Annette Taddeo, founder of LanguageSpeak, is helping organizations do just that. Staffed by a skilled team of translators and editors, her company translates written content, helps with video projects, and conducts real-time phone and meeting interpretation (with oral translation available in more than 240 languages). Taddeo’s clients range from corporations such as ING Financial Services and United Healthcare to the federal government.

Diversity Woman talked with Annette Taddeo about her burgeoning translation business.

Diversity Woman: What drew you into the translation business?

Annette Taddeo: In college [at the University of North Alabama], I started translating for the Tennessee Valley Authority, and there was a lot of chemistry and science, so it was not something that just anybody who was bilingual could do. I had to do a significant amount of research. In the process, I realized that while there were a lot of translation firms, there was a niche for specialized translation, especially for regulated industries.

DW: How did your background as a Latina influence you as you entered this field?

AT: It gave me part of my drive. When I was in college, I ran for student government secretary. On the day of the election, I woke up and found out that on the poster that said “Annette Taddeo for Secretary,” the word “Secretary” had been crossed out, and it said “Annette Taddeo for Deportation.”

That experience didn’t make me bitter or make me want to retreat. It made me want to succeed even more. It made me want to educate people about Hispanics and about difference. I used being bilingual to my advantage. I have a four-year-old now, and I’m making sure she’s bilingual.

DW: Why is translation a good business to be in?

AT:  Translation is not something that can be done with a computer, no matter how advanced we get. Computers use formula-driven technology, but language is not something that can be handled with a formula. The human brain figures out what the meaning of language is.

Google Translate is awesome for figuring out what the heck an e-mail says, but for really doing business, you would never allow anything to go out without being properly written in English, and it’s the same in other languages.

DW: Your company also helps clients with cultural understanding. Why is that important?

AT: When you’re trying to sell something, you have to understand the audience that you’re selling to. So much can be lost in translation.

None of our translations are literal, except for legal documents. With advertising, sometimes you have to ask, “What are they trying to say here?” You might have to come up with a whole new slogan to say the same thing, thinking about how it might be said in Spanish.

In the United States, we unfortunately do not study languages and therefore, in many instances, don’t have an understanding of other cultures. My goal is to help our clients understand their clientele. So often, companies try to save money on translation, but that can be a very costly mistake.

We back every one of our translations with an attestation of the accuracy of the piece and also with insurance. That’s one of the reasons we’re chosen by so many of the regulated industries.

DW: What is the key to a good translation?

AT: When you read the ad, or listen to the radio spot, or watch the TV commercial, you have no clue it was originally in English [or another original language]. It should not read or sound like a translation.

DW: How do you make sure that happens?

AT:  Each translation goes through many different hands—a translator, a proofreader, an editor—for review. Most of our translators have a degree and are also certified in translation.

DW: What is the most challenging job youíve ever gotten?

AT:  It was from the White House, during the [George W.] Bush administration. It was a Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting.

We bid for it, and initially didn’t get it because we weren’t the lowest bidder. I said, “I can’t do it for any less and still keep our good name and keep the type of interpreters we’re known for.” I really wanted it, but I walked away.

But two weeks before the event, they called and said, “We now realize that the other vendor is in over their head.” This was right before the event, and they needed 80 interpreters in three hotels. It was like building a mini-UN, with equipment. They were asking for the impossible. I had never done anything like that in a two-week period.

I had to fly in 80 interpreters and get them all security clearance. I jumped through so many hoops and had so many sleepless nights. We were translating everything that was said, in writing. There were tons of break-out sessions. My entire staff was working overtime.

Also, all of the streets were closed because there were protesters everywhere. I had to calm down the interpreters, because they were afraid there would be bombs.

It was a lot of work, and I just had to keep calm and keep everybody happy. It was definitely stressful, but it was also my pride and joy. We did a great job, and we’ve continued to do so. We’ve done many follow-up trade meetings.

DW: You offer language tutoring as well. What type of clients do you have?

AT: We teach Spanish to all the generals for the Southern Command of the Department of Defense, so as soon as they take over, they can do a good job directing the region. For people who travel extensively and can’t take a class, we can provide a private tutor. Everything’s very tailored to the specific company.

DW: At your company, what initiatives are you most proud of?

AT: I implemented not only a retirement plan, but a profit-sharing plan for my employees. I feel good about it, and I think more businesses should share with their employees. After all, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.

