My background
After graduating from the University of Exeter, UK, with a 2:1 with distinction in Modern Foreign Languages, I moved to Grenoble, France. Building on a passion for translation I had discovered earlier during my ERASMUS year working in the language centre at ESIEE Paris, I began working as a freelance translator under the auto-entrepreneur scheme. I was fortunate enough to land a project contributing to the official website for the Eiffel Tower through an agency, and I have continued to grow ever since. I went on to meet with the Director of Marketing and Communication at Floralis, with whom I worked on content for a technology portal operated by the LSI Carnot Institute. This relationship would later result in a recommendation to Muriel Jakobiak-Fontana, leading to multiple projects for the Université Joseph Fourier (now Université Grenoble Alpes).
Fast-forward more than a decade: working closely with agencies all these years, namely Technicis (now Acolad), as well as Juris’Traduction, STiiL Traduction and Translated, has given me the opportunity to work in a vast array of fields. I have reached a position where I am regularly asked to provide sample translations to win new key accounts and give my opinion on quality. Cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, skincare, luxury champagnes, boutique hotels, designer clothing, high-end tableware, postal services, pickup/drop-off networks, banking, financial services, annual reports, cars, tourism, education, energy & the environment, clinical trials, medical devices, humanitarian aid, new technologies, IT, telecommunications, contracts, privacy policies, data protection, intellectual property - I’ve done it all!
Within those fields, over the years, I have found my niche. The projects where I excel are those with more creative freedom - press releases, public websites, brochures, presentations, etc. I’m the person you call when you need to take what you do, from the simplest to the most complex of concepts, and communicate about it in a way that is accessible to an audience beyond the people who already specialise in it.
Agency work has also given me regular opportunities to provide translations for major global brands: L’Oréal, YSL Beauté, LVMH, Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Sony Music France, Air France, Paris Aéroport, Pierre Fabre, Guerbet, Renault, Societe Generale, BNP PARIBAS, BCEE, ING, Merrill Lynch, Edmond de Rothschild Group, Médecins Sans Frontières, France Telecom, Orange, Air Liquide, Safran, Adisseo, Djeco, Ipsos, Kraft Foods, Bonduelle, Fromageries Bel, Casino, Pernod Ricard, Degrenne, La Roche-Posay, Shiseido Europe, Codex Beauty, Aptar, Parrot, Total, EDF, Vetoquinol, Yoplait, Vinci, Conforama, Carglass, Rolls Royce, GE, La Poste, Bureau Veritas, INSEE, ARC International, Danone, Casino, RATP, TV5 Monde, Santé publique France, to name but a few!
Outside of agency work, I have had the honour of working with companies like Corys T.E.S.S., where I held a temporary in-house position working on the translation and editing of acceptance testing procedures for a nuclear power station simulator. During that time, I was asked to extend my stay to three months, during which I had the opportunity to coordinate a team of eight translators and take on an additional quality assurance role.
Later, I had the good fortune to work with a close friend at XCOMPONENT on translating content for their website. I have also worked with university research teams and communications departments. Most notably, I have collaborated on numerous occasions with Anne-Catherine Ohlmann, Director of the Université Grenoble Alpes Foundation, on materials for Ice Memory (a UNESCO project of global importance to preserve the information held within glacier ice), as well as content for the Grenoble University Space Centre (CSUG) and Projet Microbiote.
During this time, I moved to Portugal, where I have registered my business and am now a Permanent Resident. I have maintained my customer relationships from France, and French to English remains my primary language pair. However, the purpose of the move was to improve my Portuguese language skills. I began teaching myself to read and write Portuguese in 2008, and I reached a level proficient enough to take on translations into English. But something was lacking. I needed the immersion among native speakers that had so vastly benefited my learning of French. So, I am always on the lookout for Portuguese businesses, whether national or local to the Caldas da Rainha area, in need of top-quality translations to attract international customers.
I look forward to new opportunities!