I am originally from Portugal, which does not have a strong immigration tradition like the United States, so there is not much diversity as far as different languages and cultures.
While growing up, I was very interested in learning other languages and cultures. My favorite TV program was the Travel Channel. Whenever I watched, my mind would transport me and I imagined living in that country. I remember driving my parents crazy whenever I would spend the day pretending that I was Chinese and only eat with chopsticks, or when I would decide to be Spanish for the whole day and only speak Spanish.
I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to vacation in different countries and study abroad, which was a great way to learn different languages and understand cultural differences.
My passion for other languages led me to learn three languages besides Portuguese, and in 1997 I got a bachelor’s degree in translation and master’s in interpretation. I started working as a conference interpreter and although it was very interesting and well-paid, and it was what I was trained for, I missed the human contact and hated to be stuck in a booth for hours without any interaction with the speakers.