Jennifer Santiagos has a BA in Spanish from Wheaton College (IL) and is a freelance Certified Healthcare Interpreter™ with 12 years of professional experience. Previously a missionary for three years in Nicaragua, upon returning to the US she clearly sensed a call to medical interpreting, where her language and compassion gifts found their intersection. Over the years she has also branched out into educational, immigration, community, and conference interpreting. When California Assembly Bill 5 threatened her livelihood and put language access at risk in September 2019, Jennifer decided to become a grassroots advocate with CoPTIC. She met multiple times with lawmakers, mobilized colleagues, and wrote an op-ed which was published in CalMatters in August 2020 during the home stretch of their advocacy efforts -- ultimately contributing to the achievement of an exemption from AB 5. Jennifer currently serves  as a steering committee member of CoPTIC America. She resides in Orange County, California with her husband and their 5-year-old son.EPISODE NOTESCONTACT Jennifer SantiagosLI: Jennifer Santiagos, BA, CHI™️Twitter: @JenSantiagosIG: jensantiagos FB: Jennifer SantiagosFix PRO Act and Reaffirm what California Got Rightwww.coalitionptic.org ATA SESSIONS MENTIONED: (044) Raising Our Voice Together: The Power of Teamwork in Translator and Interpreter Grassroots Advocacy(008) Who Works for You? Using the Power of Constituent-Driven Advocacy(100) As California Goes: How to Leverage the Lessons of a Breakthrough WinMireya Perez's ATA 2021 Session:(071) Academically Speaking: Professionalizing the Role of the Translator and Interpreter in Education - #ATA62Xl81ntInEducationConnect with me!www.brandtheinterpreter.comFacebookTwitterLinkedInInstagram---------------------------------------------------SPONSOR INFORMATIONThank you to Liberty Language Services for sponsoring this episode!To learn more about Liberty Language Services, please visit: https://www.libertylanguageservices.com/To learn more about The Professional Medical Interpreter course, go to: https://bit.ly/pmi-course-btiFor a limited time only, you can get $50 off the full price of The Professional Medical Interpreter: A Comprehensive 40-Hour Medical Interpreting Course. Use the following coupon code at checkout: BTI50