Our business is collectively owned and run by qualified interpreters and translators with decades of experience in our field. We are dedicated to ensuring that speakers of all languages can participate fully in public life, undeterred by language barriers. We advocate for the interpreter profession in order to create fair working conditions and to build greater language justice in our communities.
We formed the Minnesota Translator and Interpreter Cooperative because a democratic workplace results in the highest quality language services that our clients and community deserve.
Our interpreters and translators have the highest level credentials available in their language pair, including certification from entities such as the National Center for State Courts, Federal Court Interpreter Certification, and the American Translators Association.
Whether we were born in Minnesota or made it our home, our membership came together with a common goal to serve our state’s diverse cultural and linguistic communities.
When you hire MNTIC, you’re receiving more than language services. You’re investing in our co-op’s efforts to build broader language justice in our community––educating and advocating to legislators and other public forums about the role and importance of professional interpreters to increasing equity in public life.
Our inaugural steering committee serves our clients, community, and members for a term of three years. After collaborating for years on advocacy efforts for the court interpreter profession in the Minnesota state legislature, we came together to create our own democratic workplace
Andrés Díaz, originally from Veracruz, Mexico, has decades of experience and expertise in his field of Spanish interpretation and translation. He graduated from Universidad Autónoma Chapingo in Mexico as an agro-industrial engineer and later went on to get his master’s degree in Food Science from the University of Minnesota. Over the years his knowledge in food science and agriculture has allowed him to pursue what he especially enjoys: traveling and working with topics related to food and agriculture. From traveling to Chiapas, Mexico, and Huehuetenango, Guatemala, to interpret for workshops for an agriculture diversification program coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the Chiapas Institute of Tropical Agriculture, to traveling several times with foreign delegations in Minnesota and interpreting for trainers from different companies and institutions, Andrés’s passion has taken him to many different countries. More recently Andrés has worked in many settings such as being a lab instructor for translation courses, and as a teaching specialist for course Interpreting in Legal Settings at the U of M, to interpreting for the USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service Cochran Fellows Program involving Guatemalan Schools. With all of this experience, he can now say he is an experienced translator in technical materials related to agriculture, food technology, power generation, heavy machinery, and medical technology.
A developing passion of his is narration. He has narrated numerous corporate videos and educational materials in Spanish, working with video editing software. A large project he worked on was narrating, translating, and editing the Spanish version of K-12 standardized tests used in several states. Currently, Andrés works primarily as a conference and court interpreter. He is a certified court interpreter on a federal and state level, and is also certified by the American Translators Association. Not only is Andrés a highly qualified interpreter and translator, but he finds time to bring his sense of humor to the job, always ready with a joke to make everyone laugh.
Marcela Estibill has been interpreting since 1995 and is a certified CCHI Medical Interpreter, Certified ATA Spanish Translator, and a Certified MN Court Interpreter. She got her Degree in TEFL(Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) in 1987, and started her small translation business in Santiago, Chile in 1988, later working as an English and Spanish Teacher, translator and proofreader. In the United States, she has studied Interpreting, Translation, Linguistics, Literature and Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas, University of Minnesota, NYU, and Hamline University. She is happy to be part of a cooperative of language professionals because she believes in growing the profession of interpreters and translators in an environment of social equity, equality and fair access to jobs; and that translates into better serving our clients in our communities.
Jenny has worked as a professional translator and interpreter for over 20 years. She is certified by the MN State Courts, and Immigration Courts and has completed the Southern California School of Interpreting Court Interpretation Program. Jenny discovered her passion for interpreting upon returning to the States after time in Spain. She began as a staff interpreter for the Connecticut Judicial Branch and rounded out her time in CT as the full-time interpreter for the Hartford Community Court, the second Community Court in the country. Since then, Jenny has lived in Minnesota, California and Massachusetts, working as a freelance interpreter and translator, and running a small Community Court program in Northern CA. Jenny is proud to be an active part of interpreter advocacy efforts at the state level, which drew her to the cooperative model. She is thrilled to be a part of the MNTIC team as a vehicle to build community, advocate for the profession, and create more language justice across Minnesota.
