Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL
General, Post-Secondary, Business, Engineer / Mechanics
Anne Braun has been practicing interpreting in the DC/ Maryland area since 1997. She currently works in government, community, VRS and mental health settings.
Anne earned her Bachelor’s Degree in special education from Southern Connecticut State University and Master’s Degree in Deaf Education from Gallaudet University. She taught Deaf children for nine years before transitioning to interpreting. Anne was an adjunct professor in the Interpreter Training Program at Community College of Baltimore County for nine years teaching introduction to interpreting, interpreting in specialized settings and interpreting process/skills classes
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL Language Model, Interpreting process: English to ASL, K-12, Special Education, VRI, Mental Health
Chantal Bergeron is a Canadian native. At age two, she discovered that she had profound hearing loss. After a few years at oral school, she was transferred to the deaf school and started learning ASL. She graduated from Gallaudet University with a Bachelor’s in Family and Child Studies. In 2015, when she began working at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD, she found her passion in teaching and mentoring hearing students who want to become ASL interpreters. She has been offering English-to-ASL Interpreting and ASL mentoring for about two years. Chantal recently became a state-approved Deaf Mentor for South Dakota.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: Interpreting process: ASL to English, English to ASL, Mental Health, Healthcare, VRS, Education, Atypical Language
Cyndi has been a practicing interpreter for over 13 years, receiving her NIC from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf in 2014. She earned her Master of Science degree in Secondary Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing from Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. For the first 6 years of her career, she focused primarily on education (K-12/post-secondary) and community interpreting. During this time, she also began working in the VRS field and continues to do so nearly a decade later.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL-to-English and DC-S
General, Medical, Post-Secondary, Business, Mental Health, Atypical Language, Engineer/Mechanics, Government Settings, and NIC Interview & Performance Exam Preparation
Henry did his interpreter training at UW-Milwaukee before moving out to Washington D.C. to work on a master’s in linguistics from Gallaudet University. During his time at Gallaudet he worked as an interpreter and also an ESL instructor for international students both at Gallaudet and in the D.C. area. He has his NIC and recently completed his QMHI in Alabama to become a qualified mental health interpreter.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL-to-English and DC-S
General, Medical, Post-Secondary, Business, Technology, Mental Health, and K-12 Settings
Jasmine Marin has a Master of Science degree in Health Care Interpreting from Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute of the Deaf. She received NIC Advanced national certification from The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf in 2008 and was a contributing author in the textbook: Handbook of Research on Medical Interpreting. She also holds national CoreCHI certification from the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters. Jasmine is originally from Canada but currently lives in Arizona and has been a practicing signed language interpreter for over 15 years. She is licensed and registered to practice in Arizona and Nevada. As owner of a local interpreting agency, she has worked in a variety of community settings, but is primarily a healthcare interpreter.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL, ASL-to-English
General, Business, Human Services, Social Work
Jessica Aguilar is a native Minnesotan with a bachelor’s degree in social work and women’s studies from Gallaudet University. As a licensed social worker from 2008-2012, Jessi has done various jobs within the human services field. From 2012-2018, she was a Deaf Mentor teaching ASL to hearing families with D/HH children. In 2018, she was promoted to Lead Deaf Mentor for the MN Deaf Mentor Family Program. Jessi supported all the Deaf Mentors in their teaching skills by utilizing different tools and approaches. For three semesters, Jessi also taught ASL high school students. Currently she works for the MN Board of Social Work and has a lot of knowledge with vocabularies related to government, administration, health licensing boards, and human services.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: Interpreting process: ASL to English, English to ASL, EIPA Test Prep, Ethics, DeafBlind Interpreting, Religious, Business, K-12
Krystle Chambers has been an interpreter for ten years and a mentor and educator for eight years. She earned a Master of Arts Degree in Interpreting Studies with an emphasis in Teaching at Western Oregon University. Krystle has several published works pertaining to ASL/English interpreting, interpreting with the DeafBlind community, and mentoring the next generation of ASL interpreters. She has worked in roles such as chief editor and researcher.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL Language Model
Michele Rolewitz was born in Moorhead, MN and raised in Fargo, ND. She attended the North Dakota School for the Deaf in Devils Lake, ND and National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester in Rochester, NY. Michele had Deaf grandparents, therefore learned sign language at a young age. Both her mom and dad are fluent in ASL.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL and ASL-to-English
Hello my name is Mikey Krajnak.
