Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Suhr
Hi Carla, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
So much of who I am today and what my guiding principles are, connects to my roots. I am originally from the Northern Coast of Spain born in Reinosa, Cantabria and grew up in a village of just 300 people in a valley called Valle de Cabuerniga (renowned for its raw beauty and comforting stews). It was there that I developed a great sense of respect for nature, for the sources of our food as well as for intrinsic knowledge our community holds. The first two have a direct impact on my daily life (where I buy, what I eat, my love for hiking and climbing, etc). The latter is at the very foundation of my professional endeavors. In fact, as a cognitive linguist and a community-engaged learning scholar, I can attest that neither the study nor the practice of those two disciplines would be possible without the input and contributions of community members. From a very early age, I became fascinated with how language relates to culture and to our perspective of the world. I was well aware that there were specific words, expressions and other aspects of the way people around me talked that made for an important part of their identity as locals to that particular region. Recognizing and using those linguistic elements created a sense of belonging and understanding of our shared culture. As I started traveling and spending summers abroad, I quickly understood that by learning new languages, our worldview expands and one becomes a more empathetic person. My passion for this linguistic enterprise took me to Madrid where I pursed and completed three Masters degrees in Spanish Linguistics and Education and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Linguistics. While writing my dissertation, I went to Berkeley, CA to meet Professor George Lakoff, known as one of the founders of Cognitive Linguistics. I fell in love with the Bay Area and decided to move to San Francisco.
Inspired by the city’s entrepreneurial mindset, I cofounded IDESLI International Institute of Linguistics in 2008 where I codirected the translation services and the language courses we offered in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Punjab, and English, managed curriculum development and trained our teachers. Over the years, the company’s clients portfolio grew to include large corporations such as Google, Linkedin, and Salesforce, governmental agencies, schools, universities, and non-profit organizations such as Fair Trade USA. After spending a few years in the East Coast, teaching at the university in New Haven, my family and I moved back to California and, in 2016, I joined the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at University of California, Los Angeles.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
You can easily imagine some of the obstacles one would need to overcome when moving from a 300 people village to a big city, starting a business in a new country, or having to communicate professionally in conferences around the world in a language other than their native tongue. Still, I’m a firm believer that these “obstacles” allow me to get out of my comfort zone and, in turn, are opportunities to learn, grow and become the best version of yourself. Now, after 16 years in the United States, I find myself continually encouraged and inspired by those around me to continue making an impact through my career aspirations.
Now, I teach at the no. 1 ranked public university in the United States. There, I have the privilege of working with the brightest students I have ever met. Many of them, especially my beloved first generation students have overcame unimaginable obstacles to be where they are today. Their stories remind me that we almost always have a choice of finding an excuse to not do something or continue working towards a lofty goal one step at a time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a professor of Cognitive Linguistics and Community-Engaged Learning in Spanish at UCLA.
As a strong believer that education is the most powerful tool we have to create social change, I dedicate great part of my time to building bridges between the university and the community. Over the last 8 years at UCLA, I have developed partnerships with over 40 local and international organizations providing legal, medical, educational, artistic, and social services to the Latino community. Together, we have created dozens of collaborative interdisciplinary projects that respond to community-identified needs and make use of the tools, knowledge, and resources that every party involved has to offer. Every year, my students, collectively, spend thousands of hours volunteering in these projects (using their linguistic and cultural skills to create bilingual resources to prepare for the citizenship exam, college prep workshops, informational videos on human trafficking, etc.) In this line of work, I regularly mentor undergraduate and graduate students conducting sociolinguistic justice field research.
Currently, I’m preparing also a series of interviews with activists, community leaders, and artists representing the Spanish-speaking world.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I feel incredibly fortunate for my family’s unconditional love and for all the people who have impacted my personal and professional life in a positive manner along the way. They constitute an ever-evolving perfect support system and a source of inspiration and guidance to propel me forward at the right times.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://csuhr.humspace.ucla.edu/
- Other: https://ucla.academia.edu/CarlaSuhr
