Naomi Sheneman

Naomi Sheneman, Ph.D. & CDI has been working professionally in the interpreting profession since 2000 in various roles. She is currently a freelance consultant, researcher, educator, interpreter diagnostician, mentor, and interpreter. She is the first deaf woman to receive a Ph.D. degree in Interpretation from Gallaudet University. Her dissertation study focused on the impact of extralinguistic knowledge of cancer on interpreters’ work. She gives presentations and trainings nationally and internationally focusing on ethics, power dynamics in interpretation, and medical interpreting. Her publications include a study on Deaf interpreters’ ethics, interpreting in international conferences, and power imbalances in interactions between deaf people and interpreters. When she’s not nerding, she enjoys biking, doing yoga, cooking, and spending time with her three dogs, Chocolate, Levi, and Coral St. John.

Naomi offers all various types of mentoring (ASL-to-English, English-to-ASL, and ASL mentoring). Her strengths as a mentor is to provide mentoring based on each individual’s unique knowledge and skill needs. An assessment is done at the beginning of the mentoring relationship to establish benchmarks before getting into the work. At the end, an assessment is done again to measure successes and establish updated professional development goals for the future.