Support Team

[ID: Cisco is light-skinned with medium-length hair, full beard, and he is smiling, looking towards the camera. He is wearing a light-blue, band-collared, long-sleeve buttoned shirt with small white spots. The background is filled with swirls of grey, white, black and teal colors.]

Name: Francisco “Cisco” Arias
Role: Co-Editor
Nationality/Ethnicity: Chicano
Location: Long Beach, California
Pronouns: He/His/Him

Cisco was born in Long Beach, California and became the first person in his first-generation Mexican family to graduate with two degrees: an Associate of Arts in Political Science from Cerritos College in 2012 and a Bachelor of Arts in Deaf Studies from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 2014. During his time at CSUN, he was a Political Action Committee Chair for Deaf CSUNians. He was a volunteer editor for California Manos del Corazón (CMC), and contributed to the official launch of the organization’s website. Fun facts about Cisco: hungry foodie, comic book reader, loves collecting movies!

[ID: A smiling brown-skinned Peruvian-Mexican with shaved black hair and dark red lipstick. She dons two colorful hoop earrings, hot pink evil eye pendant necklace and a white eyelet blouse. A grey wall is behind her.]

Name: Carmen King
Role: Co-Editor
Nationality/Ethnicity: Peruvian-Mexican
Residence: Queens, New York
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Carmen King was born in Querétaro, México and used to be a nomad growing up. Now, she has become a true New Yorker. She studied Graphic Design and graduated from National Institute of Technical for the Deaf and Rochester Institute of Technology. She worked as a Greeter for the Whitney Museum for more than 10 years. From 2003-2004, King worked as docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. As an art gallery and museum devotee, she continues to visit many art exhibitions when travelling. Fun facts about her: A walk in nature is where she gets her forest therapy and she’s a spicy hot chocolate connoisseur.

[ID: Brown-skinned women smiling at the camera, long black curly hair. She is wearing brown glasses, a nose piercing, and a blue sweater. She is standing in front of a yellow wall.]

Name: Claudia Mansilla 
Role: Spanish Translator
Nationality/Ethnicity: Peruvian 
Residence: Santa Fe, New Mexico 
Pronouns: Ella/She/Hers

Mansilla was born and raised in Lima, Peru. As an immigrant and a native Spanish speaker, she experienced firsthand the communication barrier when she arrived to this country and is aware of the encumbrances this represents. Therefore, it is very important to her to support people who go through this battle. Communication is not just key for the social realm, but also for job opportunities and better living conditions. It is Manilla’s desire to support both the Spanish speaking and Deaf communities, but her passion emerges when both of these two communities mesh together. In order to support the community, there must be support to the interpreters who work within it; since she obtained her ASL/English Interpretation degree at the University of North Florida, which was followed by her master’s degree in Spanish/English Interpreting and Translating at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, she has been providing support to her trilingual interpreter colleagues in New Mexico. Currently, she serves as the president of New Mexico Mano a Mano.

[ID: A brown-skinned Mexican-American guy with dark hair and eyes looking at the camera; a tan colored background with a poster and shelves. He’s wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, a black, buttoned-up polo shirt and a dark grey cardigan.]

Name: Efraín Rodríguez
Role: Spanish Translator
Nationality/Ethnicity: Mexican-American
Residence: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pronouns: he/him/él

Efraín is a native New Mexican with a transborder upbringing, born to Mexican immigrant parents. As a first-generation Mexican-American, he witnessed his parents and his community experience language barriers and lack of access to information in many areas. This, along with a passion for studying foreign languages, led Efraín to learn about similar struggles in the Deaf community and obtain a B.S. in Signed Language Interpreting from the University of New Mexico. Since then, he’s been involved in trilingual (Spanish-English-ASL) organizations, such as New Mexico Mano a Mano - formerly serving as president. Efraín is currently studying for a M.A. in Spanish Translation & Interpretation from the University of Texas - Río Grande Valley.

[ID: A light-skinned, smiling Hispanic woman with medium-length black hair; wearing a black blouse and red jacket. The background is black..]

Name: Yris Chavez
Role: Spanish Translator 
Nationality/Ethnicity: Peruvian
Residence: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Pronoun: She/Her/Hers

Yris Chavez is a trilingual interpreter (ASL, Spanish, English). She currently works with the company Sorenson, exclusively with Spanish and ASL; she is also working in Spanish and English interpreting in the community including translations of texts and videos.

She studied in Peru and finished her Bachelor's degree in Education and Theology in Bolivia. Her experience interpreting was from a very early age, because there were no interpreters, the whole family had to take the responsibility of interpreting for her younger sister who is deaf. At that time, she realized that interpreting was what would be a big part of her life. 

Yris Chavez, a native of Peru, enjoys spending time with her family, cooking traditional dishes from her homeland and sharing with friends.

[ID: A headshot of an older, smiling Latino man. He is bald with a long white beard and wearing a patterned shirt.]

Name: Caleb Miller
Role: Spanish Translator 
Nationality/Ethnicity: Colombian
Residence: California
Pronoun: He/Him

Caleb Miller is from Colombia, South America. Before he came to the United States, he graduated with a degree in Finances and Management and was an interpreter for the Deaf in Colombian Sign Language. Caleb has lived in the United States since 2001. He is a Trilingual interpreter with a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language Interpretation and a Master’s degree in Health Care Interpretation. He has co-taught interpreting classes at the local college and also has presented workshops for Sign Language Interpreters nationally and internationally.

[ID: A white cis Latina with blond-brown curly hair smiling at the camera; she’s wearing brown-rimmed glasses, red lipstick, a red tank top and a blue blazer. She is also wearing a gold colored necklace and gold hoop earrings. Behind her is green plants/trees including a red flower next to her on the left side of the image. She also has a heart tattoo on her chest. The colors are yellow, blue and red to represent her Colombian heritage.]

Name: Mónica Gallego
Role: Spanish Translator
Nationality/Ethnicity: Colombian
Residence: Washington, District of Columbia
Pronoun: She/Ella

Mónica Gallego is a hearing sighted white cis latina. She is originally from New York City, her family is from Colombia and currently resides and works in Washington DC. She has worked with and been connected to the DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Deaf,Hard of hearing, late deafened communities for many years, involved in community education, coordinator/workshop presenter, access consultant, mentoring, and a trilingual (Spanish/English/ASL) interpreter and I'm grateful to be part of the translation team for this important event.