FEATURE
Stefanie Hodell
Vice president, production and client services at TransPerfect
Unlike many others highlighted in this magazine, I didn’t start in this industry because I had a deep passion for language. In a way I just fell into it. As a native English speaker growing up in a suburb of Long Island, New York — I had no concept of what the localization industry even was.
My passion is and has always been people. Working with people from all different walks of life and cultures, embracing our differences to bring diverse perspectives and advance our mission (whatever that may be) through meaningful work and human connection.
I started as an entry-level project coordinator at TransPerfect 15 years ago handling a wide range of materials. But the request that completely turned my understanding of localization upside-down was a simple, personal, love letter, written in Russian to be translated into English. The translator and I were in tears as we had the privilege of witnessing one person’s vulnerability pour onto the page to profess their love for another. It seems so painfully obvious now, but it made me realize in that moment how unreasonably powerful language is, making authentic connections across the globe in both small/individual and enormous/global ways.
ACCOLADES
Stefanie Hodell inspires her staff to rise to their greatest potential. She doesn’t dictate what that potential is, but allows you to carve your own path of success and contribution based on your own strengths. She then is ready to help you overcome any internal or external roadblocks you have in achieving those goals. She is the first manager that showed me what it meant to demoralize your staff with feedback and how to take steps to avoid this. She has shaped so many leaders into their roles. She is truly an inspiration. I have never felt more seen and valued than my time when I was employed under her.
Stef is a leader who commands respect from her colleagues, team, and executive leadership due to her innate drive for excellence, strong work ethic, ability to be humble and even vulnerable in her quest to be an inspiration to all.
I had the pleasure of managing Stefanie for almost 15 years. She’s always focused on doing what’s best for our employees, clients and our business. She leads by example with the utmost integrity, passion and accountability. She runs a large global team with consistent success and deserves to be recognized for her strong leadership
Since then I have been empowered to create my own opportunities, identifying needs and creating teams or initiatives to drive effective change across the industry. I have built various production, operational, and client services departments over the years aimed at providing unparalleled service to our clients across their respective industries. One of our many motto’s amongst my team has always been, “We don’t deliver a file, we deliver a message.” That “message” to our clients is that we see you, we hear you and we, quite literally, speak your language.
I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside supporters and allies my entire career that have empowered me to be an agent of change within the organization — but I know that isn’t every woman’s experience unfortunately. I absolutely love that MultiLingual magazine is shining a light on women who have followed their passions in extraordinarily intentional ways to bring them to such high levels of success. It is needed now more than ever as we navigate a world in dire need of more diversity and inclusivity. I am truly humbled to be included in such an inspirational group of women.
My 15-year career in the localization space would not be what it is if it weren’t for both Stefanie Hodell and Nancy Hernon — two innovative, inspirational, hardest working women in the business. Two of the best stories you could tell and I’d be more than happy to contribute in any way possible!
WEEKLY DIGEST
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