About Us
Connecting Cultures was founded on the philosophy that if we took care of our staff and their families, we would provide the best language services available to the medical community and provide equal access to healthcare for the limited-English speaking patients in our community. In 2000, Connecting Cultures started out as an interpreting agency with one interpreter and an office manager. In the past decade it has grown into a professional language access planning consulting firm with more than 25 employees. Connecting Cultures uses systems developed over time to bring quality and success to our language services. We use those systems to implement programs that meet the language access needs of healthcare facilities, big and small.
Meet Our Team in 10 Interesting Questions:
Rashelle LeCaptain
1) What is your role/title at Connecting Cultures? How long have you worked for the company, why?
I am president and a language services expert. I am a founder and started the business in 2000. I absolutely LOVE my job and appreciate everyone here.
2) What made you decide to build your own interpreting business?
I wanted to give bilingual individuals the ability to make a career out of interpreting by providing a sound place to work. I also wanted to be able to control the quality of service for the customers and their patients.
3) What do you like to do with your spare time?
Spend time with my girls and husband. We spend a LOT of time at the gymnastics gym. I love traveling but don't get to do it very often.
4) How would your spouse/children describe you?
Loving, nice, nurturing. My girls might describe me as pretty!
5) You've done a lot of traveling. Is there a country you most enjoyed?
I adore Argentina, the food, people, culture. Mendoza is majestic with the Andes Mountains rising above the city. I have very close friends there, too.
6) Which languages do you speak?
English and Spanish.
7) Who or what has had the most influence on who you are today?
Books. I love to read and develop myself as a parent, wife, leader.
8) If you could be any animal, what would you be?
A dog in a great home. They have it made, especially mine!
9) Do you have a favorite movie or book?
I really like Che, the biography of Che Guevarra and I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. They are well-written and are very thought provoking. You really have to think about your own ideas and values.
10) If you could have one superhero power, what would it be?
I would be able to clone myself to be at work as a professional AND be a stay at home mom and focus solely on my girls. Maybe the power of being two places at once. Otherwise, the Elastagirl powers from the animated Disney movie The Incredibles would be pretty cool, too.
Bobbie Ludes
1) What is your role/title at Connecting Cultures? How long have you worked for the company, why?
Director of Operations. In 2000, I helped found the company and create the culture.
2) What do you most like to do with your spare time?
Camp.
3) How would your spouse/children describe you?
Funny, caring, honest, and trustworthy.
4) You've done a lot of traveling. Is there a country you most enjoyed visited? Why?
Argentina. It's very beautiful and different in many ways but also the same.
5) Who or what has had the most influence on who you are today?
My values and my husband.
6) What is the latest book you've read?
Hardwiring Excellence. Very good book — pertains to healthcare and had a lot of good ideas to put into practice.
7) If you weren't doing your current career, and could have any job in the world, what would it be and why?
Working in a flower shop. I love working with plants and digging in the dirt.
8) If you could have one superhero power, what would it be? Why?
Stretching arms. I could have used that while the kids were growing up—the looonnng hand of the mother.
9) If you could be any animal (except human), what would it be, and why?
I would be a whale and swim all day and be big enough not to have anyone mess with me.
10) Did you–or do you–have a nickname? What is its significance?
Lucy. That's what my husband calls me. He would come home from work and say, "Lucy I'm Home."
Kyle Werych
1) What is your role/title at Connecting Cultures? How long have you worked for the company, why?
General Manager. August, 2009. I'm attracted to the work we do - to be part of something so impactful in peoples' lives.
2) What do you most like to do with your spare time?
Spend time with my amazing wife and two boisterous young boys.
3) If you weren't doing your current career, and could have any job in the world, what would it be and why?
Golf instructor. I have a passion for the game and enjoy sharing it with others. It'd have to be somewhere warm however; I've found it to be quite difficult hitting golf balls in the snow.
4) Do you have any unusual quirks?
I write, bowl, throw darts, shoot pool, play tennis, and shoot a basketball left-handed; but golf and throw a baseball/football with my right. Pretty weird.
5) If you could have one superhero power, what would it be? Why?
Reading minds would have its perks, although it would certainly also lead to learning things I'd rather not know. I'll say indestructible or super-healing powers like the Hulk or Wolverine. I'd be able to do a lot more on a lot less sleep — and my boys would think it's pretty cool.
6) Who or what has had the most influence on who you are today?
I've been very fortunate to have had a lot of positive influences in my life; I do my best to pay attention and learn from others' successes and insights.
7) Do you have a favorite book? Why do you like it?
The Holy Bible. Success to me means achieving great things at home, at work, and in the community—and balancing the demands of each harmoniously. I know myself well enough to recognize that I cannot attain such an aspiration on my own.
8) How do you hope to spend your retirement years?
Traveling with family and dabbling in day-trading to keep my mind sharp... somewhere warm of course—probably by a golf course.
9) If you could be any animal (except human), what would it be, and why?
Lion. Life seems easier at the top of the food chain.
10) What was your favorite toy as a child?
I played a lot of outdoor sports as a kid, but Legos come to mind as an indoor favorite.
Erin Rosales
1) What is your role/title at Connecting Cultures? How long have you worked for the company, why?
I've been with the company for seven years and am Director of Interpreter Development. I have meaningful and fulfilling work in a small company at heart with big company goals.
2) What do you most like to do with your spare time?
Relax; read; nap; seasonal outdoor activities-X-country ski/ice skate/fish; indoor/outdoor soccer; cook/bake.
3) If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?
Observant.
4) How would your spouse/children describe you?
Spouse: He would say a litany of positive things; he sees the best in me, but if I mentioned that I also get crabby - especially when tired or hungry - he'd immediately agree.
5) You've done a lot of traveling. Is there a country you most enjoyed visiting? Why?
Japan. At 16, it was my first international trip. It was incredible. My host family, the culture, the food... It definitely planted the seed that would lead to my desire to continue exploring and experiencing much more of the world.
6) How many languages do you speak? What are they?
English and Spanish.
7) Who or what has had the most influence on who you are today?
My parents collectively. They teach by example and have always allowed me to "go for it" and believe that I can.
8) Do you have a favorite movie or book? Why do you like it/them?
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It is lighthearted. But the message is profound, and I learn something new each time I read it.
9) If you weren't doing your current career, and could have any job in the world, what would it be and why?
Something that would allow me to provide food for people. Everybody needs to eat. Everybody.
10) If you could have one superhero power, what would it be? Why?
Fly. Which is strange because I am afraid of heights. Then again, if I could fly I wouldn't really need to be afraid of heights.