What inspired or motivated you to pursue work abroad? Was this always your plan?
It was never my plan -- I was facing a career change (the school where I taught German was cutting its program) and a friend knew of an opening in Finland. Before I knew it I was hired to tenure to teach Finnish-English translation at the University of Eastern Finland. I had loved living abroad in Sweden on the UC Education Abroad Program but never imagined I would come back to Europe to live.
Can you speak a little bit about your career and how it has progressed since graduating from UCLA?
I've worked most of my adult life as an academic, with brief spans as a teacher of high-school German and as a quality control manager for a computer billing firm. Six years ago I left academics for good to pursue a career in literary translation, primarily from Swedish and Finnish. It's been delightful to have a completely new occupation with a totally different working culture. It's far more collaborative and supportive than I ever found the academic world to be -- though I miss the students!
What would you say to a UCLA student who is planning on having an international career?
Bravo/brava! 'International career' can mean so many things, so it's hard to know what to say. Obviously do a lot of planning ahead of your move and be aware that if you work for a non-US company abroad, there may be no tax relief for your moving expenses. For me, the most challenging aspect of living abroad is filing my taxes every year.