Some people arrive at their vocation by design. I arrived at mine by wandering — through languages, countries, and cultures — and eventually realising that words had been my destination all along.

Growing up in the UK, my family nurtured a curiosity that would define my life. My grandmother played word games with me from an early age, slipping in French words as a challenge. My parents took my sisters and me across three continents before I had finished school. In each new place, we collected words the way other children collected postcards.

When the time came to decide on a future, I followed that curiosity to Italy. What began as a teaching placement — English as a foreign language in Milan — became twelve years of immersion. I learned Italian not in a classroom, but in kitchens, markets, courtrooms, and conference rooms. I mastered authentic Italian cooking. I won a national karate championship. I became a mother.

I began translating for local agencies, initially cycling to collect printed texts, completing them on a word processor at my kitchen table, and cycling back with the finished work. It was in one of those small agencies that I first heard the word “Internet” — and understood, even then, that the world of language was about to change.

As my skills deepened, I moved into interpreting, and it was during a months-long assignment at a power plant that I met the man who would become my husband — and who would bring me and my daughter to the United States.

Determined to formalise the expertise I had built through practice, I enrolled at City, University of London in the mid-2000s. In 2006, I was awarded the Chartered Institute of Linguists Diploma in Translation — one of the highest professional credentials a translator can hold.

Since then, I have translated over two million words across multiple formats and specialist fields, provided extensive editing, proofreading, and localisation services, and kept pace with every major shift the industry has undergone. I travel to Italy regularly to keep my language skills sharp — most recently in June 2025.

The flexibility of freelance work has also allowed me to pursue my other great love: writing. I have published two award-winning historical fiction novels, both with Italian characters and settings, alongside numerous short stories, poems, and articles. The craft of a translator and the craft of a writer are closer than people think — both require you to listen to what a text is really saying, then find exactly the right words to say it again.

The rise of artificial intelligence has transformed the translation landscape, as it has so many others. I have never shied away from change. Today, in addition to my translation practice, I work as a certified MT post-editor and AI language evaluator — bringing professional linguistic judgement to the task of making machine-generated language more accurate, more natural, and more human.

What has remained constant across thirty years, across three countries, and across every new tool or technology: my curiosity, my precision, and my conviction that language handled well can bridge almost any distance.

I would be glad to help you bridge yours.