of languages represented. To meet the needs of our members, we need to communicate with them frequently and be accessible.

Helen Eby and Lorena Ortiz-Schneider intend to work as a team from the first day, having meetings on a regular basis not only with the Leadership Council but also with members. We will use GoTo Meeting, Facebook, and Twitter for these scheduled meetings. The meetings will be announced on the ID listserv since ATA ID members are our primary audience. At those times we will find out your concerns and recruit volunteers for assignments that are within the scope of the ATA ID.

The Administrator, Assistant Administrator, and Leadership Council members are all volunteers. Our job is to help the Interpreters Division members work together as an excellent large team, not to do all the work for the Interpreters Division. Not even a full-time staff could do that. We have been making plans to serve our colleagues in the ATA Interpreters Division for a year, hoping we would have the opportunity to do so. We look forward to serving our colleagues.

Helen Eby is an ATA Certified translator (Spanish to English), Oregon Court Certified Interpreter (Spanish) and Certified Healthcare Interpreter (Spanish). She has been interpreting and translating for about 30 years. She helped the Oregon court interpreters get a raise after over 15 years of stagnated rates, and was the first President of the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters. She was the first independent provider approved as a trainer for medical interpreters in the State of Oregon and provided the training approved by the State for three years. She has served interpreters in other roles as well, including the Leadership Council of the Interpreters Division of ATA. She has also been Assistant Administrator of the Spanish Language Division and is one of the Team Leaders of the ATA Savvy Newcomer. Her passion has always been to work in teams, help others grow and shine, and leave her assignment ready for others to take over without a hitch.

CANDIDATE FOR ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR

Lorena Ortiz Schneider

I echo Helen Eby’s approach to teamwork in order to achieve our goal of uniting interpreters from all fields of practice, celebrating the differences and engendering mutual respect for each others’ chosen field. Together we are a powerful force that can continue to elevate the profile of our craft. As a long-time avid soccer player, I understand the importance of having a team mentality when facing the challenges we see on a daily basis: with forwards who can score goals with those who procure our services, assisted by the midfielders who are the play-makers, informing the rest of the team on how to put in work, and the defense who, armed with that knowledge, are able to protect our own goal of informing the world about why it is important to use a professional interpreter. Without teamwork, the field is just far too large for any one sector to tackle alone. I hope to help take that step towards bringing us all together.

We look forward to serving our colleagues.

Lorena Ortiz Schneider was born in Ecuador, raised in Mexico, Spain, England, France, and California. As an adult, she has lived in France and Argentina and has traveled extensively. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, fluent in French and has Portuguese as a working C language. Lorena earned her BA at UCSB and MA from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Translation and Conference Interpreting.

As a passionate professional interpreter and translator since 1992, she is the owner of Ortiz Schneider Interpreting & Translation, Inc. a local agency on the Central Coast of California. She is an American Translators Association (ATA) Certified Translator and  California State Certified Administrative Hearing Interpreter, has worked for the US Department of State as Liaison and Seminar Interpreter, as Conference Interpreter for private industry and community-based programs, for Workers’ Compensation, Social Security Administration, EDD, and the Courts. She is a working interpreter and translator.

Lorena was a member of the California Workers’ Compensation Interpreters Association (CWCIA) and actively participated on the IP&O Committee, supporting and giving back to the interpreting community by educating and working with those who create policy affecting the profession. She was ATA’s Interpreters Division (ID) Assistant Administrator and editor of the ID Blog from 2016-2018. She has presented at the California Federation of Interpreters Conference, was one of 8 InterpreT-ED speakers at InterpretAmerica’s 5th Summit (IA5) in Monterey CA, a panelist at IA6’s panel on video remote interpreting in Washington, DC last October, and presenter at Work Comp Central’s seminar on Ethics.

Lorena is also a Cross-Cultural Communications Licensed Trainer, teaching from The Community Interpreter International to those who desire to enter the medical interpreting profession. Her love for interpreting has led her to share her knowledge and expertise in educating the next generation of interpreters to assist the growing number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) access community services.