Meet the team – Adelaide Zappatore

18 Oct 2018

Name: Adelaide Zappatore
Role: Vendor Manager
Responsibilities: Searching for new translators, mainly determined by urgent projects or specific clients’ requests. As part of a new search, I would contact vendors to check their interest/availability, negotiate rates, request references and set up a test translation. Once this process is complete, I insert the new vendor in our database and inform the rest of the team, If needed. Occasionally I run some small projects for a new client or as part of quality assurance for an existing client.

Please could you tell us what attracted you to your new role at Intonation?
When I saw the position advertised I visited the City Legal website and was really impressed to see how many awards they have won, the quality of their campaigns and the experience of their team.

I enjoy working as a team and supporting project managers, so I was also excited about the amount of contact I have would get with freelancers.

Please could you tell us a little bit about your experience so far?

I have always been passionate about languages and began my career as an Italian teacher.

After a few years I began combining teaching with translation and eventually decided to join a translation agency in 1997. After working my way up from project manager, I need up leading a large team and managing some very high profile clients.

I also worked for a Market Research organisation, where I restructured and ran the translation department. It was a rewarding experience, although stressful and demanding.

How did you get into the industry?
After years of teaching and translating I felt I needed a new challenge and multilingual project management seemed to be the natural step forward.

How many languages are you fluent in?
I am a native speaker of Italian and fluent in English. I used to speak French and Portuguese (I lived and studied in Brazil for 8 months) but I haven’t practised either in recent years.

If you weren’t a vendor manager what would you be doing?
I would be working for an organisation committed to helping people (women and children especially) in developing countries. It has always been one of my dreams.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Learn to delegate, it is not a sign of weakness or inefficiency but a good way to work with people you can trust.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself?
Despite disliking change, when I was younger I decided to move out of London, not only to another city, but to another continent. I went to Brazil where I wanted to study and teach Italian. It was a great experience but not as easy as I had expected!

What’s on your desk right now?
A desk calendar and a calculator, a glass of water, my precious notebook (I never work without it) and some print-outs.

Name 5 things you can’t live without?
The sunlight (I don’t like winter!)
A good chat with a friend
My mobile
My laptop
Coffee