Mission
Our mission is to foster language access and equity through high quality education and testing.
Vision
We envision a future where language barriers are mitigated or dissolved, enabling meaningful interactions and fostering mutual understanding across cultures.
To accomplish this, the MasterWord Institute will be a source for all who provide or want to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate services, offering services, resources, and assistance such as:
Training for interpreters and service providers on topics such as:
Culture, language access, communication, interpreting skills, patient/student-centered care
Information and resources for Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals on their rights and responsibilities, and on working with interpreters and service providers
Assessments for bilingual validation and for interpreter skills
Research and public awareness campaigns
Values
Excellence
Integrity
Accessibility
MasterWord Institute's Team
Elena Langdon,
CT, M.A.
Director
Raised on an island off the coast of Brazil, Elena Langdon is a certified Portuguese-English translator, conference and community interpreter, and interpreter trainer with over 20 years of experience.
Elena delivers workshops around the country and abroad and is recognized as an engaging and approachable speaker. She pulls from experience interpreting and translating, managing interpreters, and teaching for programs at the University of Chicago, Boston University, UMass Amherst, and Glendon College (York University). For over six years, Elena supervised a staff of 50 interpreters and managed internal translations at a Level I Trauma, 734-bed academic medical center in Massachusetts.
A thought leader in the language industry, she volunteered and served on the Board of Directors for the American Translators Association, the New England Translators Association, the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC), and the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters. Elena continues to support the production of bimonthly webinars for interpreter trainers for the NCIHC.
Sarah McClymonds,
M.A., CHI™
Training and Assessments Specialist
Sarah earned a B.A. in Spanish and in International Studies at Miami University (OH) and an M.A. in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kentucky. She completed an 80-hour medical interpreting program taught in Spanish and has been CHI certified since 2013. Sarah began her career teaching which lasted over 10 years, as a senior lecturer of Spanish at Clemson University, Spanish instructor at Greenville Technical College, and adjunct faculty of Spanish at Indiana University Southeast.
Sarah was an interpreter trainer of the Core Medical Interpreter Training program. She holds experience as a Spanish interpreter at free clinics, as well as working as a contract interpreter and later staff interpreter at a level-one trauma center, the University of Louisville Hospital.
Sarah was the system manager of language services at UofL Health, which included 9 hospitals and 4 medical centers, for nearly 5 years. She currently regularly volunteers as interpreter to maintain her skillset and stay connected with her passion for helping others.
Luana Carvalho, MCI
Training and Assessments Specialist
Born and raised in Brazil, now living in Canada, Luana Carvalho holds a master’s degree in Conference Interpreting and has been working as a conference interpreter for nearly ten years.
Luana is an experienced interpreter trainer teaching for programs online, and at York University, where she graduated. A curious mind and born researcher, she has teaching experience and academic background in court, healthcare, and conference interpreting which drive her passion: content creation.
Luana is also co-founder of the Toronto Interpreters Practice Group, a group that gathers professional interpreters in the Toronto area (and now, all over the world, as meetings are over Zoom) monthly to practice, give feedback, and learn from each other’s experience.
Alexys Price
Training and Assessments Coordinator
Alexys Price attended Blinn College in Brenham, TX for an associate degree in Sociology. She has been with Masterword for over 6 years. Alexys has worked in different departments of the organization. She has assisted with growth of Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, and now Training and Assessments leading each department to strive for excellence.
Alexys has been in Customer Service and Project Management for over 15 years and is a wonderful asset in connection to language and culture.
Alexys has traveled abroad to over 5 different countries, the majority of them in the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Grenada, embracing the culture on each journey as well as practicing a little interpreting along the way.
Featured Instructors/ Presenters
Ludmila Golovine
President & CEO
Ludmila “Mila” Golovine has been an advocate for victims and survivors of Human Trafficking since the start of her interpreting career. Golovine volunteers for and supports various projects to inspire, promote, and develop solutions to end sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence against children, particularly those related to stopping the exploitation of minors online. Golovine actively participates as a member of the United Against Human Trafficking Coalition and is part of the Coalition survivor services committee where she participated in creating Guidelines for the Provision of Interpretation and/or Translation Services for Trafficked Persons and Survivors. She helps victims and survivors through her support of the World Childhood Foundation, and work with the Rothko Chapel as a member of the Board of Directors.
As a professional interpreter, Golovine is familiar with the toll interpreting for these victims may have on the interpreters themselves. Golovine, therefore, works tirelessly to help promote health and wellness to those in the language services industry and raise awareness about the experiences of human trafficking victims and their language access needs.
Golovine and MasterWord are committed to providing trauma-informed services and have launched training and tools for language professionals as well as trauma-informed providers who work with language professionals to foster a partnership that creates an environment conducive to healing and avoid re-traumatization of victims and survivors.
Ryan Foley
Certified Sign Language Interpreter
Ryan Foley is a nationally recognized speaker and an ally to professionals striving for growth and success. For more than 15 years Ryan has worked as an interpreter, spoken nationally on communication, interpreter ethics and processes, and social dynamics across many fields. As a nationally certified sign language interpreter, Ryan has mentored and trained hundreds of interpreters and helped them become top level professionals in their own right.
Linda Golley
Linda Golley was raised in Germany, Peru, and Mexico. Upon arriving in the United States in 1974 she became involved in international refugee resettlement. Throughout her 40-year career in healthcare she has had the pleasure of serving patients and families from the myriad immigrant communities in gateway cities on the West Coast. As a community activist, she has been honored to mentor many individuals from very diverse backgrounds as they struggled to integrate successfully into the US landscape.
Linda has a Master’s degree in Organizational Management, and a B.A. in International Relations. She began working as a Medical Assistant, she proceeded to manage medical practices, then community clinics, then university medicine clinics, then managed the Interpreter Services program for the University of Washington Medical Center for 15 years. From 2018 to 2020 she developed the program to support patient access for deaf and blind clients at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.
Ms. Golley has served on various boards dedicated to healthcare language access and cultural competence. She participated in the University of Washington School of Medicine’s development of a cultural competence curriculum for medical students.
Gabriela Siebach,
CHI™
Certified Healthcare Interpreter
Gabriela Siebach is a Certified Healthcare interpreter who has accumulated more than 15 years of processional experience in linguistics, and has spearheaded the development of multiple training, mentorship, and assessment programs. She holds a graduate degree from the world renowned Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and is currently serving on the National Council on Interpreting in healthcare Board of Directors and the Policy, Education & Research Committee.