Tell us about your company and the problem it solves, or its benefit to learners or educators.
I’m the Founder & CEO of Wordly AI Translation & Captions, an Inc. 5000 company transforming how the world communicates through real-time AI translation and captioning. Wordly is now used by more than 5 million people in 60+ languages to make meetings, events, and classrooms more inclusive.
With a background in human-machine interfaces, acoustics, and audio engineering, I have spent much of my career designing technologies that improve how people interact with sound and speech. It was at a global technology conference in Japan where I was surrounded by experts sharing invaluable insights, yet I couldn’t understand a single word being said. I was present, but excluded because I did not understand Japanese.
That defining moment forced me to reflect on what millions of people, including students, experience every day in our schools. In the United States, more than 5 million public school students are English learners. They are mastering academic content while simultaneously learning a new language. For many, the classroom can feel exactly as that conference did for me, full of opportunity, but just out of reach linguistically.
In education, language access affects everything: IEP meetings, parent-teacher conferences, school board discussions, professional development, campus events, and classroom instruction. Too often, schools rely on fellow students to help interpret or ask families to bridge the gap themselves. This creates inequities at moments that matter most.
Wordly provides real-time AI translation and captions accessible on participants’ own devices, without the need to schedule interpreters or deploy specialized equipment. For educators, students, and families, this means inclusion at scale. Parents can meaningfully engage in meetings about their children’s education. Students can access lectures in their preferred language. Educators can connect with increasingly diverse communities.
I often say that communication should be universal and not a privilege. When learners and families truly understand what’s being said, they can participate fully. That changes outcomes.
Where did the idea come from to create your company?
That moment in Japan was the catalyst. I had spent much of my career working in human-machine interfaces, acoustics, and audio, and I hold more than 25 patents in those areas. I understood the technical possibilities. What I hadn’t fully internalized until that conference was the human cost of language exclusion.
I began to see language barriers not as isolated inconveniences, but as systemic obstacles that limit opportunity in education, government, business, and community life. Advances in AI and speech processing were reaching a point where scalable, live translation was becoming feasible.
Wordly was founded on a simple but powerful belief: that technology helps us understand each other. It does more than translate words, it connects people. Education quickly emerged as one of the most meaningful applications because that’s where access has a generational impact.
Tell us about one challenge and how you overcame that challenge.
One early challenge was earning trust. Live AI translation in high-stakes environments, like school board or district-wide communications, requires reliability and accuracy. Educators have every reason to be cautious.
We addressed that by focusing relentlessly on quality, continuous improvement, and real-world implementation. We partnered closely with customers, gathered feedback, and refined our models and user experience. We also made it clear that AI translation is about expanding access so that no meeting goes untranslated because of cost or logistics.
Over time, results built confidence. When schools saw increased family participation and stronger engagement, the value became tangible.
What are you most proud of or what is your company’s greatest achievement?
I’m most proud of the scale of inclusion we’ve enabled. More than 5 million people have used Wordly. Behind that number are real human moments: a parent understanding their child’s education plan, a student accessing a lecture in their preferred language, a family feeling welcomed rather than marginalized.
Under our leadership, Wordly has helped organizations of every size open their doors wider to communities historically underserved by traditional communication systems. Seeing technology used in service of dignity and access is what matters most to me.
Where do you see your company in five years?
In five years, I see Wordly as a foundational layer of communication infrastructure in education and beyond. Translation and captions will be seamlessly embedded into classrooms, learning management systems, hybrid events, and institutional communications, automatic rather than optional.
As AI becomes more contextual and adaptive, multilingual access will feel natural and immediate. Institutions will think of language inclusion as a built-in capability.
Our mission will remain the same: break language barriers and make communication seamless, inclusive, and accessible. When technology is grounded in empathy and designed for access, it expands who gets to participate.