Dmitri Smirnov

Dmitri has worked for many years as a Certified Public Accountant. He was certified in Ohio and is now retired, helping nonprofits with their accounting needs in Utah.

Andrei Golub

Director

Andrei Golub was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the US in 1989. Before commencing this project, he studied languages and linguistics at the University of Utah, worked in Europe as a language teacher, and was a National Volunteer Advisory Committee member in Peace Corps Paraguay. He loves learning languages by living in the communities where they are spoken but understands that we don’t always have that luxury. He created Lingua Bear so that people could familiarize themselves with more than just the usual international languages and develop a vested interest in our collective cultural and linguistic preservation. His role involves guiding the design and production of the Lingua Bear toy as well as coordinating programming efforts for Lingua Bear.

“I value the expertise of our board and am looking for new members who can help us advance our efforts. I understand that our success has to do with empowering people to become advocates for their own linguistic and cultural heritage.”

Ryan Parrish

Business Advisor, CTO, Engineering, Web Support, Website Creator and Manager

Ryan is a Utah native who’s drive runs in the vein of web development, political policy reform and environmental sustainability. With over a decade of full stack development experience, He personally built and maintained this site and the lingua bear digital experience.

I’m passionate about solving complex problems thru coding, design, art, user interaction, and innovation.

Mariessa Maughan

Board Member

Mariessa Maughan participated in and partially funded the design process of the Lingua Bear toy. When one of our Guaraní speakers need an auxiliary speaker, she volunteered to record the English portion for this character. As treasurer, she has played an important role in developing our fundraising campaigns and accounting.

“I live and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I graduated from the University of Utah in 2008 with a B.S. in Mass Communications. A few of my passions are spending time with my friends, helping those in need, and traveling. I work at the John A. Moran Eye Center and abroad with their Outreach Medical Eye Camps to help restore vision to those who need it locally and internationally. I have traveled with them to the Navajo Nation, Tanzania, and Micronesia. Each time I visit another country I do my best to learn and correctly pronounce a few words in the local languages. I don’t always get it right, but the people usually help me and a little bit really does go a long way.”

Dominique St Clair

Secretary

Dominique St. Clair co-facilitates meditation workshops all over the world. She joined the family business full-time in 2011 and has worked in The Netherlands, Ireland, India, Zimbabwe, Spain, Canada as well as all over the United States. She has volunteered countless hours of her time and paid the legal fees associated with acquiring our 501c3 nonprofit status.

Her appreciation for other cultures and her understanding of the value they bring to our collective intelligence began when she left her hometown in Utah for school in Hawaii. Through these firsthand experiences, she became viscerally aware of the importance of maintaining and nurturing the unique qualities embedded in our varying languages and traditions.

Rose Jakub

Community Outreach

Rose created the script for the Navajo (Diné) language and is an active member of the Lingua Bear board as well as many organizations in her community. She works for the largest school district in Salt Lake City where she mentors and teaches Navajo, works at the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake, and is a Navajo interpreter for the LDS conferences. In 2019 she received an Award for Outstanding Leadership from the state of Utah.

“I am a member of the Navajo Nation. We are called Diné “The People”. I am Tábááhí (Edge Water Clan), born for Tódich’ii’nii (Bitter Waters Clan). My paternal grandfather is of the Hashtł ‘izhnii (Mad Clan) and my maternal grandfather is Táchii’nii (Red Steek in the Water Clan). I was born in a small community called Chilchinbeto, in Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation—Navajo is my first language. I attended day school in my community up to the 3^rd grade, and then went to boarding school in Kayenta, Arizona. In the 7^th grade I began an LDS program in Snow Lake, Arizona, where I lived with a Mormon family and finished my undergraduate studies. I then served an LDS mission in Arizona and New Mexico, and after, worked for LDS Social Services on the Reservation. Later on, I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and am now a translator for the LDS church as well as a mentor for our native American students in the Granite School District. I have two wonderful children, my daughter Shándíín and my son Denver. She lives in New York City and he lives here in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

Peter Golub

Grant Writer

Peter Golub is an author and translator. His work can be found in Circumference, World Literature Today, and PEN America. He is the editor of the online project New Russian Poetry (www.jacket2.org) and a frequent contributor to Words Without Borders (www.wordswithoutborders.org). He is the recipient of the Pen USA Prize for Translation. He lives in Oakland, CA.

Tatyana Platonova

Script Localization

Tatyana Evgenievna Platonova is a translator, consultant, and sound editor for Lingua Bear, as well as the female speaker for the Moscow dialect. She is a longtime participant in the project, and has played a key role in its development. During the initial stage of the project, she was responsible for sewing the Lingua Bear prototype.

