In my current work as a practicing instructional designer, I lead and collaborate on projects related to American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter training development and on-the-job training in both English and Spanish. I apply my professional interpreting experience in the design process: to analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate interpreter education resources and programs. I believe that my work as a talent developer is best done within a community and I am grateful to be a member of the highly skilled team at Sorenson Communications. I believe that experiential learning is essential for engagement and interaction with new information, and leads to meaningful learning experiences, especially in distance learning education environments. The lack of physical presence during class times stresses the value of in-person real world experiences to shape learning.My research and professional interests center around helping future interpreters develop their critical consciousness to enhance their interpretation skills. I graduated in August 2021 with my Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education from West Virginia University, focusing on distance education and critical communities of practice in American Sign Language interpretation. While critical theory is often employed differently than how I utilized it in my dissertation, I believe that ASL interpreters need to critically analyze their role in the world and how they differ from others in order to effectively adopt the voice of their client(s).