Women in Localization Officially Announces Board of Localicious Professionals

Guest blog entry by Elena McCoy, Executive Director of Communications at CSOFT

Last Thursday, I had the privilege to hang out with the Women in Localization at their holiday party co-sponsored by CSOFT. During the event, we took time to talk about our profession, but also to dish about life, job changes, home relocations, our pets, our kids (and what’s best for them), our futures, and even the movie TRON. It’s the kind of group you want to get to know, because you can always count on meeting an interesting person from which you can surely learn a lot. It’s also about the only place in our field where current, potential and past competitors can come together and share drinks, laughs and knowledge, and embrace a solid sense of togetherness. That’s because this non-profit group’s founders created it with one common goal in mind: to foster the growth of the localization profession by creating a stage for mentoring and networking among professional women.

It’s hard to believe that after being in existence for little more than a year, Women in Localization has grown from a regional group based primarily in Silicon Valley, to a global entity with more than 200 members worldwide. At last week’s get together, the three founders of the group officially announced the formation of a formal board:

• Anna Schlegel, NetApp– Chairwoman and co-founder, Executive Board Member
• Eva Klaudinyova, VMware – Co-founder, Executive Board Member (Continuing Education Manager)
• Silvia Avary-Silveira, Symantec – Co-founder, Executive Board Member (Events, Membership Manager)
• Luciana Vecchi, Adobe – Treasurer, Executive Board Member
• Carrie Fischer, Oracle – Public Relations Manager
• Lynda Roslund, COMSYS – Event Manager

This newly created board will meet monthly, and the Chair of the Board will rotate on a yearly basis. The group is seeing steady global uptake and their membership is growing daily with the addition of professional women localizers from around the world.

Women in Localization tackles issues such as localization engineering, worldwide planning, website globalization, working in virtual teams, the latest globalization tools and processes, and writing for international audiences. To learn more about this pioneering group or to become a member, please visit Women in Localization on Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also read more about this group in this article in GALA’s GALAxy Newsletter. Membership is open to women localizers and globalization professionals.

So make sure to check them out and join us gals for the next meeting in late Spring 2011!

If you’re interested in translation, localization, or even if you just like to read the occasional blog, make sure to visit csoftintl.com!