Even in time periods and locations where women weren’t encouraged (and often actively discouraged) to pursue formal education and careers, many women pushed forward and forged paths of their own in the translation space to become professional translators and interpreters.

We’re happy to report that today, the translation industry is now heavily dominated by female linguists. At Terra, we are proud to be a part of the reason that many women are thriving in our industry. 

Terra has always been a company that values women. Since it first began, the CEO position was first held by Beatriz Cirera and later by her daughter, Marina Ilari. To date, Terra has 154 total team members, 112 of which are women. Currently, out of 17 leadership roles, 13 are held by women and many of Terra’s staff are involved with associations whose mission is to empower women.

In honor of International Women’s Day, we want to highlight some of our efforts to support women in the translation industry. 

How Terra Supports Women

Terra is a certified women-owned business and we believe it’s our responsibility to lift other women in our industry up. As a part of this mission, Terra supports Chicas in Tecnología by providing pro bono translation services. Chicas in Tecnología is a non-profit organization in Argentina that works to reduce the gender gap in technology in that region by motivating and training the next generation of women leaders in technology.

Women in Localization is another nonprofit organization we love to support with a mission of fostering a global community for the advancement of women and the localization industry. Women in Localization accomplishes this mission by providing networking, education, career advancement, and mentoring opportunities to women in the localization industry. 

Another organization we like to support is Women in Games which aims to build a fair, equal and safe environment that empowers girls and women to join and thrive in the global gaming ecosystem.

Our CEO Marina Ilari is particularly passionate about supporting these types of organizations, including Enterprising Women Magazine, which is a national and global magazine for female entrepreneurs. As of 2020, Marina joined their Advisory Board. This Advisory Board is made up of professionals giving back to the women business owners’ community and as a board member Marina helps provide leadership and inspiration to female entrepreneurs worldwide.

At Terra, we don’t wait until International Women’s Day to celebrate women in our industry and beyond, we choose to celebrate them every day and hope you will join us!

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What is Enterprising Women?

Enterprising Women Magazine is a national and global magazine for female entrepreneurs. The Enterprising Women Advisory Board is made up of a group of professionals who aim to give back to the women business owners’ community. Board members provide leadership and inspiration to female entrepreneurs worldwide. 

Membership is granted to top women business owners and corporate representatives from around the world, “Being invited to be a board member is an honor that I do not take for granted. I am so grateful to be among the company of such accomplished women in business,” Marina said. 

What the Role Entails

The board members of this great organization provide advice to the magazine’s staff regarding their specific areas of expertise. They help tailor the publication to meet the unique needs of the entrepreneurial women that read it. Alongside providing input to the editorial staff, board members have the opportunity to publish articles in Enterprising Women magazine. 

Board members also participate in the annual Advisory Board meeting, which is typically held on the day of the Enterprising Women of the Year Awards Gala. Before COVID-19, the board also gathered informally at professional events targeted at women entrepreneurs.

Alongside providing the editorial team with feedback on what topics and issues the magazine should cover, Enterprising Women staff also count on the board members to recommend outstanding women entrepreneurs for profiles in the magazine, as well as events and conferences worth writing about. Marina is especially looking forward to using her position to support female-led businesses, “Terra is a female-led business, and we know firsthand how invaluable women are in the translation industry and in many other industries. I am most excited about using my position to support talented and hard-working women in business,” she noted. 

A History of Community Involvement

Marina consistently prioritizes community involvement, and alongside her role on the advisory board of Enterprising Women, she actively participates in other initiatives aimed to support women, such as Women in Localization. Terra, as a company, is certified by the Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a women-owned business and by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a women-owned small business. 

Marina feels a core value at Terra is to support fellow women-led businesses. “I’ve been so fortunate to work with some incredible women who have acted as mentors and teachers. I want to pay their generosity forward. After all, when women get together to support each other, there is nothing we can’t achieve,” Marina explained.

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What Does “Diversity” and “Inclusion” Mean?

While the terms “diversity” and “inclusion” may feel like buzzwords at the moment, these are essential goals that all companies should prioritize on an ongoing basis. In regard to office life, diversity and inclusion refers to having a staff that represents a variety of backgrounds, races, religions, genders, sexual orientations, and lifestyles. While hiring a diverse staff is a good step on the road to inclusion, it’s important that a work environment makes all employees feel welcome, supported, heard, and as if they are receiving fair opportunities for professional growth. Physical or emotional safety being put at risk due to discriminatory behavior should never occur in the workplace under any circumstances. 

