Meet Diana Sanchez-Vega | Founder & CEO, Sanchez-Vega Communications

We had the good fortune of connecting with Diana Sanchez-Vega and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Diana, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
Throughout my early adult years, I always struggled with the thought of what my legacy would be. As a driven professional, work has been front and center since I started working at age 17. Although I’ve been married (and divorced) twice, I’ve never had children. I got pregnant only once but then lost the baby. I never got pregnant again, and I believe that my destiny was not to have children, that there was another plan for me.

My internal conflict referred to being more passionate about serving others through my work, than wanting to have and raise children. As a native of Argentina, the undeniable Latin American tradition of ‘family as a legacy’ was a societal mandate that was present in my mind every day.

I am sharing this information because legacy drives everything I do every day. Through my business, Sanchez-Vega Communications, I empower bilinguals to monetize their language skills, and educate organizations on the multiplying ROI of monetizing bilingualism.

Language is at the forefront of human interaction, which is the basis for human evolution. Without language – including sign language – we are unable to externalize what is inside of us: what we think, what we feel, what we want, and what we don’t want. When individuals speak different languages, and are not able to interact productively, evolution is thwarted or slowed down, and we become stagnant, frustrated.

Bilinguals are able to become the connector, the bridge to make that interaction happen. However, in the US, it is still not fully understood that bilingualism is a highly developed skill and, as such, it should be fully monetized – just like any other highly-developed skill is. In fact, we often hear that bilingualism is a “superpower”, which does not help the case of monetization, because superheroes work for free. We love to have them around, but no one pays Spiderman or Wonder Woman for helping out!

I have always been an agent of change in every job or position I have had. I am an assertive individual, who addresses the white elephant in the room when everyone else is either afraid to do so, or decides to intentionally neglect it.

I want to be remembered as ‘the monetize bilingualism woman’, that is, as the person who built massive awareness about the need to monetize bilingualism for both bilinguals (many bilinguals don’t know how monetizable their bilingualism is or don’t know how to go about doing it), and organizations who hire bilinguals. And, hopefully, before I die, action has been taken where bilinguals, regardless of their level of education, can make a living by getting paid for their highly-developed language skills.

As a bilingual since age 2, empowering human interaction through my language skills has been my greatest joy and source of income. And I want others with those same skills to be able to do the same!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Sanchez-Vega Communications, LLC, empowers bilinguals to monetize the value of their language skills. We provide customized career coaching services, deliver comprehensive interpreter trainings, and partner with organizations that invest in bilingual human resources to positively impact their bottom line. Our services include: interpretation, translation, multilingual audio prompts and voiceovers, bilingual staff training, language proficiency assessments, and educational speaking engagements.

What sets my business apart from others is that:

1) My focus is empowerment. I do that through training, career coaching, and mentoring. Most businesses who offer interpreter training either provide it as a self-paced (little to no human interaction) training or offer just the training with no broader purpose in mind.

2) My business provides language coaches for languages other than Spanish, such as Arabic, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, etc. Language coaches are key for all role-play and practice sessions. We provide these language coaches at no additional charge to the training participant.

3) We are a one-stop shop for both organizations and individuals, by providing bilingual services across a continuum (interpretation, translation, bilingual staff training, career coaching, etc.)

I am most proud of having identified the missing link – acculturation – for bilinguals to be successful in the workplace, and to also being able to teach it. It is the process of acculturation that dials up the brightness in the connections both internally for a bilingual individual, and externally when interacting with others.

As most entrepreneurs will tell you, when running your own business, you spend 90% of the time addressing challenges and 10% of the time trying to find ways to get ahead of those challenges. Having started and run 3 small businesses (2 of them the first and second version of a same business), money and staffing is always the main challenge.

Rather than overcome challenges, I like to think of it as evolving the way I address a challenge. In my early entrepreneur days, everything seemed to be important and prioritization seemed impossible. As I have become ‘wiser’ (read ‘older’, LOL) and more experienced, priorities become much clearer, and a focused approach definitely helps with efficiency.

For me, there is only one way you can ensure a business is successful and sustainable: hard work, every day. There is no magic wand to make it happen, even if you have all the money in the world.

I’ve never measured success based on how much money I have in my bank account. I measure success in how much social impact my business is able to make.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Nashville, Tennessee, is a great city to visit, and it has certainly become a tourist destination.

Although it is known as Music City USA, most think it is due to country music being prevalent here. However, Nashville is known for its music thanks to the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the superbly talented group from Fisk University. I would recommend Nashville visitors start with attending a performance presented by these singers. A meal before or after at Prince’s Hot Chicken could close day 1.

Over the next couple of days, I would encourage visitors to take a city tour of both the downtown and southern areas of Nashville, to discover the eclectic and contrasting neighborhoods of the city. In downtown, popping in and out of the “honky-tonks” where music is played morning to late night, would provide a music infused experience. While downtown, must-sees are also: the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, the National Museum of African-American Music, the Nashville Downtown Library’s Civil Rights Room, and the Nashville Pedestrian Bridge. Any of those days can be spent eating at the Fifth + Broadway complex downtown that has multiple restaurants and eateries for all kinds of palates, or at any honky-tonk (for those who love bar food). Additionally, the Nashville History on Tour company offers an outstanding opportunity to dive into the oftentimes overlooked civil rights history of Nashville. Finally, a little bit away from downtown, stopping by RCA Studio B on Music Row and visiting the Parthenon in Centennial Park (a real-size replica of the Parthenon in Greece) can round-off one of those two days.

Day 4 could be spent in Lynchburg, TN, 1.5 hours Southeast from Nashville, visiting the Jack Daniel’s distillery, having lunch a Mary Bobo’s Diner, walking the tiny town of Lynchburg and buying souvenirs.

On Day 5, going east of the city to the Opryland Hotel and resort, and then south of the city to Franklin, TN, to visit one of the most favored tourist towns in the US, known for its quaint restaurants and sights.

On Day 6, I’d encourage visitors to go about 23 miles north of Nashville, to Ridgetop, TN, to see a Civil Rights Reenactment, and then drive to White House, TN, for some barbecue at The Bar-B-Que Place.

On the final day, I’d take it easy, do some shopping in Green Hills Mall, and then got to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens to have a laid-back lunch or picnic, and visit the current art exhibits.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to my mother, Martha, and my stepdad, Michael. Both of them provided me with the education to learn and develop my bilingualism, and with the drive to become a dedicated professional and apply my bilingualism to serve others.

Website: https://sanchez-vega.net

Instagram: @diana.sanchez_vega

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/diana-sanchez-vega

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IamDianaSanchezVega

Image Credits
No credits: there are either selfies or photos taken by friends.