Nicole Henry
Project Manager
After graduating with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature, Nicole Henry spent five years in the JET Program teaching English to children in Japan. While there, she self-studied Japanese, eventually achieving N2 on the Japanese Language Placement Test (JLPT). She also acted as president of her AJET chapter and regional advisor to the other JETs in her prefecture. She learned about MIIS while in Japan and, after learning about its fantastic TLM program, decided she would attend there once she left JET. Currently, she is working on a personal translation project and is actively searching for internships as she heads into her second year at MIIS.
Podcast Committee
Regina Dukes
Regina Dukes received her Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2013 from St. Mary’s University and is also an alumnus of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (2016-2019). She spent three years in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, teaching at four elementary schools and two junior high schools. She spent the summers volunteering at prefectural English camps for elementary and junior high school students within Kumamoto Prefecture. In the summer of 2018, Regina was the project manager for Yatsushiro City’s Summer English Camp. With a budget of only $2,000, she coordinated and led the overall camp while supervising each event and ensuring that the camp ran on a rigorous schedule. Regina enjoyed learning more about Japanese traditional arts outside of teaching, so she learned the shamisen and calligraphy. Japanese music had a significant impact on Regina’s life, so while in Japan, she made a point to attend as many concerts as possible before returning to America in 2019. After returning to America, Regina applied and was accepted to the Translation and Localization Management program at Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She hopes to receive her master’s degree in 2023.
Jenny Kam
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Jenny speaks Cantonese, English, Mandarin and Japanese. A language- and culture-lover, Jenny graduated from the University of Hong Kong majoring in Japanese Studies and minoring in Linguistics. She also spent a year in Utsunomiya, Japan as an exchange student, where she met a lot of Chinese speakers from various locations that uses different wordings and expressions depending on where that person was from. After graduation, she worked as a Japanese video translator and a content syndication specialist in a multi-channel network company, which she was trained on-job for audiovisual post-production processes. Such experiences inspired her to build a career in the localization industry and hence she is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Translation and Localization Management at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Jenny likes to watch (Japanese and Thai) dramas in her free time and guess which specific locales the translators are targeting based on their translations.
Ellie Wu
A native of Shanghai, China, Ellie has lived in various parts of the world throughout her childhood. She graduated from University of California, Davis in 2020 with a B.A. in International Relations. After her undergraduate studies, she began working as a freelance translator, volunteer interpreter at a clinic, and legal assistant for a Chinese-American law office. To further leverage her multilingual and multicultural skills, she is now pursuing a Master’s degree in Translation and Localization Management at MIIS, specializing in Chinese and Japanese translation. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, solo traveling, and doing concert photography.
Magazine Committee
Popeye Lin
Born and raised in an indigenous family in Taiwan, Popeye Lin has spent over 20 years exploring the power of languages on this island of nature. Taiwanese and A-mei language have made him aware of the connection between languages and cultural heritage. After graduating with BA in Foreign Language Instruction, he was sent to Japan to teach English and help Government of Chiba Prefecture with localizing its website into Taiwan Chinese in order to participate in Taiwan’s International Lantern Festival in 2017. After that, he decided to devote himself to teaching English in Cambodia for adult learners at a local school with limited funds due to poor localization plan. This opportunity brought him to MIIS and made him appear more interested in languages and localization. Although it is challenging to get to know localization industry with limited experience, Popeye is still a firm believer of the power of languages as he used to be in Taiwan.
Kyle Chow
Raised in the Boston area, Kyle Chow spent the first 20 years of his life convinced that math and science was for him. It wasn’t until halfway through his undergrad that he wanted to change his path after being drawn in by the power of language in its ability to connect people through taking Japanese and linguistics classes as electives. However, it was too late to change majors by this point, so he graduated with his B.S. in Chemistry from Rice University in 2019 and spent the COVID pandemic trying to pivot himself into the language industry. Passion for Japanese TV shows led him to try being a fan subtitler for Japanese dramas, and through this he heard the term “localization” for the first time and decided to pursue further study in the field. Now a proud MA candidate in Translation and Localization Management at MIIS, Kyle has a voracious appetite for digging deep into learning how the entire industry works from top to bottom and hopes to leverage his passions in the audiovisual field after graduation.
Harlyn Lane
Harlyn Lane is a born and raised New Yorker. Though her family’s business is in theater, she broke away from her family’s path to upstate New York where she got her BA in English and Japanese at Skidmore College. In 2016, Harly blew a kiss goodbye to the US and flew to Japan where she worked as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Mino-shi, Gifu. Her experience teaching her native language by day and practicing Iaido (the way of the sword) and Kyudo (the way of the bow) at night allowed her imagination to roam free, inspiring three original stories in the making. While teaching wasn’t her passion, her love of Japanese language and culture was. MIIS’s Translation and Localization Management Master’s Program called her back stateside to show her a new way to use her language skills.
Yifan Ren
Yifan is a second-year TLM student. She graduated from Northwest University with BA in Philosophy. She also spent time on English and Japanese studies too.
“Looking forward to working with you all! Let me know if you love JPOP, video game or anime! 😉 Let’s hang out!”
Marketing Committee
Di Wan
With a passion for language and culture, Di Wan graduated from Binghamton University with a BA in Linguistics and French Linguistics. Her previous experience working for a radio broadcaster and a documentary production company sparked her interest in the media and entertainment industry as well. She is currently an MA candidate in Translation and Localization Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, hoping to hone her project management skills and explore the ever-changing landscape of the localization industry. As a huge fan of photography, she loves to travel and experience different views and cultures.
Outreach Committee
Alleia Guerrero
Alleia is a second-year TLM student at MIIS and part of the Outreach team at ROAR. She graduated with a major in Linguistics and International Studies at UC Berkeley. She’s currently studying Japanese, French and Spanish.
“Hi everyone! I love anime, books, video games and the fantasy genre (Lord of the Rings, GOT, Harry Potter, etc)! Feel free to reach out anytime :)”