Scott Wallace:  

I've walked a long journey since leaving Texas in 1995. I was living in Austin for four years after trying to get my singing/acting career off the ground in Houston while performing in the Theatre at Astroworld. I tried to be a starving artist with little luck so I decided to make a move to Austin and try to get a job working for the Texas School for the Deaf. I had always been fascinated with Sign Language as many of you know. Well, I did land a job there after lots of promises to learn more Sign Language. I did really well, acquiring the language at record pace but after several years I decided to attend a Discipleship Training School in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii with Youth With A Mission. I returned home to Texas after my time in Hawaii and Costa Rica hoping to start my interpreting career in Dallas. I ended up helping a Deaf friend move from Austin to Washington, DC. Well, long story short, I moved to DC and was accepted into an internship at the oldest and largest interpreting agency in the US: Sign Language Associates. I spent the next 6 years in DC and accomplished many of my professional goals. I interpreted for and met so many interesting and famous people. It was such a rewarding time. I also earned my national certifications in interpreting and transliterating from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and gained respect from my interpreting mentors and colleagues. I was living in DC on September 11th and witnessed first hand the devestation of the attck on the Pentagon. I had been interpreting at the Pentagon off and on for the previous five years. It is an image that will remain burned into my memory for the rest of my life. After the attacks on DC and NYC, I decided to make a move. I chose to move back to Hawaii. So in October 2001 I arrived in Hawaii to start a new chapter in my life. I had no idea that the life I had been living during the past 6 years was about to change so dramatically. I moved to the island of O`ahu where I established a freelance interpreting business. My first year there I more than tripled my yearly earnings! It was definitely a smart move! Then in the fall of 2005 I went to work for a company I was familiar with in DC. They set up an office in Waikiki to provide Video Relay Services for the Deaf. I really enjoyed the challenge of working as an interpreter via Video Phone and providing Deaf communities across the US and Canada greater access to communicating with their hearing counterparts through their own language. Remember "Back to the Future?" Well, now we DO have Video Phones! I always thought that woul...Expand for more