Kellie Gillespie Email & Phone Number

Kellie Gillespie, CEO of Visually Speaking, was born Deaf with Pendred Syndrome, a mutant gene that causes Deafness and a thyroid condition. Gillespie was fitted with hearing aids at the age of 18 months and acquired an incredible skill of lip reading from their childhood to college years.During childhood, Kellie met only a few Deaf individuals. At the time, Kellie did not know any ASL and felt intimidated to communicate with Deaf folks. Their denial of being Deaf got in the way of developing potential friendships. At the age of 23, Kellie realized that learning sign language was the beginning of a journey into the Deaf world like a foreigner going back to their country of origin. All these years of lip reading and body language deciphering were precursors for the Deaf cultural experience ahead. Learning ASL was an amazing, positive, and life-changing experience. ASL allowed them to acknowledge their true self and opened yet another door.Kellie has lived in Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Williamsburg, VA prior to relocating to Seattle in 2010. Their dedication to the customer experience began with Funeral Directing and Embalming for 9 years and then grocery retail for 12 years. Through these years they actively grew their business Visually Speaking to be what it is today.When away from business development, they enjoy long bicycling adventures, a good puckering sour beer, apartment gardening, and cooking with meal kits. When communication in the hearing world gets tough, Kellie is patient and visually expressive. Learning ASL is not as difficult as it seems—it’s fun!