Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] The Vargas Sisters and the Art of Rising how three siblings transformed linguistic talent into tech influence and grew without growing apart By Jose Palomaras on Stage at the 2025 Vamos Juntos conference in Mexico City, three panelists, industry leaders from Meta, Salesforce and Airbnb, sit comfortably yet professionally, waiting for their session on creating strategic partnerships to begin as the designated photographer. I'm sitting in the front row. One of the three women looks at my camera and playfully crosses her eyes. Another strikes a mock serious pose, then breaks into a grin. The third can't help but laugh at the other's silly antics. The moderator starts speaking, and the panelists expressions shift to attentive engagement. As the three women navigate the panel with practiced expertise, the audience picks up on their subtle interactions.
[00:00:56] A quick glance, a smile of encouragement, synchronized nodding. The person next to me leans over and asks, wait, are they related? I whisper back, sisters. Three sisters who left Peru, explored the world, and each got to the top of the localization industry on her own. My neighbor's eyebrows rise, looking at the stage with new interest.
[00:01:18] Despite their different last names adopted through marriage, Carla Vargas Grujic, Karina Drosenos, and Kathy Bird displayed a familial relationship that was unmistakable this moment. Three Latin American sisters commanding an international stage while representing some of tech's most influential companies deserves more than a conference recap. It's the culmination of respective journeys that began in Peru, wound through Europe, and somehow converged in Silicon Valley without ever feeling like competition. I've known these women for over a decade and have watched them transform not only their own careers but also the very definition of leadership in our industry.
[00:01:58] This is their story, one of resourcefulness over resources, of lifting while climbing, and of proving that sometimes the most revolutionary act in business is refusing to succeed alone. The architecture of independence Their mother had three rules learn languages, learn to drive, and learn to swim. Para cuan independientas, she would say, so you can be independent. These were survival skills for daughters she was raising to be citizens of the world. The sisters grew up between Chiclayo in northern Peru, where twins Carla and Karina were born, and Moquegua in the south, where Cathy arrived two years later.
[00:02:38] As for who is the oldest sister, technically, Karina was born first, but Karla has always assumed the role of eldest by choice, a dynamic the twins find more amusing than worth correcting. The Vargas household operated like a training ground for global mobility. Their father worked for Peru's Ministry of Transport, and during school vacations the family would follow him on assignments across the country.
[00:03:04] New cities, new contexts, new ways of adapting. The sisters learned early that home wasn't a place, but rather the people you carried with you. We weren't wealthy, karla explains, but we were resourceful. This distinction matters. When the time came for exchange programs. It wasn't family money that sent them abroad. It was determination, applications, scholarships, and the kind of stubborn optimism that turns obstacles into stepping stones.
[00:03:33] Surprisingly, it was Cathy, the youngest, who wanted to go first. She'd set her sights on an exchange program, but was too young to qualify.
[00:03:43] She had to watch as her older sisters claimed the opportunities she'd identified.
[00:03:48] So the exodus began with Karla, who went to Belgium through American Field Service, afs, a global network that places high school students with host families abroad.
[00:03:59] She was supposed to land in the French speaking region, but ended up in Flanders, learning Flemish instead. Where others might have felt disappointment, Karla welcomed the exposure to an additional language. After Belgium came New York City. To perfect her English, Karina chose Italy, drawn by culture, fashion and food, practical passions for someone who approaches life with clear eyed determination. After Italy came La Jolla, California, and then Germany as an exchange student, each experience adding layers to her understanding of how the world works. When Cathie's turn finally came, she was offered Germany, not China, as she'd hoped for. But she took it without complaint. This would become her pattern, taking what was offered and optimizing it into what was needed. The youngest had waited the longest, but perhaps that patience became its own form of preparation for college. The sisters all attended the Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima, where they first connected to work opportunities in the United States. U.S. the university's Translation and Interpretation Program provided access to U.S. cultural exchange initiatives that allow international students to work in America during school breaks. Cathy secured a job at Sequoia national park and encouraged her sisters to apply too. The next summer, all three converged at the same California lodge. Kathy and Karina as restaurant servers, and Karla at reception. Even 5,000 miles from Peru, they were still finding their way to one another. After wrapping up their studies at Ricardo Palma, the next wave of dispersal came. Kathy to West Virginia University to study German and linguistics, Corinna to Kent State University to pursue German translation and and international relations. And Karla following Cathy to West Virginia for a master's degree in linguistics. Through these academic pursuits, each sister was building her own foundation while maintaining the family's core principle, independence through capability, the gravitational pull.
[00:06:06] If you ask the sisters how they all ended up in localization, the answer is simple. Cathy. Not because she pushed them, but because she created momentum that would shape their career trajectories for decades. When Cathy took a project management position at a language service provider, lsp, in Maryland, she didn't know she was establishing an orbit that her sisters would eventually join.
[00:06:30] She was just solving her own problem, how to build a career that combined her linguistics training with her love of optimization. This quality, part curiosity, part rebellion against inefficiency, made her invaluable in the LSP world. But it also made her a beacon for her sisters, both of whom were reaching their own crossroads. Around the same time, Karla was navigating her own transition. After years of freelance translation work, she was ready for something bigger. But unlike her sisters, who were focused on operational excellence, Karla was obsessing over a strategic question.
