Hi, I’m Dianne.

I wasn’t always an editor, interpreter and translator. For many years, I was an elementary school teacher. I taught middle and upper elementary students in the U.S., in Spain and Bolivia.

My move to Bolivia was a calculated one. Núr University in Santa Cruz, Bolivia was developing a teacher-training program for rural school teachers, training them in community leadership as well as active learning strategies, while allowing them to earn a university degree in education – the first in the country. I wanted to be part of that. After teacher for two years at an international school in Bolivia, I joined the university’s education department and helped develop the pedagogical modules and teach the courses once the program was launched. It was an unforgettable experience – learning alongside dedicated rural schoolteachers, seeing the impact of the program on their lives and on mine, and in their communities.

After some years, the funding for the program ran out and although some of the training continued in different settings, I found myself at loose ends and it was time for a change. With a small one now in my life, there was no longer time for hours of creative lesson planning, extended nights grading and leaving detailed and most certainly highly appreciated comments on my student’s papers, or planning school camping trips for community building and environmental awareness all wrapped into one marvelous experience. Moving on to a different school didn’t seem like a wise option.

What to do? I finished out the year at that school, slept occasionally, made mashes of many different ingredients and hues, attended mothers’ gatherings, and wondered what my next step would be. And then came the call I had long dreaded. “Dianne,” said the secretary from another school I had worked at, “a company called us. They’re looking for English classes for their employees. Maybe…”

Ever plagued by the need to be just a little different from everyone else (“special”, you might say), I had vowed never to do that oh-so-typical American activity of teaching English abroad. But, as we say in Spanish “Lo que arranca en la huerta, le nace en la puerta”; that is: That weed you pulled out of the garden is going to show up at your door.

And this was the start of the path I have now been on for more than 20 years. I taught those English classes (and enjoyed it), started translating for that same company, and began providing English and Spanish language services for various clients. My lucky break came when a friend working at a regional NGO called to ask if I could translate and interpret for them. That was where the puzzle pieces from the previous 20 years clicked into place. Here was the space where I could apply my varied cultural experience, my language skills, and my educational background (because what aspect of development is not linked, directly or indirectly, to education?), and stay true to my desire to contribute to development efforts. And this is what I have had the good fortune of doing ever since.