P Lanette Pinkard, BBS, DD, NIC Master -Nationally Certified Interpreter is a child of deaf adults (CODA) who has been a professional American Sign-language (ASL) interpreter for 40+ years. She is a highly sought-after interpreter, interpreter coordinator, cruise interpreting instructor and Lead interpreter for interpreting teams facilitating communication for Deaf groups/individuals traveling all over the U.S. and internationally.

As a 21st century leader, Lanette, founder of My Hands Your Heart, LLC (MHYH) has provided training, professional development, employment, and empowerment through her organization. Some of her accomplishments include starting a community sign-language school and a Hands-on Internship Program (HOIP) for interpreting training program (ITP) students who are graduating or recently graduated. These platforms were created for interpreters to develop their skills in environments mirroring real-life assignments.

Lanette has been recruited and pursued to lead multiple teams of interpreters to serve on cruises and international travel with large Deaf groups and has completed over 80 cruises in less than 10 years. When Lanette sees a problem that affects the recipients of ASL, she believes that you either assist and bring a resolution or you are part of the problem. Her teams are loyal to her because she serves along with them, shows appreciation and celebrates them in everything they do.

Among many of her empowering projects, she developed an exclusive “Cruise Interpreting Academy” (CIA) hands-on training that takes place aboard cruise ships for ASL Interpreters. In her training, interpreters learn how to serve all the stakeholders involved when interpreting is needed for their guests. They learn all policies and procedures from embarkation to disembarkation and customize training for different organizations. Her interpreters are highly skilled, trained, professional and qualified; they are open-minded, adaptable to change and purposed to serve beyond the call of duty to represent organizations nationally and internationally.

Lanette’s mission is to help ASL interpreters be professional yet personal, prepared yet passionate, and precise with purpose while providing excellent interpreting services. This has led to repeated requests by organizations, agencies, corporations and the Deaf Community everywhere. She is passionate about unifying the Deaf Community, Interpreters and organizations through education of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills while emphasizing respect and appreciation for each other’s differences. Finally, the sign-language interpreters are required to learn all policy and procedures to follow for each organization for premium customer service and ASL interpreting delivery.

Her mottos for the interpreting profession are:

“Serving alone we fail, serving together, we can overcome anything!”

“Whatever it takes, we make it work!”

“Greatness comes when you invest in making others great!”

●      Can you tell our readers about your background?

I am what you call a “child of deaf adults” (CODA). I was raised in a predominately deaf environment. My grandparents were the president and vice president of the only black deaf club in Michigan called the “Detroit Silent Club.” My home always had either deaf friends or family most of the time. They would come to our house at two, three, and four am in the morning with husband and wife problems, and my grandparents would get up and let them in to counsel them late into the morning. She never turned them away.

My grandparents would have to wait until I got home from school to make calls for “adult things” because they had no access to do it. For example, I would try calling the doctor’s office to make an appointment for them, and they would say, “child, stop playing on the phone,” then hang up on me. During my pre-teen and teenage years, I interpreted my grandfather's job in the human resource department. He worked for the City of Detroit for at least 15 years and was an excellent worker. He was qualified to work in a higher employment classification. To get promoted, he needed to pass a test written in English. However, he needed the test translated in American Sign Language (ASL), but they would not provide an interpreter. Sadly, he retired at 30 years in the same position he started as. Events like this feed the passion that drives me in my first organization, My Hands Your Heart.

●      What inspired you to start your business?

What caused me to start My Hands Your Heart and Cruise Interpreter Academy was creating resolutions to issues that should not exist. My Hands Your Heart (MHYH) which was initially incorporated and later changed to an LLC, was started because interpreting agencies will hire a sign-language interpreter and keep them at the same pay rate for 5, 10, 15 years, or more. Yet, we have to pay money for continuing education units (CEU’s), or we go and earn bachelor's and master's degrees along with rising inflation while still getting paid the same rate. The next thing was agencies operated with nepotism, showing favoritism towards interpreters they liked better with higher-paying interpreting assignments or paying a higher rate for an interpreter they favored rather than treating us and paying us equally for the same work. That would happen even if the “favored” interpreter were less qualified.

