Beatriz Velloso

“I worked as a journalist for 15 years, but I’ve always been passionate about languages and translation. In 2006, I decided to leave the newsroom of a major weekly magazine to start working in interpreting booths. I joined the Conference Interpreting program at PUC- SP, made use of the language skills I had developed in the United States during my teenage years, and started a new career.

I love what I do because it allows me to study various subjects, as well as meet the authorities in different fields – for instance, I’ve translated UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon; Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman; filmmaker David Lynch; pop artist Demi Lovato and well-known authors such as Israel’s Amos Oz and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. Translating everyday people is equally interesting: they have stories and talents I would never know if it weren’t for my job. As a bonus, shifting between languages is a great workout for the brain.”