Sally Nichols has worked as a Spanish language interpreter and translator since 1990, and is certified by the US District Court and the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. After growing up in Puerto Rico, she moved to the Chicago area for college, where she obtained a BA in both Spanish Literature and English Literature, and has lived and worked in the Twin Cities since 2001. From 2001 to 2008 she was the staff Spanish interpreter for the federal immigration court in Bloomington, which serves Minnesota and North and South Dakota. Since 2008, she has been a freelance court and conference interpreter. Sally’s involvement with MNTIC came about because of her desire to work in a more collaborative environment, and to create greater awareness in the public in general about the contributions of highly skilled language professionals.
I am a teacher at Johnson High School in the Saint Paul Public Schools district, where I teach Karen language, Critical Ethnic Studies, and personal finance. I have been involved in curriculum design and student engagement initiatives that support academic success and social-emotional growth, enhancing my skills in event planning and relationship building.
I hold dual licensure in Mathematics, ESL, and Karen language, along with a Master’s degree in K–12 Administration, which prepares me to meet the operational and leadership needs of school activities. I collaborate with teams, engage with families, and mentor students from diverse backgrounds, emphasizing the importance of student voice beyond the classroom.
Additionally, I work as a Karen interpreter and actively participate in the Minnesota Translator and Interpreter Cooperative. My experiences as a refugee and immigrant fuel my commitment to creating programs where every student feels valued and empowered to succeed.
Maria has been working as an interpreter since receiving her M.A. in Interpreting and Translation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (formerly Monterey Institute of International Studies), in 2009. From 2009 to 2015, Maria worked as a staff interpreter at Hennepin Healthcare. In 2010, Maria became a MN Court Certified interpreter, and has worked in the MN courts since, including a stint as a staff interpreter at Hennepin County Courts in 2023-2024. In addition to judicial and medical interpreting, Maria has experience working as a conference interpreter in a variety of fields including business, human rights, the beauty industry, and labor unions.
In addition to her work experience, Maria has been a fierce advocate for interpreter issues. She served as a union steward for her union as a staff interpreter at Hennepin Healthcare. In that time, she represented over 100 interpreters in negotiations with the hospital, fighting hard both for better interpreter benefits and wages, as well as elevating the profession by advocating for increased training requirements for interpreters and training on working with interpreters for hospital staff. Maria also helped lead the court interpreter work stoppage in the MN Courts for 7 weeks. This stoppage brought awareness to court staff, court users, the public, and public servants, of the need to increase interpreter wages in order to bring the most qualified interpreters back into the courts, as well as the importance of the role of interpreters in the judicial system, among other key issues.
In her free time, Maria loves spending time with her husband and two kids. She also is extremely passionate about teaching Yoga and Restore Your Core® to help people with core and pelvic floor injuries and pain find joy in movement once again.
Marjorie Evans-de-Carpio began interpreting while still a high school student because she was meeting Salvadoran refugees from the Civil War that was raging in their country at the time and she wanted people in the USA to understand what they were describing. While a college student majoring in Spanish and Ibero-American Studies, she continued as a volunteer interpreter for a network of churches that provided aid and a speaking platform for Salvadoran refugees. After graduation, she went on to obtain a Master of Divinity and pastored both English- and Spanish-speaking churches in the New York City area. She founded an English language school in the Dominican Republic, where she lived with her family. Upon her return to the States, she staffed a Welcome Center for immigrants in the City of Northfield, MN. In 2010, she was certified as a court interpreter by the Minnesota Judicial Branch at which time she began to work as a freelance interpreter and translator. She has recently been certified by the Iowa Judicial Branch as well. Marjorie is proud to be part of the interpreter community that has united to address various issues of justice related to our contracts and is actively addressing them through the cooperative model.
MNTIC’s formation has been made possible through the support of our community partners.
Minneapolis Co-operative Technical Assistance Program (C-TAP)
