San Diego County Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (SDCRID) |
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SDCRID BOARD
PRESIDENT Geri Mu (she/her) 2023-2024 president@sdcrid.org Geri Mu, NIC-Master, CI and CT, is currently a freelance interpreter and interpreter educator/mentor. She holds an A.A. in Interpreting from Los Angeles Pierce College, a B.A. in Deaf Studies from California State University Northridge, and an M.A. in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. She has been active in the interpreting field since 1984. On the local level here in San Diego, she has been involved with SDCRID as a Mentorship Co-Chair (2 terms), BIPOC Committee Co-Chair (2 terms), President (7 months). On the National level, she has served on the RID Cultural Diversity in Leadership Committee (member and Chair), Certification Council (member and Chair), and has been involved with testing development with the CI & CT written exam, the NIC, and the CASLI exams. Geri believes in lifelong learning and is a strong supporter of the mentoring process. Always learning herself, she is currently trying to learn Protactile, a language used by DeafBlind individuals to communicate through touch. A resident of San Diego since 2001, she lives with her husband, 2 daughters, and Bernese Mountain Dog. | VICE PRESIDENT Lori Bellama (she/her) 2023-2024 Lori Bellama, NIC, graduated in 2006 with a Bachelors of Science in ASL interpreting with a minor in Anthropology from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She began freelancing as well as working part-time as a staff interpreter for Boston Arts Academy while simultaneously working towards her credentials through several mentorship and training programs, becoming nationally certified in 2009. In 2010, she escaped the frigid Boston winters for sunny San Diego and became a staff interpreter at Deaf Community Services of San Diego until 2014 when she transitioned back to freelance interpreting. Lori has worked passionately since graduating with and for new interpreters individually in mentorship as well as with the DCS internship programs and as the Co-Chair of the Mentorship Program at SDCRID. |
SECRETARY Marquette Laquey (she/her) 2023-2025 Originally from Austin Texas, Marquette is a passionate freelance interpreter with over 16 years of experience. She began her studies of ASL in High school under a dual enrollment program leading her to earn an Associate's degree in interpreting. She graduated from Gallaudet University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sign Language Interpretation. Marquette has both her National Interpreter Certification and her BEI Texas Certification. She received her NIC in December 2015 just before relocating to San Diego. She enjoys actively getting involved in the Deaf community, volunteering for hearing and Deaf events, and giving back to her local philanthropic organizations. She was the Professional Development Committee co-Chair for SDCIRD from 2017-2019, organizing several workshops to the San Diego interpreting community. Marquette is always seeking to learn new aspects of the world around her, as such, she took a semester of Irish Sign Language, attended the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) conference in 2018 and furthered her education. She graduated with her Master’s in Advanced Interpreting and Teaching from Western Oregon University in 2021. She is also currently working as part-time faculty instructor for the interpreting program at Palomar College. | TREASURER Alex Montgomery (he/him) 2024-2025 treasurer@sdcrid.org Alex Montgomery, NIC, is a born and raised San Diegan who began his ASL journey at Palomar College to satisfy the language requirement. What he didn't know was he had stumbled into his passion and an extremely fulfilling career. He graduated from Palomar College's Interpreter Training Program in 2017 to then transfer to Western Oregon University (WOU), where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Deaf Studies and Psychology in 2018. Following WOU, he was accepted into RIT's Apprenticeship Program for the year of 2019 before returning back to sunny San Diego in 2020. Alex received his National Certification in 2020 and has worked in almost every setting of interpreting. He began with VRS while freelancing on the side for three years and has now been a full time freelancer for over a year. Alex is passionate about supporting the field of interpreting and newer interpreters which is what led him to want to be more involved in the community and take the role of treasurer at SDCRID. When not interpreting, Alex loves everything sports and being outdoors and active. He also loves reading and expanding his knowledge into any and all topics. He has a 2 year old Husky named Kida and a wife who is also an ASL interpreter! |
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE II: DEAF COMMUNITY Razi Hall (he/him) 2023-2025 Deaf and a Florida native, Rodney “Razi” Hall lives and works in San Diego for the Deaf community as a Deaf Interpreter. He is a native ASL user and enrolled in the ASL Interpreting program at Mesa College to become a Deaf Interpreter. He received a certification of achievement which allowed him to enhance his interpretation skills and knowledge. He conducts himself in a professional manner, able to work well with team interpreters. He worked as a freelance Deaf Interpreter for a year. Then he joined DCS as staff Deaf interpreter. He is working on becoming a Certified Deaf Interpreter. In the past, he volunteered for Deaf Community Services as a front desk clerk and in the Adult Literacy Department as an instructional aide and one-on-one tutor. |