Another problem is agencies filling an assignment that requires an interpreter with a higher certification qualification, and because the agency wanted the money, they would send a less qualified interpreter. Issues such as this burned me up inside and motivated me to start MHYH initially as an interpreter agency and create a matrix that I made public. This way, every sign language interpreter that worked for me would know what they started with, why they started with that amount, and how they earned increases.

I started the Cruise Interpreter Academy under the umbrella of MHYH, which will soon be a separate entity. I had been a cruise interpreter for about six years; I had no formal training and most sign-language interpreters go to our assignments with a community interpreting mindset. However, cruise interpreting is different. We still must follow our professional code of ethics. Still, the entire atmosphere is different and requires additional knowledge to function as a professional offering elite customer service to Deaf travelers. After a few years of cruise interpreting, I was offered my first lead interpreter on a group cruise with 22 deaf guests and 10 ASL interpreters. I had no clue what I was doing, but by grace, once I did my first group cruise as a lead interpreter to Alaska, the travel agent owner, who was deaf, requested me for the next several years to be the lead interpreter for his group cruises.

Additionally, on the regular cruise assignments that only required a two-person team, those clients began to request me until I had so many requests that I couldn’t take them all. As this was happening, I received complaints about the deaf guest’s experiences with other interpreters and how unprofessional they were. A complaint I often received from Deaf guests was that interpreters would behave as if they were on their vacation instead of the deaf guests who paid for it. Learning things like this motivated me to create the Cruise Interpreter Academy.

●      Where is your business based?

My physical office is in Arizona, but we can serve anyone, anywhere in the U.S.

●      How did you start your business?

Whenever I start anything, the name comes to me way before I know its purpose. When “My Hands Your Heart” came to me, I didn’t see the totality of where it was going. It has evolved over the years. I learned how to file the company online after researching what was required. I also started a Community sign-language school which grew so fast that I turned it over to the person who was my dean of students at the time. She renamed the school and took it to a new level, and it is now in its tenth year. I also started a Hands-on Internship Program (HOIP) which two other states wanted me to start in their state, but I didn’t have the staffing or capacity. I created these companies under MHYH at one time or another.

●      What were the first steps you took?

The first steps I took were to assemble a team, tell them what I aspired to do, file the paperwork and an EIN, I opened a bank account, and begin to operate. I wasn’t very knowledgeable about managing a company; I just saw the vision, started the company and went to work.

●      What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Until the last couple of years, no one knew much about MHYH. As social media has grown in popularity, that has helped tremendously. Recently, we added a social media manager to keep posts updated on many social media platforms. We also have become clients of a PR company.

●      What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Finances have been the biggest challenge as I never have taken a business loan and have never received a grant. I worked many long hours and paid my company’s expenses out of my personal earnings until I received the payments assignments I worked. I usually charged too low a rate for contracts I acquired and paid my interpreters a higher rate. I was more interested in helping other interpreters see they did not have to accept being low-balled when they are the actual value of the interpreting agency.

●      How did you overcome the financial challenges?

I didn’t; I failed miserably at times. I even lost a friend over my financial mistakes. I worked my heart out! I worked 60 or more hours OUTSIDE of my home while still spending hours developing and operating the company to make sure my sub-contract interpreters received their payment. 

●      How do you stay focused?

My mind is always going. Some nights I don’t sleep, I create. I never stop thinking about the things I want to change, solutions to solve problems I know can be solved, improvements that I can make, and the love, respect, and understanding the Deaf Community deserves. I am blessed with a creative mind that constantly comes up with solutions. If it’s not an immediate resolution, then it’s a professional development workshop that will educate, impact and change the trajectory of professional sign-language interpreters and inspire them to achieve more. Or I create training that will empower organizations to become more inclusive of the Deaf Community and create jobs that the Deaf Community can fill.

