A native of Berne, Switzerland, Nicole was brought up in a multicultural environment and speaks several languages, including French, German, Spanish and Creole. She holds a BA in Translation from the Zürich School of Translation and Interpretation, Switzerland.
In 1992 Nicole joined TransLingua as a project manager, and in 2000 she and two of her co-workers took over the company from the previous owners. She has dedicated her life and career to promoting diversity and multicultural communication. Together with her business partners she achieved WBE certification and has been awarded DiversityBusiness.com’s Top Diversity Business Award for five consecutive years. Nicole is an active member of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and Supporting Member of fiaf French Institute Alliance Française.
Born in Italy, Ilaria graduated cum laude from the Asian Languages Department of the University of Venice in Italy, after studies conducted both at SOAS (London) and Fudan University (Shanghai).
She worked in Asia for several years, both in PRC as the assistant general manager for an Italian-Chinese joint venture, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan as a consultant to Italian companies conducting business in the area, and as a free-lance translator for several international clients.
In the late 1990s she moved to New York and joined TransLingua as a project manager in 2000. In 2005 she became co-owner and COO of the company. She oversees all operations, project management as well as hiring, onboarding and training of all new resources and staff.
In addition to Italian, she is fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Russian.
Deborah is a native of Cameron, Missouri. Deborah’s passion for culture and languages brought her to Europe where she lived for 33 years. The majority of her time abroad was spent in Munich where she served on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik and the Richard Strauss Conservatory and played with many prestigious orchestras in Germany, including the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. She also spent time in Moscow and Budapest. In Budapest, she owned her own small translation agency and taught English as a second language. Deborah speaks German, Hungarian, Russian, Dutch and Italian. In 2010 she returned to the US and now resides in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, writer and librettist, Douglas Penick. Deborah joined Translingua in 2019 as a linguist and project manager.
Branko Seksan was born in Vienna, Austria to a family of expats. As a result, life took him around the world at an early age. He earned his BBA from a renowned university in the Midwest with a German studies course at Goethe Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. Branko spent his early career working for the U.S. Army as an analyst in Germany, Belgium and the UK, and 15 years ago, he moved to New York City where he has built communications and estate planning starts-ups. His passion for language, gift for interpretation, as well as his analytical creative problem-solving skills have helped him become an effective project manager. That is why Translingua asked him to join our team of experienced and innovative linguists in the summer of 2019. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling across all five boroughs and traveling to Split, Croatia, to spend quality time with his mother.
Alexandra Haines is Belgian-American, born and raised in Middletown, NY, with a second home in Waterloo. She grew up in a diverse neighborhood, surrounded by translators, teachers and public servants, and was constantly exposed to and inspired by people of different viewpoints. She trained in classical singing at the Ithaca College School of Music, where she learned to sing in primarily French and German, as well as in Italian and Spanish. Recently she has performed in New York City, Off Broadway with New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and in professional regional theatres. She has an affinity for contemporary revivals of old musicals; favorites including her most recent performances in Brigadoon, Secret Garden and Sweeney Todd. While specifically pursuing a career in contemporary theatre, Alexandra also works with young children, teaching them piano and beginnings in personal organization, and her love of different cultures and languages has brought her to Translingua where she has started her part-time position as a junior project manager in September of 2019.
Judith was born and raised in Newark, Delaware. She studied European History and Art History and graduated with a BA from the University of Delaware. After her studies she worked at the Human Resources Department of the University of Delaware for a few years, until she moved to Colorado, in 2004, where she joined TransLingua as a project manager. In 2008 she was promoted to Senior Project Manager. In that capacity she has developed expertise in the management of high-end beauty & cosmetics accounts. She also oversees all project management activities and is in charge of client relations and operations at TransLingua’s Boulder office.
Melissa was born and raised in Arvada, Colorado. She received her degree in Web Development at Red Rocks College. Following her degree, she worked on the college’s website as well as various graphics projects for various departments of the University. Melissa then moved to Seattle and worked for a non-profit organization that builds low-income apartments in the area. Melissa recently moved back to the Denver area after her husband’s company transfer and joined TransLingua’s team as a Project Manager in the fall of 2017.
Emma Fields is a multi-lingual musician with a passion for people. Raised in a family of music and language lovers, Emma grew up surrounded by instruments and was encouraged to travel. After she moved abroad for the first time at 16 years of age, her lifelong love of learning languages and connecting with people across many backgrounds began. A native of Boulder, Colorado, she graduated from CU Boulder with a BA in Spanish and Portuguese and spent her next chapter touring the US with her band, always carving out opportunities to explore the international scene, both for pleasure and as a solo-artist. She later moved to New York City where she found everything she loved in one place: the proverbial melting pot of many different communities and languages as well as easy access to a large variety of different music styles.
Seeking an environment where she can exercise her love of languages and cross-cultural communication, she joined Translingua as a Junior Project Manager in December of 2022.
Medina has recently moved from Canada to the United States. She has a formal background in Early Childhood Education, as well as an extensive and varied musical background. She began learning how to play the piano as a young child, and that has since extended into mastery of the alto saxophone and the violin. She is also a trained vocalist and has been a member of several choirs. More recently, she was the lead singer of Calgary’s foremost Bollywood-Fusion band for over five years; wherein her performance opportunities took her across the country for a wide variety of events and venues. Medina has a deep love and affinity for languages, and has experience both singing and speaking in Hindi, Gujarati, Spanish, and Swahili. She is excited by the opportunities that await her in New York and is thrilled at the prospect of bringing her skills gained in the education field to Translingua as she begins her journey as Project Manager.
