(music)
(laughter)
Hi, I'm Jana, I manage the Accounting and HR functions.
My name is Margarita.
I work as a Software Tester at Amara.
[How do you spend your weekends?]
Most likely table tennis or cycling to one of our local beautiful beaches.
I like cooking and also, I do some volunteer work.
Reading.
Reading some interesting books.
[Do you have any pets or plants?]
I have six dogs,
they're all rescued,
so I play a lot with my dogs.
I have a peace lily that I've had for years.
This is Lily Tomlin, no relation.
[What do you love about working at Amara?]
Just connecting with our audience,
just to make somebody's life a little be easier
just for that moment that they're reading my support article
or whatever it is.
At the end of the project, when I'm delivering,
let's say a completed video with some captions and subtitles,
that actually makes me feel really, really fulfilled,
like, "Oh, now we have more videos out there
with captions and subtitles, more people will be able to access it."
Absolutely the people.
Everyone's interest in making the world better truly
is just unbelievable.
Everybody has this thing that somehow is motivated
by the overall mission of Amara,
which is actually to provide accessibility
and also use their skills to share information with others.
It's a special culture, there's not much of a top-down hierarchy.
It's really a cooperative effort.
We're all very [inaudible] to check graphically ending time
but we also have time for each other.
[What languages do you speak?]
I'm only fluent in English but I'm learning American Sign Language,
Russian --my spouse's family if from the former Soviet Union,
so I'd like to be able to speak to the other generations in that family.
English, Spanish, as my native language--
My native language is Russian and I use English for work--
Cantonese, a little bit of Mandarin--
I have also learned some Spanish, German and Chinese.
French and a little bit of Arabic.
English and about this much Spanish. (laughter)
[Pop Quiz: When was the first version of Amara released?]
Either 2010 or 2013...?
2006?
2001? Yeah, no, I don't know.
2010, that's when the first prototype was created.
I [inaudible] I was [inaudible] back then.
[What does accessibility mean to you?]
That everyone has the same opportunity,
being able to understand the world through video
and through the captioning and translation that we do,
and that other people do--
no limits.
It means a lot.
I have a cohlear implant and they are hearing aid.
Without them, I cannot hear practically anything at home
and with them is okay in one-to-one conversations,
but not so nice when you use something technical,
when you're watching videos or talk over the phone,
so subtitles mean a great deal.
Accessibility to me starts with empathy.
A lot of my friends, actually, don't speak English,
so being able to help to make a lot of the information
that I have helped to subtitle into Spanish,
if I can share it with some of my friends back in Venezuela,
or my family, or my mom...
it feels really good.
[What effect do you hope Amara will have on the world?]