Born deaf to a hearing family in Staten Island, NY. Recently retired from Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Currently living outside of Savannah, GA with husband of 14 years and enjoying free time as a freelancing CDI and mentor. I have been CDI since 2010 and did a lot of interpreting prior to the certification. I graduated from Gallaudet University in 1993 majoring in Sign Communication (which later changed to ASL Teaching). I have taught several universities in the past— Gallaudet University, NTID at RIT, Brown University, Boston University.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English to ASL and ASL Language Model
General, Medical, Legal, Post-Secondary, Business, and Atypical Settings
Naomi Sheneman, Ph.D. & CDI has been working professionally in the interpreting profession since 2000 in various roles. She is currently a freelance consultant, researcher, educator, interpreter diagnostician, mentor, and interpreter. She is the first deaf woman to receive a Ph.D. degree in Interpretation from Gallaudet University. Her dissertation study focused on the impact of extralinguistic knowledge of cancer on interpreters’ work. She gives presentations and trainings nationally and internationally focusing on ethics, power dynamics in interpretation, and medical interpreting. Her publications include a study on Deaf interpreters’ ethics, interpreting in international conferences, and power imbalances in interactions between deaf people and interpreters. When she’s not nerding, she enjoys biking, doing yoga, cooking, and spending time with her three dogs, Chocolate, Levi, and Coral St. John.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL and ASL Language Model
General Settings, Post-Secondary, Mental Health, Atypical Language, and NIC Interview & Performance Exam Preparation
Paula is a recently returned Minnesotan native, she has lived in Charlotte, DC, San Diego, Seattle, Austin, and now Minneapolis. While she is new to mentoring interpreters, she is not new to connecting with people in many different ways. She graduated from Gallaudet with a degree in Mental Health Counseling, and her career has involved counseling, advocacy, trauma-informed advocacy and supervision, and interpreting. She currently works as a manager in the Disability Resource Center at University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL and English-to-ASL
General Settings, Medical, Business, Atypical Language, NIC Interview & Performance Exam, & CASLI Generalist Knowledge Exam
Richard currently has returned to private practice as an interpreter, mentor and instructor. He most recently served as Director for two awards through the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration. The first award ($4M) was to establish the national Graduation to Certification, Experiential Learning Model training project and the second award ($2M) was to create the Medical, Mental and Behavioral Health Interpreting Project for the CATIE Center at St. Catherine University.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: Interpreting Process: ASL to English Interpreting process: English to ASL CASLI (Formerly NIC) Test Prep VRI and DeafBlind Interpreting Teaming with Deaf Interpreter Theater/Performance
Sadi Dudley is a licensed sign language interpreter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She holds a Board for Evaluation of Interpreters (BEI) – Advanced certification. Some of her work experiences are within the following settings: medical, theatrical/performances, all education levels, DeafBlind, VRI, vocational rehabilitation, and some government settings. She received her B.A. and interpreting certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her M.A. in linguistics from Gallaudet University.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English to ASL and ASL Language Model
General
A native ASL signer, originally from Albert Lea, Minnesota, Sherri Rademacher attended California State University in Northridge and St Cloud State University for her bachelor’s degree. She received a master’s degree in education from the University of Minnesota.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL Language Model
General, Medical, Government, Education, Mental Health, Performance Settings
Sunny Brysch is a Deaf Asian woman and the second generation of a Deaf family. She is proud of the Deaf generational family and the ASL she was raised with. Sunny has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She also has a Master’s in Social Work from Augsburg College. Unfortunately, a career in that field has limited opportunities due to communication barriers. She returned to school for ASL Studies to earn the required credentials to pursue a career as an ASL teacher.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: ASL-to-English
General, Post-Secondary, Business, Technology, Religious Settings, and NIC Interview & Performance Exam Preparation
Tanesh Foster began learning ASL at the age of 13 after being fascinated with seeing interpreters at her church. Her fascination grew into a passion and when she went off to college, she decided to make interpreting her career choice. Tanesh graduated from the ITP program at the University of South Florida and began her career.
Mentoring Specialty Areas: English-to-ASL and ASL Language Model
General, Medical, Legal, Mental Health, Religious Settings, and NIC Interview & Performance Exam Preparation
Vyron Kinson lives in Atlanta, GA. Currently, he works full-time with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) as a Communication Specialist. He also has various part-time positions: Atlanta Area School for the Deaf as an ASL Teacher, Georgia Parent Infant Network Educational Service as a Deaf Mentor, CATIE Center: Graduation to Certification Project as a Co-Facilitator and ASL Mentor; ASL Diagnostic Service LLC as owner and Deaf Interpreter and he is also a freelance Disc Jockey.