Julia Pedro – Administrator (Lisbon, POR)

Julia Pedro has been in the translation business since 1993, from the early days of localization, while working at a multinational financial information and services organization. Later, Julia joined Trados in the US and in Germany from 2000 to 2003 and worked in different projects for freelancers, LSPs and language-services related technology. She co-founded TranslateIt.net in Seattle, Washington and ran the business’ front and back offices for 7 years.

Besides her ATA-Certification in English-to-Portuguese achieved in 2006, Julia has been a certification grader since 2010 and more recently Deputy Language Chair. She holds certificates in translation and foreign languages from different academic institutions in Europe and Africa, and a degree in consecutive and simultaneous interpretation from the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. Julia is also a sworn translator by the High Court of South Africa.  

Over the last 20 years, Julia has been living, working, and traveling in the Americas, Europe and Africa on countless assignments and projects. 

Ruth Hollard – Assistant Administrator (Alabama, USA)

Ruth Hollard is an American translator specializing in Portuguese-to-English (and French-to-English) business and financial translations.  She has over nine years of translation experience, in addition to her prior corporate experience at Citigroup, DDB Needham Europe, and Goldman Sachs. Ruth holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a major in international trade and finance, and a minor in German. She has lived abroad for over three decades in Austria, Switzerland, France, and Brazil. She currently divides her time between the USA and Brazil.

Blog Editor – Barbara Mendes (Lisbon, POR)

Barbara Mendes is an English to Brazilian Portuguese translator from Rio de Janeiro and has over 17 years of experience providing high-quality service in translation, transcreation, localization, and LQA. At university, she studied English and Portuguese but decided to specialize in translation. She is currently working towards a Master’s in Translation Studies from Universidade de Lisboa, in Portugal. Barbara spends half of the year in Brazil and the other half in Portugal, besides attending several translation conferences around the globe.

Groups Coordinator and PLD Friday Jam Editor  – Melissa Harkin, CT (Kansas, USA)

Melissa Harkin, CT, is a Brazilian-American ATA-certified English>Portuguese translator with over 20 years of experience who works in Portuguese, Spanish, and English and specializes in journalistic, legal, energy, and sustainable development content. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LLB), MBA in Strategic Management, Certificate in Translation and Subtitling, and Professional Certificate in Internationalization and Localization. Melissa is also an experienced project manager and a former DOD Language Specialist. Currently, she’s pursuing her MA in Translation Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK, and is a member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and the Brazilian Translators Association (ABRATES).

Copyeditor – Lynnea Hansen (Wisconsin, USA)

Lynnea Hansen is a conference interpreter (Portuguese<>English), US State Department contract interpreter, translator (Portuguese>English) and English proofreader from the USA. She graduated from New York University in international relations, began translating and interpreting during an internship at an NGO, then worked at United Nations headquarters for two years, moved to Brazil and continued translation, proofreading, and interpreting studies (graduated from Rio Brasillis), and interpreted President Obama in Washington DC in 2016. She has 24 years of experience and many hundreds of articles translated or edited/proofread, which have been published in international academic journals.

Copyeditor and Outreach Coordinator – Todd Harkin (Kansas, USA)

Todd Harkin is a Portuguese > English translator from Missouri (USA), specializing in food, sustainable development, and medical/pharmaceutical content, as well as in cultural equivalence in translation. He transitioned to a full-time career in translation in 2018, after more than 25 years in the food industry in different countries. Todd has a Bachelor’s Degree in Gastronomy and Hospitality Management and Certificates in Portuguese as a Second Language (Mackenzie University), Medical Translation (Escola de Tradutores), Technical Translation (Geronymus), and Conference Interpreting (Escola de Tradutores). He is currently studying English-Portuguese Translation in the Graduate Program of Estácio University. A formally trained and certified Chef, Todd is the personification of a foodie translator.

Volunteer Opportunities!

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