DW: What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

AT: Just yesterday, I got an e-mail from a major corporation that we’ve done business with for seven years. Our contract is up in February. They said, “We’ve asked throughout the entire company, and nobody said anything but wonderful things about you, so we’re not even going to put the contract up for bid.” Seven years and no complaints. Everybody’s happy. That’s the kind of stuff that makes you proud.

DW: What advice would you give a woman thinking about starting her own business?

AT: Don’t be afraid. If you’re passionate about it, just do it. People will point out every “but” there is along the way. Don’t listen to all the “buts.” Just go for it.

It’s a tremendous amount of work. Oh, boy! When I hear women say, “I want to do this because I want to spend more time with my kids,” I think, “You’re in a wrong place. Get a 9-to-5 job if you want to spend more time with your kids.” In the beginning, you’re going to spend three times as much time if you start your own business. If there’s an emergency, you’re the one who’s going to get the call.

But if you’re passionate about something and you really believe in it, you can do anything. DW

Kimberly Olson is the DW managing editor.

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While technically minded, that other side of her personality—the part that loved helping people—still needed to be fed, leading her to a career in computer training. She began working at a Radio Shack affiliate in Sri Lanka, and ultimately caught the attention of her company’s CEO. When he decided to launch a new start-up company in the U.S., Saman was one of just four employees he handpicked—and the only woman—to go.

Saman eventually founded her own firm, AIM Computer Training, ultimately building it to a multimillion-dollar global training program. She received Working Woman magazine’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for General Excellence and Innovative Solutions in 2000 and its Entrepreneurial Excellence Award for Customer Service in 2001. San Francisco Business Times named AIM Computer Training a Top 100 Women-Owned Company (six consecutive years) and a Fastest Growing Privately Held Company (three consecutive years). The company was acquired in 2004.

In 2006, Saman joined NorthPoint Financial Group as Executive Vice President, where she built and managed the company’s business development program. In 2008, she helped form a successful e-business concept for delivering analytics and investment ratings for residential real estate. One year later, a venture-funded company was spun off as SmartZip Inc.

Today, Saman is using her vast experience to help up-and-coming entrepreneurs navigate their way to success. She leads the Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Coalition for Carly for California, and is also an advisor for Astia, a global not-for-profit whose mission is to foster the full participation of women in entrepreneurship and as accelerators of high-growth companies fueling innovation and driving economic growth

Diversity Woman: When you look back on your childhood in Sri Lanka, do you see any influences that might have helped you to become a successful entrepreneur?

SD: I was raised in a family of three girls and no boys. My dad was a military officer and he said, “I may have to go to war, so I need to teach these three girls to do everything independently.” So he sent me to karate classes when I was eight years old. I would play with my cousins and get beaten by the boys and come home crying. And my dad said, “Next time, you don’t come home crying. You hit them back.” And so next time, I did. (laughs) I think that was my first lesson in competing.

DW: How did you get interested in computers?
SD: I was actually studying to become a doctor. But in Sri Lanka, there’s an entrance exam to go to medical college, and for the life of me, I couldn’t pass it—three years in a row. I just don’t like sitting in one place and memorizing. I was getting really frustrated and was trying to figure out a way to get out of this.

Microcomputers were coming into the market, so my aunt said, “How about computers?” I had no idea what that meant. But I said, “Sure, sign me up!” That got me into technology. I studied and became a programmer and a systems analyst, and I did really well because math was a very natural thing for me. I just loved it.

DW: And then you began teaching others. How did that happen?

SD: I didn’t like just sitting in front of a computer to write programs, because I love people and I love helping. My family is almost all educators, so I think teaching is a natural thing for me.

I worked at Radio Shack, and I started studying software applications. Back then, just getting a call to the United States (for tech support) would take hours. There was no e-mail. I learned software applications, studying and troubleshooting on my own. Very soon, I became the expert internally on these software applications and then I started teaching internal staff.

I also started building a computer training school for children after work hours and on weekends. I was only 20 years old. I taught children computer programming languages by using a CPU with a keyboard, called a Sinclair computer, which you connected to a TV. I later developed it to an adult computer training center.

DW: What was your first career success?

SD: I was one of the first women to join Sales Support and Training, and I ended up building it into a profitable business unit.