Creating a diverse and inclusive work environment is not just the right thing to do morally, it’s also good for business. Having a staff that feels comfortable, appreciated, and safe is undeniably beneficial. Prioritizing these values can attract top talent, bring a valuable mix of perspectives and ideas to the table, and can help improve employee retention rates. And while financial gain should not be the primary motivation behind creating a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, on average, companies that fall within the top quarter for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to see financial returns that surpass industry medians. Companies that hire men and women equally, they’re likely to see a 41% revenue gain.

Creating Policies That Reflect Values

Believing in diversity and inclusion is not enough to deliver real change. Formal policies must be put in place either through human resources, or the diversity and inclusion department, that all employees, including senior management and C-suite executives, must follow. While anti-discrimination policies are nothing new, many companies have their legal team draft them but don’t have a process for properly enforcing them. 

Creating a well-crafted policy that addresses what the company’s values are and a plan for repeatedly making those values known to employees is a good starting point. Ensuring employees that the company is committed to upholding anti-discriminatory standards and that whistleblowers will not be punished is of the utmost importance because without that assurance employees will not feel the company’s anti-discrimination policies will actually be upheld. For example, the Human Rights Campaign reported that nearly half of LGBTQ workers believe that anti-discrimination policies won’t be enforced if they have a supervisor who is personally not supportive of the LGBTQ community.

How to Provide Fair Opportunities

Alongside hiring a diverse staff, prioritizing working with diverse vendors is important too. Working with a diverse set of vendors and company partners can help meet inclusion goals and establish a workplace environment that is welcoming to all. One way to ensure you’re working with diverse vendors is to pursue relationships with partners that have earned professional certifications that highlight their diversity. Certain certifications can signal to companies that they will be working with diverse vendors, which can help them meet their inclusion quotas. For example, as a women-owned and minority-owned business, Terra Translations is proud to be certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC is a leading advocate for women business owners and entrepreneurs) and by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC helps advance business opportunities for certified minority business enterprises). 

Every year, we work towards earning certification again to maintain our standing with these organizations and to ensure that we’re creating a diverse and inclusive working environment where every one of our team members feels safe and supported.

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Her Journey

Marina’s journey towards being the CEO of Terra began in school. She holds a degree in Literary Translation and is certified by the American Translators Association. In her 15 years spent working in the translation industry, she’s become an expert in translation technology and managing translation projects. She received acknowledgment for her business savvy and hard work in 2017. She was awarded the Women Owned Business Enterprise Rising Star Award. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation presents this award to a young business with great promise.

Success was not found without overcoming trials and tribulations. Despite these challenges, Marina has stayed true to her vision for Terra. “The greatest challenge I have faced since starting this company is growing it without sacrificing its culture,” Marina said. Terra began as a mother and daughter endeavor, and the first few hires were within their circle of friends and family, “This created a very special atmosphere within our team that we were able to maintain throughout the years… Our company culture is based on ‘family first’ values that are extended to every member of our team. We work diligently to make sure everyone feels that their voice is being heard and valued.” 

According to Marina, Terra’s culture encompasses the quality of the work we do, as well as the quality of our relationships with our employees, our clients, and our community. She believes that supporting our employees’ whole being serves as the basis of a strategic, financial, and successful human capital strategy. This strategy has happily paid off and has resulted in employee loyalty. We’re proud to report that we have a year over year retention rate of 98%.

A Passion for Giving Back

Marina is committed to giving back to the translation industry, the communities that Terra works within, and women empowerment organizations. Alongside her work as CEO, she participates in a variety of professional organizations such as the American Translators Association, Association of Language Companies, Globalization and Localization Association, and Women in Localization. 

“As an organization, we deeply care about supporting communities with diverse populations and people of Limited English Proficiency (LEP); it is our goal to create an opportunity for all people to have access to information in order to live fulfilled lives,” Marina noted. This goal inspired the evolution and establishment of the Terra Cares program, in which Terra provides pro bono translation services to select healthcare and legal focused non-profit organizations within our communities.

Where She Hopes to Head Next

When asked where she hopes Terra will be in five years, Marina stated, “I would like Terra Translations to be the number one translation service company in Latin America. What drives this wish to become number one in Latin America is because there is very little diversity in top management in the industry as a whole. From the top twenty largest language service companies, there is only one female CEO.” 

