founder

Henry Padilla

Henry was born and raised in Bolivia, South America. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics and attended law school in the capital of Bolivia, Sucre. He has been living in Asheville, North Carolina since 2009 and has worked with several law firms in the surrounding area providing top quality interpreting and translation services. Henry’s personal and professional lives are devoted to the Hispanic community. He is married to Megan Padilla, an Asheville native, and they are enjoying raising 2 young children together. 

Education

SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER UNIVERSITY (SUCRE, BOLIVIA)

• Undergraduate Law Program, 2006.

• B.A. Economics, 1997–2002.

Activities & Affiliations

• Board of Directors, BiblioWorks, Asheville, NC / Bolivia, 2010-2013.

• Current volunteer as Spanish translator & interpreter, The Partnership for Substance Free Youth, Asheville, NC.

ASSOCIATE

Evelyn Breziner

Evelyn is an experienced interpreter and translator. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, she is a native Spanish speaker with equal fluidity in English. Evelyn has been living in the United States since 2000. She has B.A. degrees in both Latin American Studies and Political Science & History from Warren Wilson College. She has been living in the western North Carolina area since 2006 and has worked with various entities within the Hispanic community there, including a renowned philanthropic Latino non-profit organization. Evelyn has also been continually volunteering with Pisgah Legal Services, a prominent local non-profit organization that offers high-quality legal services to low-income clients. Her interpreting skills span well beyond the legal scope, having the versatility to take on any assignment within the spectrum of Spanish-language interpreting and translation.

Education

WARREN WILSON COLLEGE

• B.A. Global Studies: Latin America & Spanish, 2011

• B.A. History & Political Science, 2011

Industry Expertise

• Legal field.

• Accounting.

• Service industry.

• Miscellaneous/others.

Certifications

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Activities & Affiliations

• Volunteer as interpreter & translator at the immigration department of Pisgah Legal Services.

• Interpreter & translator for Buncombe County Schools.

• Staff accountant at Nathan Snider & Associates, CPA, PC.

Languages

• Spanish, English, & Hebrew

Experience with Interpreting/Translating

• Volunteer as interpreter & translator at the immigration department of Pisgah Legal Services.

• Interpreter & translator for Buncombe County Schools.

• Spanish tutor at Warren Wilson College, 2006-2011.

• Administrative assistant at Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), 2011-2012.

• Various independent contracted jobs as interpreter & translator.

Methods of Interpreting & Translating

• Interpreting: Consecutive, simultaneous, in-person, remote (via telephone or video).

• Translating: Documents, sight translation, web, etc.
  

ASSOCIATE

Santiago García-Castañón

Santiago is a native of Asturias, Spain and has lived in the US for the past 36 years. He holds a degree in English Philology (Univ of Oviedo, Spain), a Master of Arts in Spanish and Ph. D. in Spanish Literature (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). He is a senior tenured Professor of Spanish Language and Literature at Western Carolina University and a certified court interpreter. Dr. García-Castañón is also an award-winning published poet and novelist with nineteen books to his credit, and has given over 130 lectures, talks and presentations on various language and literature-related topics in some fifteen countries in four continents. A highly acclaimed literary translator, he has translated several literary works by major classical authors, including works by Cervantes into English as well as the poetry of Donne, Wyatt and Shakespeare and the complete sonnets by John Milton into Spanish verse.

Santiago claims to be a wine connoisseur. He is an avid fountain pen collector and the proud dad of two bilingual children, Santiago Jr. and Laura. He lives in Cullowhee, NC.

ASSOCIATE

Teresa Blanco Sampson

Teresa is a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, and attended Law School at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. After moving to the US, she became a certified court interpreter in Arizona and Tennessee. She has extensive experience as a judicial interpreter in various states, most recently in North and South Carolina. She is also an expert in immigration legal interpretation, and works regularly with federal immigration courts in Washington DC, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and other major US cities. In addition to her vast court experience, she has mentored and trained aspiring interpreters to succeed at acquiring state certification.

Ms. Sampson has travelled extensively around the globe and is a dedicated yogini. She resides in Greenville, SC.

ASSOCIATE

Christy Montesdeoca

Christy is a nationally-certified medical interpreter who has been living and working in Western North Carolina since 2014. Prior to that, she spent 18 years living and working in Chicago, IL where she attended Loyola University. There, she received B.A. degrees in Spanish Language and Theatre Arts in 2000. While not a native speaker, Christy began studying Spanish as far back as grade school and became fully fluent while an exchange student in Pamplona, Spain in 1994. She has continued learning and speaking the language ever since, focusing her abilities in medical and educational terminology. She has over 2 decades working in interpretation and translation in both volunteering and professional capacities. Christy recently became a certified medical interpreter by The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCH), a nationally-accredited interpreter certification program, and she is happy to have made Western North Carolina her family’s home.

Education

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO

• B.A. Spanish Language, 2000

• B.A. Theatre Arts, 2000
  

Certifications

NATIONAL

• The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters – Spanish