I kept hearing from the executives of the company that this was a cost center that was eating into profits. The reason was that the support and training was bundled as part of the computer sale, not realizing and that you can’t commit to providing free support forever, because that’s going to eat in to your profits.

I established a policy that the customer would get training for the first 30 days or 60 days, but after that, if they hired new employees, they’d have to pay for the training. I couldn’t get the company to fund for me to hire trainers, so I recruited trainers from other departments who had a good understanding of the applications and had skills to train, and I had plenty of people signing up because I came up with a way to compensate the staff. I paid the staff from the profits. And once I proved the model, the executives said, “We see what you’re doing. You can hire (external) people.”

DW: How did you end up coming to the United States?

SD: Someone came to me and asked if I would teach our CEO to create spreadsheets using MultiPlan, the first menu-based spreadsheet application. The CEO was the first person to introduce microcomputers to Sri Lanka, so I was thrilled. I was this 22-year-old girl running around teaching computer applications. I studied very hard to be really good at it in a short timeframe and I taught him Multiplan. That created an opportunity for me to get to know him, and I made a good impression.

He was remodeling his home and was living in his vacation home, which was close to where I used to live. He would pass the bus stop every day during the remodeling. In Sri Lanka, there are hundreds of people running to the bus, and in all of these people, he spotted me, and he gave me a ride every day until his remodeling was completed. I had the opportunity to get to know him personally.

He wanted to start a software development company, and he transferred four of us to start this new startup venture in San Francisco. I was the only woman. In Sri Lanka, it’s unheard of for somebody at that age—22 or 23 years old—to move to U.S. to start a company. They don’t even leave their home until they get married. When somebody hires people at the early stage of a company, they want the best because they’re risking their money. He took a risk by selecting me, a young woman, to help build his startup.

I didn’t even know he was planning to start a company in the U.S. When they asked me if I would teach the CEO, I could have said, “No, it will take too much time. I have to study. It’s not within my 8 to 5.” Instead, I said sure. Going beyond what your (regular job requires) and taking on the challenge of teaching the CEO can really take you places.

DW: What was it like to move to a foreign country and launch a new company in your twenties? How did you make it work?

SD: It was a tremendous opportunity. We were launching an application, and my responsibility was to provide support and training to customers who purchased it. I was counting the days (until the release), but it was taking a lot longer than we anticipated, which is common in the software development world. The parent company in Sri Lanka was funding this venture, and if we ran out of money I would have to go back to Sri Lanka.

I told myself, “I’m not going back. I’m going to make this happen.” So I got contracts to provide training and support services to customers. We didn’t even have customers because we didn’t have a software application ready for consumer use. By providing training and support services for off-the-shelf software applications, I started generating revenue, and I single-handedly funded the company. The advice I give to entrepreneurs is to be determined, be innovative, and don’t quit.

Then the CEO came to me and said, “Well, it looks like you’ve mastered this. What do you think about starting a training company?” So while the software project was going on, I helped found a company called Training Alternatives (acquired by Heald College in 1992) to provide training and support services to corporate customers. I was training seven days a week to generate revenue to continue to fund the company and to have the opportunity to stay in the United States. I must have taught every PacBell and AT&T employee!

DW: You ultimately launched your own business, AIM Computer Training. What were the biggest challenges you faced?

SD: When you’re brand new, there are all of these established companies out there. How do you compete? That’s always a very difficult thing.

I made sure the company was credible. Image and experience was a big piece. You need to be able to tell the story and have a credible marketing presentation to ensure that people take you seriously.

DW: The tech industry is still fairly male dominated. Do you think being a woman has generally hurt you, helped you, or both?

SD: It was definitely difficult for me at both companies—Training Alternatives in the mid-’80s and then AIM Computer Training in the early ’90s—being a minority woman from Sri Lanka. Especially in the mid-’80s, there weren’t that many women in technology, and there definitely weren’t that many women from that part of the world. People would look at you like, “What the heck are you doing here?”

It takes determination. Also, you have to be really knowledgeable about what you’re doing so you can build credibility. You really have to prove yourself. It might take you four times as long to get from Point A to B.

But there are also many advantages for women, so I turned it around. I got my company certified as a woman-owned business and a minority-owned business, and I used that to build my initial customer base. It helped me bring in customers like PG&E and Cisco Systems, which was huge. Many companies now have supplier diversity programs. I didn’t necessarily have to use that throughout my career, but I did use it as a steppingstone.

