We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jill Kushner Bishop, PhD. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jill below.

Jill, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’ve always been fascinated by language: how people learn languages, how/when/why certain languages are passed down throughout the generations, what people do with and through language. Language learning, language teaching, and international travel were a focus of mine from the time I was a teenager, and my academic and professional focus always centered creating connections. In 2005 I launched a company with that exclusive focus: creating connections across language. Our services have changed over the years – from workplace language training and language classes for adults and kids to corporate translation and global research services, but what hasn’t changed is our dedication to helping our clients create connections across the globe.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Founder & CEO of Multilingual Connections, a Chicago-area company that helps clients create connections in over 75 languages. We provide written translation, audio/video transcription, subtitling/voiceover, and bilingual research moderation & support. Given my background as a linguistic anthropologist, culture and nuance are at the forefront of everything we do – and that’s essential in the era of AI. While we’re a tech-forward company, we also understand the role that humans play in the process.

I’m proud of the work that we do in supporting our clients – whether they’re working nationally or internationally – but I’m most proud of our team: 25 people spread across 10 countries that come together each day to create a great experience for their clients and for each other.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started my business a few weeks after I was terminated for being on the wrong side of office politics. I started the business in my basement with a flip phone, the Yellow Pages and a laptop – and hit the ground running.

Our early focus was providing workplace English and Spanish classes for hotels and restaurants, and translation came a bit later. I then decided to move out of the basement and open a language school for adults and kids. I was essentially running four businesses simultaneously while also raising a toddler, and while the finances of the language school were weaker than the translation side, I kept those programs going. My personal and professional identities were very much tied up with the programs we were offering, and I coudn’t imagine closing them – even though we were struggling and funding them with the revenue from translations. It took a long time to finally get comfortable with the decision to pivot. I eventually closed the language training programs to focus on growing our corporate translation services, and it was the best business decision I could have made. It was painful, but it was the right thing to do – and sometimes it just takes a while to catch up emotionally with what you know is right intellectually.

How’d you meet your business partner?

An online dating site.

But more to the point…a few days after losing my job, but husband Mark and I went to dinner at a local Cuban restaurant. I pulled out a Sharpie and started mapping out the potential directions I could take my career on my food-stained placemat. We talked about the pros and cons of each, and decided that I should take the risk and start my own business. Mark was always super supportive, and years later we started talking about the big “what if”: what if he joined the company. The first question was always “What the hell would you do?”. His background in nonprofit management didn’t seem to be a slam dunk with our focus on language. Fast foward to 2016, and Mark was looking for a career change.

He started spending time at my office – lifting heavy things, fixing broken things – and then that turned from literal to more metaphorical, as he started helping fix broken systems and implement some heavy lifts. We realized that there absolutely was a role for him at Multilingual Connections, and his experience from two decades of helping run organizations would have clear applications.

I’ve always been more about high level strategy and ideas, and I’m weak in implementation, so it’s been a great fit that has allowed us both to play to our strengths. When I tell people I work with my husband, just about everyone exclaims that they could NEVER do that. But we feel very lucky: we have a joint project that we both enjoy and feel proud of, and we work well together (from our separate offices!).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://multilingualconnections.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualconnections
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2460098
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_connections
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MultilingualConnectionsChicago
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/multilingual-connections-evanston