157: Women leading the way - Breaking barriers in AI and Tech

Pia is a strategic globalization leader with a proven track record in driving innovation at the intersection of localization and AI. With experience on both the client and vendor sides, she has built and led high-performing global teams, optimized complex localization workflows, and spearheaded best practices to enhance efficiency and scalability. Her expertise in business operations, program and process management ensures seamless go-to-market (GTM) operations in dynamic, AI-driven environments. As the industry shifts toward AI-enabled content and multilingual LLM evaluation, Pia is focused on developing robust strategies that enhance model quality, cultural relevance, and linguistic accuracy at scale. A dedicated advocate for professional growth, she actively mentors and volunteers with organizations such as Women in Localization, fostering cross-functional collaboration and driving meaningful transformation across the localization and AI ecosystems.

Jennifer Vela-Valido is a Localization Strategist with over a decade of experience in diverse roles within the localization industry. She currently serves as the Localization Quality & Innovation Program Manager at Spotify and is the Chapters Program Director at Women in Localization. Jennifer holds a PhD in Localization Quality Management and is an active researcher specializing in localization strategies, linguistic quality management, and MT/LLM quality evaluation. In March 2023, she was recognized by Multilingual Magazine as one of the most influential women in the Translation and Localization industry.

Giselle Tran advocates for content’s pivotal role in the relationship between global businesses and their customers. From technical writer to content ops and localization expert, her scope spans the full content lifecycle, including infrastructure, design, management, localization, delivery, and measurement. She focuses on crafting customer-centric experiences at scale, blending people, processes, and technology to break down barriers between source and localized content and draw strengths from all teams.

Amanda joined the RWS Executive Team in October 2023 as President of RWS’s Global Content Services. She leads a unified team that brings together RWS’s linguistic, cultural and intellectual property expertise – alongside AI-enabled technologies – to support clients at any stage of their globalization journey.

She has more than 20 years’ experience in the localization industry, starting as a translation project manager in 2000 and later becoming Vice President of a Global Project Management Office. Amanda was appointed Executive Vice President of RWS’s Strategic Solutions Group in 2022. Before joining RWS Amanda worked as a Spanish to English translator in Mexico and subsequently joined AT&T as a Project Manager.

Her operational experience in some of the most demanding environments and proven history in maintaining long-term client relationships enable her to develop highly effective strategies for companies looking to manage their innovation lifecycle and engage with global audiences.

She has a BA in languages from Liverpool University and a postgraduate degree in IT at Newcastle University, as well as qualifications from the Project Management Institute.

A mother of two sports-mad daughters, Amanda spends most weekends cheering them on at national and international diving competitions, as well as volunteering to run diving events.