●      How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

My Hands Your Heart doesn’t resemble any interpreting agencies anywhere. MHYH has created exclusive services that will change an organization’s popularity and increase revenue when they become inclusive of the Deaf and Hard of hearing Communities—according to the U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy reported by deaffriendlyconsulting.com, issued July 2, 2020.

 They make up the third-largest market segment in the United States, with discretionary income in the billions.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Until recently, I would say the  “Deaf Grapevine.” I know from growing up in the Deaf Community for years; that they share information faster than fire spreads. We have a social media manager, and soon, we will add a marketing specialist to the team. These and the PR company have been assistive in our most effective marketing strategy.

●      What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

 1) Never Quit! It can look bad and feel worse, but when you know in your gut that you have something, DO NOT QUIT!

2) Surround yourself with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses.

3) The people who come to serve you on your team because they believe in your dreams; they come to support you and have your back, treat them royally. Treat them with the highest respect, love them, encourage,  support, AND celebrate them. Should you begin to achieve any type of notoriety, NEVER forget them. I cannot impress this enough, serve your team well. Be good to them.

●      What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favorite app is Fiverr and the Digital Business card. I love Fiverr because I can get nearly anything I need to develop or design inexpensively and with excellence! From my logos to my book covers, editing an online course, and creating just about anything my mind can think of.

The digital business card is one of my favorites because I don’t have to remember to carry physical business cards. It gives so much more detailed information without taking up space.

My favorite blog is our new Cruise Interpreter Academy blog AND vlogs written AND interpreted by actual cruise interpreters or our cruise interpreter academy alumni.

My favorite book is always going to be the Bible. I receive wisdom, guidance, and help through things that people simply can not understand.

My next favorite book is “A Myriad of Miracles” because those miracles are authentic and help me to remember the Lord I serve is real, He is Love, and I can do all things through Him that strengthen me.

●      What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

One of my favorite business tools is Audible. I don’t have much time to read, yet I still have a lot to learn. Audible allows me to listen to inspirational, motivational, directional books that help me continue developing in my leadership, team, and service to my clients.

●      Who is your business role model? Why?

Ashley Massengill is one of my business role models because she is open, honest, and forthright with her audience, clients, and herself.

She is honest about the bad and the good. She constantly inspires those who follow her to look up, get up, move up, and don’t give up!

●      How do you balance work and life?

I honestly don’t know if I have a balance. Everything about me tends to focus from a perspective of love. I love people, and I love serving. I don’t feel like I go to “work” per se. I feel like I am living my purpose and loving what I do. So in my “downtime,” I am thinking about the people I have the privilege and opportunity to serve through My Hands Your Heart, which includes my excellent core team. My husband and children are my most significant cheerleader, and I love what I do. In one way or another, I am always doing something towards serving, creating, teaching, leading, coaching, or motivating. Once in a while, I travel just for myself. I recently traveled to Aruba for four nights, and I slept two of those days away. I am sure that was evidence that it was a much-needed break.

●      What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Decompress from what? 😊

●      What do you have planned for the next six months?

I have some new business alliances planned; I have several new professional development workshops that are launching, and I will be doing more motivational speaking. I coach and provide a platform for my Cruise Interpreter Alumni group to teach their webinar/workshops. We have a new membership program that is starting soon.  I have several projects to assist organizations in becoming more inclusive of the Deaf Community and expanding my team to have Deaf leaders train and lead. And I will be hosting my next cruise interpreter academy from August 7-14, 2022.

●      How can our readers connect with you?

Our organization’s phone number is 855-730-6494. You can connect with us through our websites: www.myhandsyourheart.com and www.cruiseinterpreteracademy.com.

We are on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can email us at: ciaacademy@myhandsyourheartllc.com; profdev@myhandsyourheartllc.com.