Today we’d like to introduce you to Dania Santana
Hi Dania, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2012 from New York City and registered my business in August of that year. I established my communications business and started providing services for organizations needing language services such as translations, writing and editing. In 2020, I joined tilde Language Justice Cooperative where we provide capacity building, translations and interpreting for social justice movements and organizations.
My Professional Bio
I’m an Afro-Latina journalist, author, and translator born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Also an international speaker, trainer, and multicultural parenting expert with over 20 years of experience in the communications arena working for national companies, brands, and organizations both in the private and non-profit sectors.
My professional background goes from journalism to national advertising campaigns targeting the US Hispanic Market to becoming a social media influencer, to then working for social justice organizations both as a translator and trainer with a focus on language justice.
Since 2021, I have been a Worker-Owner for the tilde Language Justice Cooperative in North Carolina. In my role as worker-owner, I’m part of the translation and capacity building teams. At tilde, I have had the opportunity to work with both local and national organizations with translation work and language justice trainings and workshops.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has had its challenges, of course! When my family and I first moved to Raleigh, it was difficult to get started in a new city and establish new relationships, I struggled to get enough work here and continue to get business outside of North Carolina. Also, learning to be an entrepreneur after having worked for companies my entire professional life until then, has taken some trial and error.
Nowadays, I’m still working and learning to improve my skills and knowledge as I’m still on the road and it continues to have its ups and downs. I believe that striving to be better and having the right attitude helps to deal with the challenges we face.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a professional Spanish translator, a popular education trainer, a writer and editor. I have more than 15 years of experience in the communications field and have been a language worker throughout that time. One of the things I’m most proud of is my commitment to social justice, diversity and inclusion and using language to support those values by helping create multilingual spaces and expand language justice.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I have been fortunate to find good mentors along the way with different levels of experience. My advice is to find people that can be in your corner with different degrees of experience and knowledge of your field. Attending networking events and engaging people on social media are two ways you can find good mentors to support your professional endeavors.
Pricing:
- Speaking rates: starting at 1,500
- Capacity building: starting at 2,500
- Translations: 0.25 per word
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diversityus_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiversityUSA/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/diversityus
