Global Ambitions

Reconnecting with Melanie Heighway, Head of Internationalization at Atlassian, offers a fascinating glimpse into how localization teams can adapt and thrive during periods of rapid technological change. Four years after her first appearance in Global Ambitions, Melanie reveals how her team now leverages automation and AI to manage the localization of 30+ products across 20+ languages while maintaining quality standards with a lean team.

Solutions Architects play a critical role in breaking down complex problems in the language services industry, requiring a multidisciplinary approach that goes far beyond traditional localization practices. Listen to our conversation with Erik Vogt, Solutions and Innovations Director at Argos Multilingual who shares his reflections after The Solutions Architect Roundtable.

How do you tackle managing an overflowing workload with limited resources? Discover the art of balancing productivity and working smarter with Petra Mesic, the Teamhead Localization at Puma. She reveals how her team crafts product copies for thousands of items across seasons and the strategic shift toward prioritizing high-impact markets.

Ever wondered how a one-person localization team can drive the success of Europe's leading crypto exchange? Meet Emma Wallerstein, Bitvavo's Localization Manager, who shares her journey in a world where localization is not just an afterthought but a key player in market expansion. 

How do you decide whether to trust the outputs of artificial intelligence in a world where AI is a "black box"? Join us as Eric Vogt, the new Solutions and Innovations Director at Argos Multilingual, unravels this conundrum. Eric shares how he's paving the way for innovative processes that enhance value both for clients and internally through AI, including code generation and the potential introduction of new service lines. 

Unlock the secrets of effective terminology management with Adobe's Senior Linguistic Quality Manager, Amy Grace O'Brien. Amy reveals the journey of making terminology an integral resource and the collaborative efforts required to establish it as a gold standard tool for both internal teams and external partners. 

How can executive support from day one transform your localization efforts? Join us as we chat with Diana Georgieva, Senior Manager of Content Localization at Pleo, who walks us through her journey of building a robust localization team, emphasizing the critical importance of early hiring and nurturing strong stakeholder relationships.

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Jennifer Vela-Valido, Spotify's Localization Quality Program Manager, as she reveals the secrets behind their evolved localization quality program. From the challenges of rapid language expansion to the refinement of style guides in collaboration with language specialists and marketing teams, Jennifer details her journey in bridging the gap between vendors, stakeholders, and local market reviewers to ensure a unified and culturally appropriate tone of voice.

Unlock the full potential of your localization team with insights from International Expansion & Growth Advisor, Kevin O'Donnell. If you've ever wondered how to transform your team from a background player into a strategic revenue powerhouse, this episode is your treasure map. 

In this special episode, Antoine Rey talks to some great talent in the localization industry who are open to new positions.Carla PinnaLinkedIn Mercedes KrimmeLinkedIn Zuzanna JaszczakLinkedIn

Unlock the potential of AI in global hiring with our guest, Matt Burney, Senior Strategic Advisor at Indeed. Throughout the episode, we ponder on AI's future and the pressing necessity for its responsible use. 

Our guest, Laura DeCook, the founder of LDC Wellbeing, shares some compelling insights into mental health education at work.  Not only does she stress the importance of setting up a mental health team but also underscores the need to break the stigma around mental health, encouraging everyone to seek help when needed.

Unlock the secret to creating inclusive software with Aileen Hackett, the Director of Product Management for Accessibility at ServiceNow. This enlightening conversation with Aileen promises to shed light on her daily work and her dedication to creating software that takes into account the diverse needs of users. 

What does it take to navigate the language services industry? Ilona Pedersen, Localization Manager at Monta, offers a fascinating account of her journey from a freelance to an LSP model. Join us as she shares her insights on the competitive nature of this industry and emphasizes the importance of being prepared for change. 

Get set for an insightful journey into the realm of global expansion with the Chief Growth Officer at Rebrandly, Nataly Kelly. Promising to equip you with the tools you need to take your business to the next level, Nataly demystifies her innovative MARACA Model that forms the basis of her forthcoming book. This ingenious framework, focusing on market availability, real-time analytics, and customer addressability, offers a robust and analytical means to identify the best markets to infiltrate. 

We're taking a bit of a summer sabbatical. But don't worry, as the heat dies down and autumn sets in, we'll be back with Season 4 of Global Ambitions this September. We promise to bring new voices, fresh perspectives, and enlightening insights that will surely fuel your inner fire and stoke your ambitions. While we're gone, we encourage you to revisit our past episodes. They're a treasure trove of knowledge, experiences, and wisdom you may have missed. We can't wait to connect with you again in September!

Get ready for an enlightening journey into the intricate world of localization and data measurement with Giulia Tarditi, Head of Global Experience at Qualtrics. Julia shares the two types of data they monitor - operational and stakeholder-related, and how they've linked these metrics to their overall business strategy. 

