Where do you currently live?
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
What motivated you to join the leadership of the PLD?
It was a natural and obvious decision for me back in the 1990s, with no family in the U.S., but enjoying my life as a solo world explorer. I was leaving a boring consular job in Dallas when a translation company located in the same building approached me and told me about this profession. ATA gave me an intellectual home I had unknowingly been craving and also gave me the opportunity to use all the talents I had thus far developed. My best friends today are colleagues I met at ATA, and the PLD was our wonderful and natural inner circle.
What was your role in the PLD, and when did you serve?
I think I served every role there over the years, until I was elected Administrator and ended up serving 4 terms at the helm. I edited our newsletter, gathered teams of contributing writers and editors, campaigned for ATA approval of distinguished speakers at the annual conference, and organized some of our much-missed PLD mid-year conferences (each time in a different city) by selecting volunteer speakers from Portuguese-speaking countries.
What were the dynamics of PLD at that time?
Social interactions were intense always. Almost all of us were immigrants in the U.S. from different Portuguese-speaking countries. We joined U.S.-born linguists who loved Portuguese and had different life experiences in Brazil and Portugal. Our natural desire to form a community of collaboration, discovery and new friendships was, I think, key to our success.
What do you consider your greatest contribution to the advancement of the PLD?
Building on the efforts of my predecessors who created one of the oldest and most successful divisions of ATA and motivating a new generation of leaders for the advancement of Portuguese linguists.
What are you currently doing, both professionally and personally?
I am still conference interpreting internationally with a much lighter load, as a happy semi-retired digital nomad. I keep close contact with my Washington friends and colleagues, but I am very happy living more permanently now in my native Rio de Janeiro.
What is your vision for the future of the PLD?
I will leave that question to the new generation of leaders.
What advice do you have for PLD members today?
Face your fears, get close to leaders you admire, believe them when they say you have talents to share.
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