GRACIELA CUELLO
DIRECTOR
Graciela is sole owner and founder of Connections Servicios Idiomáticos. She holds a degree in English-Spanish interpreting, translation and teaching, all of them awarded by IES – Instituto Olga Cosettini, Rosario. She started working in 1986 and has been teaching English at A.R.I.C.A.N.A, a binational center, ever since. Two years later, she graduated as a translator and specialized in the engineering and legal fields. The work possibilities in the translation area, and in corporate training as well as the growing demand from customers made her decide to open her own translation studio in 1996. In 1999 she started working in various projects and recruiting more translators, all of which are serious, creative and reliable.
In 2004 she is summoned to join MainPost, a subtitling company based in Miami at that time, and as a result of the solid business and human relationship between the two companies, both directors start a joint venture that remains to date.
She is currently working as consecutive and simultaneous interpreter in various national and international companies.
Her most valuable capital? Human capital. In 2008 a new business unit is added: events and training. “All this can only be achieved with an unconditional team, who show the same devotion and enthusiasm in everything they do. Nothing could be done without them”, she sustains.
She is a constant traveller and adores reading and watching movies, although she admits to cringing with her own subtitles on television. Her favorite pastimes are being idle and spending time with her family.
VALERIA VIRGA
EVENTS & CONSULTANCY
Valeria Virga is a graduate Teacher and Translator from IES “Olga Cossettini”, Rosario, Sta Fe, Argentina. She has been teaching FCE, CAE and BEC levels for more than 17 years at Saint Bartholomew´s School. She has been lecturing on Contrastive Analysis I and Translation Studies II at the Translation Programme of Instituto Superior Particular Incorporado N° 9123 “San Bartolomé” since 2005, where she also coordinates the Department of Professional Development.
She worked as ELT Consultant and Events Organizer for six years at Ameghino Bookshop in Rosario.
She is a freelance translator. Her specialties are Legal English, Travel and Tourism, Engineering, and Rugby. In January, 2010 she joined Connections Servicios Idiomáticos, where she works as Consultant and Events Organizer of seminars and workshops for translators and translators-to be.
Valeria is a materials designer and online course tutor of the “Online Course on Error Correction”, Instituto Superior San Bartolomé, and “Grammar Clinic I”, “Grammar Clinic II” and “Grammar Clinic III”, e-duTraining. She is a confessed Grammar geek. She has been lecturing widely both in face2face and online conferences on grammar and dictionaries.
Valeria lives in a town near Rosario with her husband and her son. She loves cooking and photography.MARINA PIERETTI LÓPEZ
REGIONAL PROMOTION
Marina Pieretti López is a graduate teacher and translator from ISP Nº 3 “Eduardo Lafferriere”, Villa Constitución, Santa Fe, Argentina. She is also a graduate Systems Programmer from ISP Nº 9112 “San Pablo”.
She has worked as English language teacher at English institutes in her hometown and she has been coaching students of the translation Program of ISP Nº 3 “Eduardo Lafferriere” for more than eight years. She has performed English to English and Spanish to Spanish transcription services of audio to text files. She has attended several presential and on line seminars, workshops and courses related to the translation field as well as the English and Spanish languages and she is currently attending lessons on Portuguese.
She is a freelance translator. Her specialties are Technical English, Mechanics, Metallurgy and Human Resources. In April, 2010 after attending her first workshop at Connections Servicios Idiomáticos, she joined Graciela and Valeria's work team as Regional Promoter of the events organized by Connections because she truly believes that professional development enhances both the professional and personal lives of those who embrace it.
Marina lives in Villa Constitución with her husband and her four dogs. She is fond of cacti, interior design and blogs on minimalism.
LÚCIA DORNELAS
PORTUGUESE DEPARTMENT
Lúcia was born in Brazil and lived there until 1983. A year later, she moved to Rosario. She is married and has four children, all of them Argentinean.
She is a teacher, and holds Litentiate degrees in Mathematics, Pedagogy and Portuguese teaching, among others.
She speaks English and sign language. As it happens sometimes, she juggles time management and priorities as a professional, wife and mother.
“God is the most important thing in my life, so I try to live according to His Word. I am extremely self-critical and that includes being an organized, serious and excellent professional”, Lúcia sustains.
“When time allows, I read, especially the Bible, my GPS in life which guides my steps in this world”, she concludes with a smile.
DANIELE MARTINS MONGE
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Master in International Integration and Cooperation, National University of Rosario, Argentina, a scholarship granted by the OAS – Organization of American States, and Litentiate in Cultural Production, Fluminense Federal University, Niteroi, Brazil.
She has participated in various cultural projects in Brazil and Argentina.
Connections also has a special department to build liaison strategies with its international clients. Through the years it has gained a position in the domestic market; moreover,the export demand for translation services has shown a rapid growth in the last years. Connections is currently engaged in projects overseas with clients mainly from the United States, France and Latin America, namely in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
Therefore, it became necessary to develop a specific area for international relations to attend not only to the company growth and demand for services but also to clients’ needs overseas. Some of the activities carried out are: identification of potential markets, client outreach, promotion of services, relation with clients and personalized attention, and follow-up of international projects, among others.