In today's episode, we chatted with Henk Boxma, the CEO and founder of Rigi.io, who elaborates on how providing an interactive visual context can simplify software localization. 

Soeren Eberhardt of Microsoft joins us to share how he and his team optimize global content. 

In this special episode, Antoine Rey talks to some great talent in the localization industry that are open to new positions. María José Salmerón IbáñezLinkedInmjsesalm@gmail.comStacey ChoLinkedInstaceymkcho@gmail.comMalachy MoranLinkedInmalmoran@gmail.comEda Ergun BinenLinkedInergunneda@gmail.comGloria CaminoLinkedIngloriabroadbent@btinternet.com

Dora Zielske talks about taking digital products global and the steps needed to have a successful international rollout.

The move from public to private can be full of uncertainty. Wada'a Fahel talks about the steps she took with her team at Zendesk to connect with the new owners and move localization forward. 

Sasan  Banava, Senior Director of Globalization at Square shares his experience engaging the C-suite at the companies like Google and Uber to position localization as a growth driver. 

Empathy and diversity go hand in hand. Minette Norman joins us to talk about how to be a more empathetic leader and its effects on your organization. 

In the special German-language episode, Cathleen Beutler takes us through how her team took on modernizing the global infrastructure at Software AG. While the audio is in German, check out the transcript for an English translation. 

Jon Ritzdorf, Sr. Manager of Global Content Solutions at Procore and Adjunct Professor at Middlebury Institute, talks about declining enrollment in translation masters programs in the United States and what needs to be done to prevent talent shortages in the language industry. 

Data services is an area that many language service providers have expanded to but it does not quite fit into the same bucket as translation and localization. Chief Solutions Officer of Data Services, Chris Phillips, walks us through how the field works and how he got started. 

Giulia Greco takes us through the localization centralization process at Shopify.

Jodi Shimp takes us through how she managed global content strategy at Wayfair to support global expansion. 

We kick off this year with Katell Jentreau, a globalization leader with experience at Netflix, Box, Yahoo, and SDL. She speaks from a wealth of knowledge about the client and the LSP sides of localization on what is needed for a good partnership.

Eva Gross (formerly of Stripe) talks about starting her own consulting business to help startups develop localization programs, as well as how she coaches immigrant women in tech. 

Mariana Rolin, Director of Quality and Creative Solutions at Chillistore introduces some of the common issues that companies face when trying to be inclusive in their content and recommends some ways to overcome these challenges. 

What is International PPC, and how can you do it right? Digital Marketing Director, Sarah Presch, walks us through what we need to be looking for. 

Simon Lesser, Co-founder and CEO of Dragon Metrics, takes us through some of the biggest challenges in International SEO and how to avoid them. 

The life science industry moves fast, and localization teams need the tools and processes to keep up. Dan Koenig, Senior Strategist for Life Science at Argos Multilingual takes us through how to not lose pace. 

Rebecca Ray from CSA Research talks about how localization professionals can take advantage of the opportunities provided by the times. 

Bruno Herrmann, Executive Advisor on Globalization and Localization delves into global content effectiveness and gives practical tips on KPIs and processes. 

We will be going on a short break for the summer. Check back with us in the fall for more episodes filled with insights from localization and go-to-market experts. 

Debora Cohen, Head of Localization at AppsFlyer talks about setting up her in-house localization team and the challenges that lead her to pursue the internal route. 

Yoko Drain of Zendesk takes us through how her team uses Machine Translation, site traffic analytics, and post-editing to empower customers and reduce the number of support tickets submitted. 

Mark Hjerpe, explains how "best fit" machine translation works and some of the successful use-cases he has seen in the industry. 

Felicitas Kermarrec, Head of Copywriting and Translation at Spread Group shares how her team works to balance copywriting content specifically for some markets and localizing for others. 

Alice Desmoulins, Localization Manager, shares what she did to establish herself and her team at Alteryx when she started out as a newbie to localization. 

Max Mariani shares his journey of global digital transformation with Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company.

Nataly Kelly, VP of Localization at HubSpot, talks about native Content Creation and where it might fit into your global marketing strategy. 

How early can you start the localization process? Aleksandrs Pereverzevs, product lead at Lokalise, takes us through the design stage localization workflow and the technology needed for it. 

Anna Woodward, Founder and Managing Director of Chillistore, dives into their successful quality program and what it takes to achieve excellence. 

Eike-Marie Eiting, of the German website builder and all-in-one hosting platform, Jimdo, talks about taking localization from a reactive state to a managed one for the company. 

What are the considerations you need when writing a business case for localization? Natalia Levitina shares practical advice and steps. 

Impact localization. What is it and why is it a good option for companies? Maiju Nurminen, Localization Manager & Strategist at what3words talks about this concept and how it has worked for their app. 

Happy holidays from all of us here at Global Ambitions! It has been a wonderful season and we will be back with all-new episodes in the new year.