Melanie Page

What is your name?

This is an anonymous response.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I had no idea, I actually never gave it thought until high school. I took an ASL class and was really good at it, so I decided I would pursue ASL.

Does your childhood career goal now affect your interpreting in any way? Do they overlap, “speak” to each other, or are they completely separate?

I’m sorry, I never had a childhood career goal.

In what ways do you mindfully and intentionally give back to your interpreting colleagues?

I actually don’t have any Interpreter friends or interpreting colleagues.

Give an example of a time another interpreter mindfully and intentionally gave back to you.

The one that comes to mind is my mentor. It’s not an exaggeration to say she built me from the ground up in terms of my interpreting skills. She has a website, Myaslmentor.com. She has a self-paced “Program” that teaches you the fundamentals, covers common errors, use of space, classifiers, all for $29 per month. She offers much more than what I even mentioned. Every day I’m grateful for her. She also has a YouTube channel. Just look up “MyAslMentor.” The YouTube channel is only a little teeny, tiny glimpse of her mentor website.

Because interpreters are life-long learners, it can be hard to say, “Yes, I am an interpreter.” Do you remember when you were able to confidently use that label for yourself?

Yes. I remember completing all the self-paced courses that my mentor had to offer, and it opened my eyes to what interpreting really meant and made me feel like I am an actual interpreter.

Please give a shout out to the interpreters you are grateful you know, have worked with, learned from, become friends with, etc.

The only person I can think of is my mentor. Her name is Nicole Wise.