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE III: STUDENT – PALOMAR COLLEGE Ariana Beagle (she/her) 2023-2024 Ariana Beagle was born and raised in Encinitas, California and first became interested in ASL when she was in the fourth grade. From that time on, her passion for ASL and the Deaf Community continued to grow. She began taking ASL classes during her freshman year of high school where her teacher informed her about the ITP at Palomar College. Ariana was set on becoming an interpreter after that and in 2020 began taking classes at Palomar College to pursue that goal. She received her Associates of Arts in Deaf Studies in 2022 and is now an Interpreting 3 student at Palomar. Following her graduation, she will be working towards obtaining her BA in Linguistics. Ariana has a passion for learning and enjoys volunteering in the Deaf community, as well as going to Deaf events. She finds immense value in the advice and information shared by Deaf community members. These connections made a lasting impression regarding the importance of being an ethical interpreter involved in the Deaf Community, one who understands the absolute necessity of providing equal access to information, and appreciates the Deaf community for sharing their culture and language. | COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE IV: STUDENT – SAN DIEGO MESA COLLEGE Jie (he/him) 2023-2024 Jie is a Deaf Asian student who is currently enrolled in the 2nd semester of the ITP at Mesa College. He has volunteered in the Deaf community, which has helped him understand Deaf culture and sign language. Jie is the co-founder an ASL Meetup group called Hands Up San Diego where hearing and Deaf people can meet in-person and virtually to socialize using ASL. When he has free time, he likes to go for a walk and ride his bike outside because fresh air is important to him. |
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE V: BIPOC Isaiah Moore 2023-2025 Isaiah Moore is Deaf and a proud San Diego native. He graduated from Madison High School and played football with the Warhawks team. In addition, he was the first Deaf graduate from Grossmont College majoring in photography. Following his family tradition, he then attended San Diego State University and earned a degree in Television, Film, and New Media. Isaiah goes to the San Diego Comic Con quite frequently because he is a nerd who loves to read comics and meet famous people from TV shows and movies. He loves traveling the world. He has flown to Iceland, Taiwan, and Japan. To be honest, he went to Japan three times already because he grew up and loves to watch anime, read manga, and play video games. To communicate with his friends, Isaiah has learned three additional signed languages from Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Currently, he is working for the San Diego Unified School District as a teacher's aide and specializes in working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. | PAST PRESIDENT Nathan Brown (he/him) 2023-2024 Nathan Brown, NIC, is a Black nationally certified ASL Interpreter who has been in the field since 2004 and is a native of San Diego and the deaf community. He is an interpreting instructor at Mesa College and a Program Manager for Heritage Learning, Training and Development at Sorenson. Nathan is also a graduate student at Western Oregon University studying the intersection of race and interpreter education. When not serving the community in these roles, you can find him with his partner Eileen and children Brooke and Aubrey enjoying the sights and tastes of San Diego or wherever else their travels call them. |
SDCRID COMMITTEES
BIPOC Interpreters Co-chair: Norma Villegas CI and CT (she/they) Norma Villegas received her B.A. in Deaf Studies in 1997 from CSU Northridge where she began her work as an educational interpreter. For more than a decade she worked as a video interpreter, including relaying Trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) calls from a variety of Spanish-influenced regions. She has held positions as RID’s Video Interpreter Member Section Trilingual Representative before moving on to the Section's Region V Representative, as well as recently co-chairing SDCRID’s Professional Development Committee. Norma’s long time passions have been social and economic justice; as a BIPOC Committee co-chair, she is committed to removing barriers and growing the pool of interpreters from historically underrepresented communities to best provide sociocultural and linguistic access to clients from diverse backgrounds. Co-Chair: Cielo Gonzalez-Jiminez bio pending | Communications Chair: Azucena Cena (she/her)
Hello, my name is Azucena Ceja. I was born and raised in California. I am a Mexican American woman who loves learning new things and hanging out with my family. I’m currently living in the San Diego area with my husband and our cat named Oslo. I started learning American Sign Language with my family in 2011. We did this because my father is hard of hearing. We wanted a way to communicate with him if he lost his hearing completely. From then on, I wanted to learn more ASL. In 2018 I attended Palomar Community College to start my journey of becoming an interpreter. Since being in the program I have learned the importance of equal access the Deaf community needs. I hope to become the best interpreter I can be and provide that equal access to the community. While in the interpreting program, I was given the opportunity to be the Student Representative for Palomar Community College in SDCRID. My biggest goal as the student representative was to bridge the gap between students and the interpreting community. Consequently, creating a smooth transition between recent graduate to practicing interpreter. After graduating the Interpreter Training Program, I transitioned into my new role as Chair of Communications. I’ve enjoyed being part of SDCRID’s Board and Committee. I hope to keep involving myself within the community. |
Fundraising Chair: Aaron Brewer (he/him) Aaron Brewer ended up in an interpreter training program (ITP) by accident, despite knowing no sign language and having never met a Deaf person. Two years later, armed with an AAS in interpreting, he escaped his native Ohio for the bright lights of New York City. There he became nationally certified (CI/CT) and earned a BA in sociology. Thirteen years later he met a man, got married, and was dragged kicking and screaming to sunny San Diego. Aaron believes passionately in the work the SDCRID board is doing to diversify the field of interpreting and is excited to help raise money to make this happen. Please note that if you ever see him interpreting music, he did not know that was part of the assignment before he took it. | Jean Kelly Lending Library Librarian: Annette Miner, Ph.D., CI/CT, NIC-M (she/her) Annette Miner, PhD, is an interpreter educator, professional interpreter, and researcher. She received a doctorate in interpretation pedagogy and research from Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. She has published on the topics of curriculum design, experiential and situated learning in interpreter education, and the role of designated interpreters. | Professional Development Co-chair: Nathan Brown (he/him) Co-chair: Lori Bellama (she/her) |
Young Professional Interpreter Network (YPIN) Co-chair: Dakota Bramms (she/her) bio pending Co-chair: Vacant |