[00:07:07] Why was localization always reactive? And why were translators the last people to know about projects? When Karla joined her sisters in Maryland, she found them wrestling with similar frustrations from inside the system. The three of them working at the same company but seeing things through different lenses became an unintentional think tank. Cathy attacked inefficiency with technical solutions. Karina transformed chaos into scalable operations.
[00:07:35] And Karla questioned why the entire industry accepted its place at the end of the production line. What emerged from their Maryland convergence was a discovery that their complementary strengths could reshape an entire industry's approach. Karla's next move was applying to the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey mies, widely recognized as the premier graduate program for translation and localization management in the U.S.
[00:08:01] the acceptance letter came while she was staying with Cathy. While MIES offered her a partial scholarship, the remaining costs were still steep. Without hesitation, Cathy offered to help with tuition, joining their parents in making the impossible possible.
[00:08:16] That's what you do, Cathy says of her decision.
[00:08:20] You invest in people you believe in. Years later, in what has become family legend, both Cathy and Karina independently enrolled in the University of Washington UW's Localization Certificate Program.
[00:08:33] Neither told the other. They discovered the coincidence only when comparing schedules. Weeks into the program.
[00:08:39] We're on a family call and I mentioned my UW homework, Karina recalls.
[00:08:45] Cathy goes, wait, your UW homework? We couldn't stop laughing. When Cathy moved to the International Monetary Fund, she embarked on what she cheerfully calls her five year mission to drag them out of the Dark Ages.
[00:09:00] She says it with a laugh. But the transformation was real.
[00:09:04] Implementing SDLtrados as their very first computer assisted translation cat tool, automating workflows that had been manual for decades, and introducing Multimedia localization to an institution that had been text only. Meanwhile, through project management roles at LSPS and work as an in house scientific translator, Karina was building her reputation for implementing CAT tools and managing complex projects. Karla was cutting her teeth at a sophisticated San Francisco localization company, learning to negotiate million dollar contracts, manage enterprise accounts and lead international teams. As the years went on, their paths would cross at the same companies, but never on the same teams or timelines. A couple of years after Karina left GoPro, Cathie joined the company in a different division. Similarly, at Salesforce, Karla built and optimized marketing localization frameworks that Karina would later complement through her product localization work in an entirely different business unit. People who don't know the details sometimes assume it's nepotism, karina notes. But we've never worked on the same team. We just can't help sharing. When we find companies that truly value global thinking, it's professional matchmaking needs, family dinner conversation, each sister recognizing when a company's culture would suit another's strengths, but each earning her place entirely on her own merits.
[00:10:34] They remained in their own orbits, close enough to share insights but far enough apart to build distinct reputations, always within the same professional galaxy, different paths through the same forest. Karla the Marketing Strategist Karla thrives on scale, rapid change and complexity. The bigger the challenge, the better.
[00:10:57] Where others see chaos, Karla sees opportunity to build something greater. Not alone, but by bringing everyone forward. She spent a lifetime creating structures that help others succeed. Since landing in Silicon Valley, she's navigated both sides of the localization ecosystem, from the supplier side to enterprise roles at ebay, Salesforce and now Meta. As localization program manager, she doesn't just manage campaigns. She notes requirements, connects the right people and works tirelessly toward creating value added programs while ensuring everyone rises together.
[00:11:35] Success is never individual, she maintains. This belief started early. At just 19, she was leading the local AFS chapter in her hometown, recruiting families, schools and companies to support international students.
[00:11:50] It drives the volunteer work she does now, running Women in Localization, WLS Global Mentorship Program and Silicon Valley Chapter, serving as a lock lunch ambassador in the Bay Area and volunteering as an interpreter for undocumented immigrants. Every action creates pathways for others. Her daily reality reflects constant strategic thinking as she figures out how to accelerate localization without risking quality, encourage stakeholders to follow documented best practices, help teams excel through education rather than criticism, plan launches with cross functional partners and track metrics to justify localization's value. My days are strategy, education, alignment, planning, and measuring results, she explains. Experience with burnout has taught her about strategic prioritization.
[00:12:42] Now, when stakeholders arrive with urgent requests, she asks for context. Is this critical to business or just late planning? This reframing transforms fire drills into partnerships. Her networking philosophy reflects this same intentionality.
[00:12:59] Networking needs to be meaningful and personal, she says. There's always something we can learn from someone, no matter where they are in their professional journey. Karina the product builder don't tell me I can't do something. This isn't defiance, it's fuel. Karina has spent her entire life turning skepticism into motivation. From being the only non native English speaker in her class to becoming an honors graduate from project manager to senior localization program manager at Salesforce, her career is built on proving possibilities. Korina knows that solo success is an oxymoron.
[00:13:38] When navigating the pandemic job market, she discovered the immense power of community. I reached out, asked for help, and learned from an entire village of mentors and peers. Now she gives back to that very community through volunteering, creating interview and resume guides for WL co, running the Los Angeles LOC lunch events, and distributing food to Latino communities. Through Salesforce's volunteer program, every success becomes a template. She shares the achievement she's most proud of speaking at Vamos Juntos, sharing the stage with her sisters.