DW: What is your philosophy of business?

SD: My underlying philosophy is that the world is so connected, and it’s really important that you continue to receive and give. If the receiving and giving doesn’t happen, it will come to an end. The more you get out there in the world, the more connections you make and more business you do. And that’s not just because you exchanged business cards. It’s because two people have connected beyond business interests. I strongly believe that if we keep helping each other in mind, then the pieces will come together.

DW: Is there an example that you can share?

SD: When I was 19 or 20 and trying to get my foot in the door in the computer field, I was working for an insurance company. I was taking microcomputer training classes and I passed as one of the top students. The company was outsourcing to the UK—developing software for the UK market—and I was chosen, so I went to the interview.

When I was working for this company, I made a connection with a lady in the lunchroom—much older than I was—and I was telling her that I was going to school in the evening. She was very impressed that I had a goal. She was very intrigued by how determined I was. I was excited and I told her about the interview.

The next time I saw her at lunch, she asked me what happened. I said, “I don’t think I got selected.” I was very disappointed.

She said, “Well, I didn’t want to tell you, but my brother heads that company. Let me make some calls.” I told her, “I don’t even want a salary. I just want to get my foot in the door to do something with computers. I just need little help to get in.” She called them and they arranged another interview. They said the reason they didn’t hire me was because they didn’t think I’d give up such a good salary to work as a trainee. That’s where I met the CEO who gave me the opportunity to come to the U.S., and look where it took me. It all started from that one connection in the lunchroom.

DW: Do you think that there’s anything in your Sri Lankan background that has shaped the way you do business?

SD: I think that when you’re an immigrant, you don’t take it for granted that everything is given to you on a silver platter. You know you have to really work hard for it.

I also think about everything from a cost-effective point of view. I am always thinking outside the box to make things happen instead of hiring so many people or spending so much money to get things done. I’m always thinking of alternatives—innovative methods to make things happen.

DW: A study just came out showing that, at tech companies in Silicon Valley, men are 2.7 times more likely to be promoted to high-ranking jobs. What advice would you give a woman who wants to succeed in tech?

SD: You need to be connected so you’ll know the people who can open the right doors for you. It takes effort and it has to be part of your day-to-day business life.

People often say, “Let’s get together for lunch,” and 98 percent of time, they don’t follow through. How in the world could you say something and not even bother to respond to an e-mail or to a phone call? Women are really good at making relationships, and we should take advantage of that. If you follow through, you’ll really shine.

Also, women tend to not think as big. The large corporations want you to think bigger, take risks, and have the courage to follow through. When I met my (then) fiancé, he had come from IBM and he always talked in millions, and I couldn’t comprehend it at that time. I remember telling my friends, “Everything he talked about was in millions.” I didn’t know that I would end up becoming a millionaire. (laughs)

DW: Now that you’ve sold your business, you’re helping other entrepreneurs who are just starting out. You’ve come full circle.

SD: I’ve opened a new chapter in my life. I’m doing a lot of volunteer work in entrepreneurship on a global level. I am consulting entrepreneurs for a fee or for equity as well as nonprofit work.

I’m involved with Astia, which helps women-founded and led companies get funding. I’m an advisor and I get calls all the time from people who want advice. I love working with entrepreneurs. It’s very satisfying and inspiring.

I had the greatest experience very recently. I was at the Plug and Play Tech Center. It’s an incubator in Silicon Valley. They bring in local and international entrepreneurs who want to learn and to get inspired by other entrepreneurs. They get exposure to VCs and get an opportunity to intern for tech companies. I got to interact with entrepreneurs from Indonesia, Singapore, Denmark, and China. I got the opportunity to tell my story. They were inspired. I had a long line of people waiting to talk to me.

A Silicon Valley leadership group had a program called Silicon Valley Leadership Summit 2010, and women executives shared their stories with young girls. More of these events need to take place, and we as women need to find the time to get involved to share our stories and inspire the younger generation.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS FROM SAMAN DIAS

• Never give up. “This requires hard work and determination. If you quit, no one will ever want to give you money to start a business.”

• Hone your competitive edge. “You have to like to compete in the business world and outside of the business world. I play tennis and I vigorously compete.”

• Have no fear. “I’m not embarrassed to make a fool of myself to learn something new or to take on a new challenge.”