Born in 1960, Tatyana grew up in a family of Moscow intelligentsia. From an early age, Tatyana attended a music school, where she studied piano, and an advanced language school, where she studied German.

While completing her engineering degree at Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, she met her future husband. Together they converted to Christianity, which was seen as backward and anti-communist by the Soviet government. The couple became involved in a dissident ecumenical underground, which published the samizdat periodical Prizyv (Appeal). The activities of the group were deemed illegal, and many of its members were incarcerated or institutionalized in psychiatric centers.

By 1988, she had three children and since the situation in the Soviet Union was becoming untenable, the family decided to emigrate. The process was lengthy, but in 1989, they were granted the right to emigrate to Israel; however, once in Austria, the family claimed refugee status. They spent the spring of that year in Italy until being officially accepted into the United States.

Soon after immigrating to SLC, Tatyana began working at the University of Utah as a teacher of Russian. Besides teaching, she has worked as a translator, interpreter, and localization expert for a variety of companies, including Novell, Intel, Siemens, etc. She was a Russian consultant for Ancestry.com and has compiled detailed family trees for a variety of people using archival research and in-depth genealogy. In 1999, she starred as Maria Vasilievna in the movie “The Old Woman” based on the novella by the Soviet avant-garde writer Daniil Kharms, Dir. D. Andersen.

She has worked as a translation editor for over 30 years, including the online anthology New Russian Poetry (Jacket2.org) and Andrei Sen-Senkov’s Anatomical Theater, which won the PEN USA Translation Prize in 2015.

Татьяна Евгеньевна Платонова – переводчик, консультант и звукорежиссёр проекта Lingua Bear, озвучившая медведицу с московским произношением. С первых дней проекта она играет одну из ключевых ролей в его создании и разработке. Ею были сшиты первые прототипы Lingua Bears.

Татьяна родилась в Москве в 1960 году в семье московских интеллигентов. Окончила музыкальную школу по классу фортепиано, специальную школу с углубленным изучением немецкого языка. Инженер связи.

После крещения вместе с мужем в 1980х годах они стали членами экуменической общины христианского подполья, публиковавшей самиздатский журнал «Призыв». В середине 1980х группа подверглась жестоким политическим репрессиям, в том числе и их семья.

В 1988 году семья с тремя малолетними детьми подала заявление на выезд из СССР. С израильской визой, в апреле 1989 года они вылетели из Москвы в Вену. В Вене Толстовский фонд взял семью под свою опеку как политических беженцев. Из Вены перебрались в Италию, а затем в США.

Вскоре по приезду Татьяна стала преподавать в Государственном университете Юты русский язык и другие предметы. Помимо преподавания Татьяна занималась переводом в самых разных областях, работала специалистом по локализации, в частности, в таких компаниях как Новелл, Интел, Сименс и др. В качестве консультанта компании Ancestry.com принимала участие в углубленных архивных и генеалогических исследованиях. В 1999 году снялась в роли Марии Васильевны в фильме «Старуха» по одноименной повести Даниила Хармса, реж. Д. Андерсен.

Более 30 лет Татьяна переводит и редактирует литературные произведения. Участвовала в работе над сборником новой русской поэзии online anthology New Russian Poetry (Jacket2.org), а также над изданием перевода книги Андрея Сен-Сенькова Anatomical Theater, который в 2015 году получил премию американского ПЕН-клуба за лучший перевод поэзии (PEN USA Translation Prize).

Fernando Rubio

Language Aquisition

Fernando Rubio works at the University of Utah and is the Director of the UOnline Curriculum Enhancement and Innovation for Undergraduate Studies. He is also the Director of the Second Language Teaching and Research Center in the College of Humanities, where he is also a Professor of World Languages and Cultures.

He is currently working on a project to study linguistic correlates of language proficiency. This project involves the development of a large-scale corpus of learner language that includes data from learners that have acquired a second language in different contexts.

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Andrei Golub for many years, since he was my student. He possesses a combination of skills and experiences that are unusual and difficult to find even in those who are many years his senior. He is trilingual in English, Russian, and Spanish and has knowledge of several other languages. He has also had a variety of international experiences that have given him a level of maturity well beyond his years. From an academic point of view, Andrei was an excellent student who obviously had a knack for languages. For one of my classes he produced a fine piece of research on second language acquisition and the effect of first language transfer of phonetics, syntax, and pragmatics. He had additional research experience in a phonetics course in which he was engaged in analysis of phonological features of the pronunciation of second language speakers of Spanish. Overall, I would characterize him as one of the strongest students that I have worked with over the course of my career.

