Our Director

John Arroyave, MBA

Sometimes a person chooses a profession. Sometimes the profession chooses the person.

For me it was both. Like my siblings before me, I found myself “clarifying” for my mom and my pediatrician, dentist, teachers, guidance counselor, soccer coach, my friend’s parents or—

You get the idea. I’ve been interpreting since I was a little boy.

The youngest of four, I grew up in a loving first-generation Colombian-American household, which meant that I was, in a sense, neither fully Colombian nor fully American. This background left me halfway between two different cultures, two different ways of seeing the world and two different ways of communicating.

Growing up straddling these cultures left me with a sharp sense of what it means to be both an insider and outsider. It also left me keenly aware that sometimes words just do not translate. Cultures have nuances. People have worldviews. Yet the experience also helped me understand how language and the ability to communicate can open doors and opportunities. They often mean access to urgently needed resources.

Language can open up the world. It is empowering.

This perspective fuels my love for interpreting, especially community and medical interpreting. It allows me, in my own personal way, to provide a channel through which others can find autonomy and empowerment through language. And it led me, of course, to CCC, which will allow me to share my passion and mission with the world.