[00:14:14] Four years ago, I was unable to speak in public without babbling. Now she commands stages. But more importantly, she remembers the fear. And that makes her a better mentor. Cathy the systems ARCHITECT Ask Kathy to describe herself and she'll give you one word Practical. Ask her peers and bosses and they'll give you a dozen Innovative, tireless, curious, and generous, to name a few. The gap between her self perception and her impact tells you everything about how she operates focused on the work, not the credit. When I first met her at the American Translators Association ATA conference in Miami in 2015, she was teaching the software program Dej vu, already neck deep in translation technology when others were still debating whether to trust CAT tools. What I remember about our conversations there is that she wanted to understand everything, not just how to use the tools, but why they work the way they did. This hunger for understanding the why drove her biggest achievements at the imf. She didn't just implement new tools she revolutionized how they thought about multilingual content. Every creative team had different needs, she explains.
[00:15:30] My job was to find the right solution for each one, then connect them all together.
[00:15:35] She's at Airbnb now, managing critical localization components, but she's never forgotten that technology served people, not the other way around. Cathy believes in mentorship, serving as a lock launch ambassador in Washington, D.C. as well as staying curious and proactive. She recently completed courses in International Product Management, multilingual Artificial Intelligence, AI and User Experience Content Design, plus a language tester certification. At a stage when many professionals coast on expertise, she's still accelerating looking forward.
[00:16:12] Between them, the sisters have covered every angle of the localization industry, from freelance translation to LSP operations to enterprise strategy. They've been the translator waiting for context, the project manager juggling time zones, and the executive making build versus buy decisions. This 360 degree perspective, rare in an industry where people often stay in their lanes, makes their insights particularly valuable. So with the localization industry at an inflection point, workflows changing due to Large language models, LLMs and agentic AI companies demanding more strategic value and professionals wondering how to stay relevant, I wanted to understand how the Vargas sisters see the future.
[00:16:58] They shared with me what they think is coming and how to prepare for it. On AI's impact the sisters agree on one thing AI will transform the industry but not replace its human core. Cathie puts it bluntly, technology alone doesn't globalize products, people do. She emphasizes the need for proper governance and frameworks before jumping into automation, warning that automation without metrics is noise, not progress. Karina sees AI as an enabler, not a threat. She believes it will help with scale, predicting needs, automating, testing and analyzing feedback, while freeing humans to focus on strategy and cultural nuance. Even if AI can handle translation, you still need people to understand all the pieces that go into making a product. Karla brings a marketer's pragmatism to AI implementation, stressing that one size doesn't fit all.
[00:17:55] Build closer partnerships with localization teams to define how AI should be applied. She advises, Treat localization as a strategic advisor, not just an execution partner. The key is to bring localization in early, ensuring strategy and execution aligned from the start on staying relevant.
[00:18:15] When I asked each sister independently for a 90 day plan to help mid career professionals future proof their careers, they offered characteristically different approaches. Yet beneath the surface, a common foundation emerged. Audit where you are, build new capabilities and demonstrate tangible value. Cathie's plan focuses on building technical influence by auditing workflows for gaps, meeting stakeholders to understand pain points, and then piloting one practical automation. The goal?
[00:18:46] Shift perception from project executor to strategic partner Karina proposes a structured framework first 30 days build your AI foundation. Next 30 days choose a problem and master one tool to solve it. Final 30 days ship something that demonstrates value. In other words, make your learning visible through concrete deliverables. Carla starts with strategic self assessment. Clarify your motivations and what you're willing to compromise.
[00:19:16] Next, strengthen key relationships.
[00:19:18] Then launch a targeted experiment that aligns with both goals and business needs.
[00:19:24] Frame everything in terms of business impact, she emphasizes. The takeaway reflecting on what makes the Vargas sisters story resonate. It's not just that they've reached the highest levels of the industry. What's remarkable is how they've maintained something rare the ability to move forward without leaving others behind and make change while staying true to who they've always been. Their panel at Vamos Juntos 2025 was a celebration of what's possible when support starts early from the cradle. In their case.
[00:19:55] After all, the sisters have been helping one another since before they could spell localization. We're each other's best champions and cheerleaders, karla says, but also each other's toughest critics. That balance, found in few professional relationships and even fewer personal ones, might be their most significant achievement of all. In an industry built on making connections across languages and cultures, they've proven that some of the most important connections are the ones you've had all along. Their inspirational story shows that in localization, languages are just the beginning. Behind every translation project lies a world of technical complexity, cultural nuance and business strategy that future professionals will continue to untangle. But there's no untangling these sisters from one another or from their passion for making the world more connected, one language at a time. This article was written by Jose Palomares. He is the honorary fourth Vargas sibling with over 25 years in localization. He serves on the Globalization and Localization association gala's board of directors and creates global experiences at kupa. When not writing tributes to remarkable women leaders, he pushes the profession forward through innovation, mentoring and storytelling. Originally published in multilingual magazine issue 244 September 2025.