Andrei has used his linguistic skills professionally as a language teacher and as a translator in multiple settings. But he is also a compassionate person who has put his skills to work for the good of others. Over the past few years, he has provided help to communities at home and abroad in the form of volunteer work. Perhaps the experience that had the most impact on Andrei was his work with Peace Corps in Paraguay between 2010 and 2012.

My sense is that as a result of this experience, Andrei decided to put his creativity to work on this exciting and altruistic project called Lingua Bear. I have been familiar with it since its inception, and I am proud to see a former student embark on such a vital endeavor. I am even more impressed to see how unflappable Andrei has been in his desire to see the project come to fruition. I will just say that, as an educator, this is precisely what we hope that our students will do with the education that they have received. Andrei has been able to use his intellectual, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills to put together a project that has a chance to leave an indelible mark for future generations. Time will judge the ultimate success of this project as a tool to help preserve endangered languages. What is unquestionable though, is that our world is a better place when we are surrounded by people who dedicate their time, energy and resources to a selfless cause like Lingua Bear.”

Brad Vanderford

Business Advisor

Brad Vanderford has a background that combines venture capital, international economic development and management consulting to SMEs.

Brad currently provides advisory services to impact investment funds, tech-enabled and impact-driven ventures and other organizations engaged in international economic development.

While earning his MBA at the University of Oxford, Brad led Oxford Seed Fund, where he made investments in high-growth tech startups affiliated with Oxford.

Prior to Oxford, Brad was the Director of International Expansion for Sinapis Group, a seed fund, accelerator and intermediary empowering entrepreneurs in frontier markets through training, management consulting & access to investment capital. Brad’s efforts helped catalyze $24M in investment and 2,500 new jobs while growing the organization from 22 entrepreneurs in one country to over 1,500 across four countries. He also managed Sinapis Capital’s portfolio of seed stage investments.

Brad began his career in the economic development sector of Peace Corps in Paraguay, where he served as an internal consultant to senior leadership of a financial services and agricultural cooperative with $25M in assets and where he also established several national entrepreneurship and youth leadership programs.

Brad received his MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Oxford and is a summa cum laude graduate in International Business, Entrepreneurial Management, and Marketing of the University of South Carolina, where he earned a BS in Business Administration and graduated with honors from South Carolina Honors College.

Tamrika Khvtisiashvili

Language Revitalization

Dr. Tamrika Khvtisiashvili was most recently an English Language Fellow in Palestine, where she taught Linguistics and Intercultural Communication courses. Prior to that she was an assistant professor at Alfaisal University in Saudi Arabia, teaching various courses in Linguistics, Anthropology and Directing University Preparatory Program. She received her Ph.D. in Theoretical Linguistics from the University of Utah. Her research interests vary from language teacher education, linguistics anthropology and intercultural communication. Her dissertation research was on linguistic documentation and revitalization practices of indigenous and endangered languages of the Caucasus.

Carroll Wallace

Copy Editor

Carroll is a firm believer in interdisciplinary education and the arts as a progressive and instrumental tool in society. Her work and on-going curiosity include:

Expression. Language. Informal Education. Movement Arts. Innovation. History. Politics. Ethics. Acting. Think-Tanks. History. Writing. Music. Laughing. Performance Art. Research. Film. Development. Creativity. Studying. Sports. Viola. Knowledge Exchange. Arts & Sciences. Circus Arts.The Brain & Learning. Food. Innovation and Culture.

If you want to collaborate with her, you can contact her through our contact portal by including the text “Attention CWalla” in the subject line.

Sean O’Leary

Head Engineer

Sean has 20+ years of experience and operates Celtic Engineering Solutions. He has designed a mock circulation system that flew on two space shuttle missions (STS-85 and STS-95), has developed pressure displays for use in medical research, and worked on various DARPA projects including Anti-RPG systems, HITL simulations of active armor and target recognition and noise rejection. He also helped develop an underground thermometer used in the mining industry.

For Lingua Bear, he formed a specialized team that included a programmer, a mechanical engineer, and himself, an electrical engineer. He was tasked with developing Lingua Bear’s circuitry and data logging system. With their help, we developed a functional prototype in collaboration with the various factories that are manufacturing the toy. We look forward to working with CES in order to ensure a highly functional and ecological product going forward.

