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(music)

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(laughter)

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Hi, I'm Jana, I manage
the Accounting and HR functions.

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My name is Margarita.

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I work as a Software Tester at Amara.

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[How do you spend your weekends?]

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Most likely table tennis or cycling
to one of our local beautiful beaches.

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I like cooking and also,
I do some volunteer work.

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Reading.

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Reading.

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Reading some interesting books.

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[Do you have any pets or plants?]

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I have six dogs,

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<i>they're all rescued,</i>

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<i>so I play a lot with my dogs.</i>

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I have a <i>peace lily</i>
that I've had for years.

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This is <i>Lily Tomlin</i>, no relation.

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[What do you love about
working at Amara?]

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Just connecting with our audience,

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just to make somebody's life 
a little be easier

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just for that moment
that they're reading my support article

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or whatever it is.

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At the end of the project,
when I'm delivering,

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let's say a completed video
with some captions and subtitles,

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that actually makes me feel
really, really fulfilled,

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like, "Oh, now we have
more videos out there

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with captions and subtitles,
more people will be able to access it."

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Absolutely the people.

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Everyone's interest in 
making the world better truly

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is just unbelievable.

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Everybody has this thing
that somehow is motivated

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by the overall mission of Amara,

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which is actually to provide accessibility

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and also use their skills
to share information with others.

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It's a special culture,
there's not much of a top-down hierarchy.

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It's really a cooperative effort.

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We're all very [inaudible]
to check graphically ending time

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but we also have time for each other.

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[What languages do you speak?]

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I'm only fluent in English
but I'm learning American Sign Language,

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Russian --my spouse's family
if from the former Soviet Union,

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so I'd like to be able to speak to
the other generations in that family.

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English, Spanish, as my native language--

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My native language is Russian
and I use English for work--

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Cantonese, a little bit of Mandarin--

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I have also learned some Spanish,
German and Chinese.

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French and a little bit of Arabic.

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English and about this much Spanish.
(laughter)

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[Pop Quiz: When was the first version
of Amara released?]

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Either 2010 or 2013...?

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2006?

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2001? Yeah, no, I don't know.

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2010, that's when
the first prototype was created.

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I [inaudible] I was [inaudible]
back then.

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[What does accessibility mean to you?]

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That everyone has the same opportunity,

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being able to understand 
the world through video

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and through the captioning 
and translation that we do,

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and that other people do--

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no limits.

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It means a lot.

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I have a cohlear implant
and they are hearing aid.

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Without them, I cannot hear
practically anything at home

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and with them is okay
in one-to-one conversations,

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but not so nice when you use 
something technical,

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when you're watching videos
or talk over the phone,

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so subtitles mean a great deal.

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Accessibility to me starts with empathy.

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A lot of my friends, actually,
don't speak English,

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so being able to help
to make a lot of the information

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that I have helped
to subtitle into Spanish,

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if I can share it with some
of my friends back in Venezuela,

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or my family, or my mom...

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it feels really good.

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[What effect do you hope
Amara will have on the world?]

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Acceptance and, I mean, the world
is in such a difficult place--

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communicating, you know,
just communicating.

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When we work every day

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with so many people
from so many other countries,

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you just realized people are different
but the same, from all over.

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I think there's a lot of
untapped attention

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for this tool to be used
by other types of users.

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Transcription is a great opportunity

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for people who have vision problems
to find employment.

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I really hope to see this happen.

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Using AI to generate 
subtitles and captions,

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you know, that has been on the rise
for the last few years

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and there has been a lot of humor
and a lot of mistakes,

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and that definitely highlights

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how important people are 
to the process of language in any form.

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I'm hoping that the way we treat people,

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and the way how we put

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their experience first,
and their abilities first,

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will be noticed 
and that that would inspire

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other people to say 
that it's not impossible to do that.