• Think big. “This is something that comes very naturally to men. I’m sure Cisco and Google had a big idea when they started, even though they weren’t big at that time. If you don’t think big, you won’t be able to break into those big companies or raise funding in the venture capital world.”

• Connect and find ways to give. “Deepak Chopra says that in the cycle of giving and receiving, giving doesn’t just mean giving money. It means giving time, sharing your stories, and making an impact with little things. It could be just sharing a compliment. If everybody realized the power of giving, the outcome would be amazing.”

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Indeed, as the business world becomes increasingly conscious of environmental issues, it is a great time to be an expert in the field, a fact backed up by Porter Scientific’s 30 percent revenue growth in the past year (and estimated 2007 revenues of $3.1 million). Not that success has come easy for founder and CEO Freda Porter, 50, a Lumbee Indian with a PhD in applied mathematics from Duke University. Since launching Porter Scientific in 1997, she has encountered—and overcome—her share of obstacles. Diversity Woman asked her about her switch from academia to the private sector, and how her business is finally, well, cleaning up.

Diversity Woman: Traditionally, girls have not been encouraged to study math and sciences. Did you have a different experience growing up?
Freda Porter: Math has always come naturally to me. I grew up on a farm on which my parents were tobacco sharecroppers. My dad once said that he could sense that I looked for ways to make the hard work on the farm easier. He always relied on me to help him pay his workers, so early on I thought it was exciting to be part of a solution.

DW: How did you translate a love of math into a business?
FP: After graduate school, I knew I couldn’t work in math theory. I was always an “applied” person: I had to find a problem to solve. I also had a love of nature and an affinity to water. At a conference I attended, a gentleman from the Environmental Protection Agency talked about how contaminants flow underground and propagate in the soil. He was dealing with important issues—oil spills, gas spills, hazardous chemicals—and it was just fascinating. I was very attracted to the problem of water quality and worked on it for probably seven or eight years [in research] before I ended up at the helm of the company.

DW: How much culture shock did you have, switching from academia to the private sector?
FP: I was fortunate to have had good teaching from my father. When he hung up his full-time farming hat, he had started a waste-operations company before he passed away. We were very close, and every week I had been interacting with him one way or another, helping him with the company. So I knew the fundamentals of running a business—with the exception of the political side.

DW: What did you need to learn politically?
FP: People want to do business with people they know. In other words, networking is very important, and everybody wants to see you giving back. So I had to rethink my approach. I knew that I gave back on the educational front, but I found that I had to apply that same philosophy to business.

DW: How much of an issue was your gender or race?
FP: In grade school, a very small percentage of my peers were girls, which was hard. In academia, they didn’t distinguish that I had brown skin. When I got the PhD, I thought I’d done all the right things and that everything would be equitable. But it wasn’t, and that was even more the case when I got into business. It was very hard to get opportunities because, number one, I’m a woman. Then, when I presented myself, my brown skin proved to be another mark against me. I felt that I was seen as somebody who wasn’t going to be able to do the work. I could flash around the PhD, the EPA research I’d done, but it didn’t matter.

DW: So how did you convince them?
FP: You do it one at a time. You don’t win the masses, but they gradually realize you’re for real and that you have a lot to offer. A lot of our customers are military, and so I serve on an advisory commission for military affairs. We try to recruit from that arena, too, and that includes both military people and their spouses. You make those inroads, and the word starts to get around—that’s the way change happens. Hopefully, when true change happens, your color goes away, and your gender goes away, too.

DW: You said that you give back on the educational front. How are you doing that?
FP: One way is by serving on the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. We have a wonderful opportunity to bring more education to the reservations and to rural areas, especially in math and science. Right now, American Indians are at the bottom of every [educational] statistic and that’s a shame. It’s a real honor to be on the board.

DW: What two books are you reading?
FP: One is Become a Better You, by Joel Osteen. He is a pastor, and I’m so inspired by him. I’m missing my father still—he was my greatest support person—but Osteen writes that he wants to be [the reader’s] support person. That really struck a nerve. The second, Leading Through Change, is from the Harvard Business Review. We’re going through a lot of changes at PSI, and I have relied on these “change-management” topics. DW

Katrina Brown Hunt, based in San Diego, has written about personal finance and business for SmartMoney, Fortune Small Business, and the Seattle Times.

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