Alfredo Gonzalez

Manufacturing

Alfredo Gonzalez is a Mexican Congressman and the owner of Peluches Alacrán, the factory where the Lingua Bear toy is fitted with electronic components and sewn. They are based in Xonacatlán, Mexico, a community located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains west of Mexico City. This small though vibrant town has made a name for itself internationally in plush toy production, out-competing China in some toy exports.

He received his law degree from the University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo and completed his MBA at Mexico Valley University, Toluca Campus. He is the Congressional Representative for the LX legislature of The State of Mexico; President of the Legislative Commission for Economic, Industrial, Commercial and Mining Development; member of the Hydraulic Resources, Cultural Education, Science and Technology, Civil Protection, Limited Territories of the State of Mexico and Municipalities Commissions; and chairs the Administrative and Social Communications Committees.

HNHO Film

Commercial Film

KNHO Film is a small production company based in Salt Lake City, owned and operated by Mike Eldredge. They helped us create our fundraising video pro bono and we plan on working with them on future projects.

After graduating from film school in 2011, Mike quickly found himself working in the film industry as a DP and editor. Since then Mike has developed his own unique style of filmmaking and has worked with a large number of brands and agencies including Nike, Wrangler, Utah Tourism, Boot Barn, Domo, SanMar, Uhaul, GoPro, and more.

“I believe we have an advantage over other film companies because everybody on our team is able to wear many hats and is skilled in all aspects of production. This allows us to produce high-quality content while keeping our crew small and extremely efficient.”

After years of working in the commercial world, in 2017 he completed an award-winning documentary called “500 Miles”, which tells the story of a veteran’s program meant to rehabilitate both veterans and horses—restoring their true sense of purpose and value.

Tony Hagedorn is First AC, Grip, and co-editor. Tony is a South Dakota native and his passion for film and photography stems from documenting his love of snowboarding and the outdoors. For the past two years, he has mentored under Mike Eldredge doing everything from pre-production to post-production. His strengths on set and in the office derive from a well-rounded Midwestern work ethic.

Aaron Garrett

Legal Counsel

Aaron is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Utah Nonprofit Legal Services. He graduated from the William & Mary Law School in 2009 and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the William & Mary Law Review. For the first four years of his legal career, Aaron worked for a commercial litigation boutique law firm. In 2013, he founded Aaron Garrett Law LLC to serve the needs of Utah’s nonprofit community and also those who were otherwise unable to afford an attorney. He graduated with a degree in Art History from the University of Southern California prior to attending law school.

Víctor Barreto Varela

Male EL speaker, Male TL Speaker

Language: Guaraní (Paraguay)

Contribution: Target Language Speaker and English Language Speaker

Dialect Origin: Coronel Oviedo, Caaguazú, Paraguay

Male Character: Bernardino

Age During Recording: 33

Victor Barreto Varela has been living in Cincinnati, Ohio since 2015. He was born and raised in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay. He speaks Spanish and Guarani natively and is refining his English. Victor worked with the NGO Centro Cristiano Asistencial Betel for 10 years before moving to the United States. There he taught computer classes and later became the director of marketing. In the U.S. he would like to run a business, but for now he is enjoying life with his wife and rescue dog.

Victor Barreto oiko hina Cincinnatipe, Ohio desde 2015. Ha’e onace ha okaku’a Coronel Oviedope, Paraguay. Ha’e oñe’e Español ha Guaranime ha oaprende hina Ingles. Victor ombapo vaekue ONG Centro Cristiano Asistencial Betel ndive por 10 años ova mboyve Estados Unidospe. Amoite ha’e ombo’e vaekue computación ha uperire omba’apo como director de marketing. Estados Unidospe ha’e ojapose ipropio negocio, ha ko’anga ha’e ovy’a hembireko ndive ha hymba jagua oje rescata va’ekue.

Mariessa Jean Maughan

Female EL Speaker

Language: Guaraní (Paraguay)

Contribution: English Language Speaker

Dialect Origin: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Female Character: Pitulí

Age During Recording: 33

Mariessa Maughan participated in and partially funded the design process of the Lingua Bear toy. When one of our Guaraní speakers need an auxiliary speaker, she volunteered to record the English portion for this character. As treasurer, she has played an important role in developing our fundraising campaigns and accounting.

“I live and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I graduated from the University of Utah in 2008 with a B.S. in Mass Communications. A few of my passions are spending time with my friends, helping those in need, and traveling. I work at the John A. Moran Eye Center and abroad with their Outreach Medical Eye Camps to help restore vision to those who need it locally and internationally. I have traveled with them to the Navajo Nation, Tanzania, and Micronesia. Each time I visit another country I do my best to learn and correctly pronounce a few words in the local languages. I don’t always get it right, but the people usually help me and a little bit really does go a long way.”

