Michelle Whitaker

Vermont – NIC: Advanced

Michelle Whitaker, also goes by the nickname Mo, was born and raised in Texas, currently living in the WRJ area along the border of Vermont and New Hampshire.

She developed an interest in ASL as a child after watching Linda Bove on Sesame Street. Worked in the dorms at Texas School for the Deaf in Austin while studying at the University of Texas, earning a BA in Communication. Moved to Colorado after college and worked briefly in the dorms at Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. Transitioned to the business world, traveling for work across the western US for 5 years. A chance encounter in Montana with a deaf gentleman in a grocery store made her want to go back to her original love of ASL, linguistics and being around the Deaf community.

After graduating from an Interpreting Training Program at San Antonio College and working as a freelance interpreter she married her husband, an Army military officer, and moved to Canada. There she worked both for the State Department at the US Embassy in Ottawa and as a VRS interpreter. They then moved to Rochester NY, where she worked at RIT and VRS. She eventually settled in New England when her husband retired from the Army. She has been a professional certified interpreter for 19 years and is New Hampshire licensed. Michelle has enjoyed eclectic interpreting experiences; bull riding classes, cruise ships, comedy shows, camping excursions to the serious; political town halls, work training, and multi-day conferences. She has experience working in military and government settings, medical, theatre, stage, concerts, educational, post-secondary, VRS, and VRI.