Considering that the majority of translators, interpreters, and linguists that perform the linguistic tasks within the industry are close to 70% women, Marina believes more women in the industry should be in leadership positions. “It has always surprised me that this women-driven industry would not see more diversity at the top. It’s important to bring more diversity to leadership roles in the industry, and I would like to be the person that brings that diversity to the Latin American region,” she said.

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About Women in Localization

Silvia Avary-Silveira, Eva Klaudinyova, and Anna N. Schlegel founded W.L. in 2008. This professional organization aims to foster a global community for women in the localization industry. Their mission is to provide an open and collaborative forum for women to share their experiences and expertise. Their goal is to help women move forward in their careers. W.L. began in the San Francisco Bay Area in California and has since expanded globally. They now boast over 5,000 members internationally and encourage members to connect around the world. 

Who Is Marina Ilari?

Not only has Terra’s CEO Marina always supported women’s initiatives, but she has generally contributed to the success of the translation and localization industry. For two years she has participated in The American Translators Association’s (ATA) as a Translation Company Division Administrator. ATA was founded in 1959 and is currently the largest professional association of translators and interpreters in the United States. They’ve grown to more than 10,000 members in 90 countries since their inception. Marina reflected on her new role, “I was honored to be invited to take part in the management team for the Los Angeles chapter of Women in Localization. I was particularly excited to work with the amazing four women that are part of the management team with me. We are planning some very exciting events in Los Angeles!”

Why Terra Supports Women in Localization

In order to best serve our clients and community, we believe diversity is key. We can attribute the success of our team to the wide variety of talent that we are so fortunate to work with. Currently, 80% of our staff is made up of extremely hard-working women. Supporting women is always top of mind at Terra. We were founded by women and we’ve received certification as a women-owned business by both the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse team and plan to continue our efforts to support women and minorities.

“At Terra, we value and support fellow women-led businesses,” Marina Ilari, CEO of Terra. “I’ve been lucky to work with some incredible women who have been great mentors and teachers. I feel that when women get together to support each other there is nothing we can’t achieve. I look forward to promoting inclusion among all translation and localization professionals, and continuing to advance the industry as a whole.”

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Truth is, women drive diversity

The growth of women entrepreneurs has inspired a movement toward the inclusion of traditionally marginalized communities. Customers are holding businesses accountable for hiring and working with diverse teams of different ethnicities, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. A Barkley and Futurecast survey found that 60 percent of Gen Z-ers and 58 percent of millennials agreed that shifting ideas about gender are allowing more people to be themselves. These diverse teams foster confidence, creativity, and progress. 

From a business perspective, diversity increases the bottom line. According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, companies that have more diverse management teams have 19 percent higher revenue due to innovation. Another report from Deloitte states that when organizations demonstrate a commitment to diversity, employees feel supported and their ability to innovate increases by 83 percent. 

What makes Terra unique

Although the translation industry is dominated by female linguists, many Language Service Providers (LSP) are still owned and operated by males. Terra is unique in that it is a female-owned LSP that supports the fight to close the gender gap and cultivate a diverse workforce. 

“At Terra, we value and support fellow women-led businesses,” Marina Ilari, CEO of Terra. “Together, we can progress the traditionally male-dominated industries and achieve more than we ever thought we could.”

Terra is certified by the Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a women-owned business, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) as a minority-owned business, and by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a women-owned small business. In order to officially certify, a women-owned business must submit relevant documents and have an on-site review by a Regional Partner Organization. Because Terra is certified, the team attends the WBENC conference every year to meet and foster new relationships with fellow women entrepreneurs. WBENC also provides regular training and workshops for their members to refine skills and boost proficiency.

The benefits of working with a certified women-owned business

There is a multitude of advantages for an organization to partner with certified minority and women-owned businesses. The federal government provides tax breaks for businesses that use minority companies in procuring materials and supplies. An additional tax incentive reduces tax liabilities for companies using minorities that supply labor or services to a project funded with federal or state grants or loans. Government organizations and large corporations are often required to award contracts specifically to women-owned businesses. The goal of the federal government’s program is to award at least 5 percent of all federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses each year. 

By supporting women-owned businesses, organizations demonstrate a commitment to fostering diversity within the community. To align with a mission toward diversity, we all hold more companies accountable to ensure a more inclusive workplace. The economic opportunity will cultivate gender and cultural balance for future generations to come.

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