Dulcina del Carmen Urunaga Segobia

Artist, Female TL Speaker

Language: Guaraní (Paraguay)

Contribution: Target Language Speaker and Artist

Dialect Origin: San Pedro, Misiones, Paraguay/Villa Rica, Guairá, Paraguay

Female Character: Pitulí

Age During Recording: 15-20

“Hi, my name is Dulcina del Carmen Urunaga Segobia. I am from San Pedro district of San Miguel, Misiones, Paraguay, but I was born in Iturbe district of Villa Rica, Guairá, Paraguay on July 4th of 2000. I am an adopted daughter. My biological mother’s name is Celina Urungaga Segobia and my biological brothers and sisters from her are Walter 24 years old, Alicia 18 years old, Osvaldo 15 years old, Fabiola 8 years old, and me 17 years old. My adopted parents are Armin Sanabria and Liberada Esperanza Vallejos de Sanabria. My brothers and sisters from my adopted parents are Nilfa 33 years old, Pablina 30 years old, and Fatima 25 years old.

I have lived with my adopted parents for 17 years. I go to school at the National High School of San Pedro, Misiones. I am currently in 11th grade. I like football, Paraguayan dance, as well as Computer Programming and Hydro Engineering—two things I would like to study once I finish High School. My favorite food is chicken Bori Bori and Yucca. My favorite colors are purple and fuchsia. I would like to visit the United States because I like English a lot and because I would like to get to know its customs and culture.

My dreams are to finish my two career studies, to find a good job so I can sustain my expenses by myself, have my own house, also to buy a red car, and to form a family and live happily. This is my dream that I know I will achieve with the help of God, my adopted parents who support me in everything, and most importantly through my own will.”

“Maitei, che rera Dulcina del Carmen Urunaga Segobia. Che ha’e San Pedrogua tetã’i San Miguel, Misiones, Paraguay ha susu’a jati’i Iturbe tetã’i Villa Ricape, Guairá, Paraguay ha’e ara irundy jasypokõi ary 2000me. Che ha’e memby’anga. Che sy te’e ha’e hera Celina Urungaga Segobia ha che joke’y ha’e Wualter oguereko 24 ary, Alicia 18 ary, Osvaldo 15 ary, Fabiola 8 ary. Che taita anga ha’e Armin Sanabria ha Liberada Esperanza Vallejos de Sanabria. Che joke’y kuera che taitá anga rupi ha’e Nilfa oguereko 33 ary, Pablino 30 ary, ha Fatima 25 ary.

Ojapo 17 ary aiko’ha hendivekuéra che taita umia 17dive. Ha’yijo mbo’ehaope tetãgua San Pedrope agueraha 2do ary mbytegua. Che gusta pelota, ñembosarái, jeroky Paraguay ha che gusta avei informatica ha ingeniería hídrica—ambopaha vove ha’yijo che gusta ha’yijo umi mokõiveva. Che rembi’u ha’useveva ha’e ryguasu Vori Vori ha Mandi’õ. Che sa’y ahaihuva ha’e lila ha rosado pytãngy. Che ahasete poandu tetã Estados Unidospe aikuaa segui ingles ha avei aikuaáse costumbre ha cultura hetãmegua.

Te’e ha avei ajogua hagua petei che mb’ayrumivã pytavã ha auni hagua petei ogaygua ha aiko hagua torypé, pevá ha’e che asoñova che aikuaa ikatuna aguage tupá ñande jara pytyvõ rupi ha taita kuera rupive anga che pytyvova entero mba’epe ha iporãveva che añe ha’a rupi. Ingles ha’e cheve guãra petei tembipuru iporãva ikatuva aiporú añe’ẽhagua che mba’ãpohape meraẽva empresa ojeiporúva che aguarã igentekuéraeheve ha iñe’ere. Che asoña ambopahava umi mokoi ha’yijo, ikatu hagua amba’apo porã, ikatu hagua chejeheguindema ajejoko che rekotevé ha aguerahaka hagua che rogã.”

Tatyana Evgenievna Platonova

Female EL speaker and TL speaker

Language Package: Russian (Moscow)

Contribution: Target and English Language Speaker

Dialect Origin: Moscow, Moscow, Russia

Female Character: Tanya (Tatyana Mikhailovna) —Таня (Татьяна Михайловна)

Age During Recording: 59