The best way to inform you about my native-speaking abilities in both English and Spanish is to simply tell you my story. I was born in Valdese, NC, to an American father and Panamanian mother. My father met my mother when he was stationed with the U.S. Navy in Panama, the place to where my grandparents and great-grandparents had emigrated from Spain, Colombia, and the Canary Islands. When I was two months old, my parents moved back to Panama and I continued to live there until 1996 when I moved to the United States. As children, my two sisters and I were raised in a bilingual and bicultural home. We were exposed to both my father's American culture as well as my mother's Spanish culture. We spoke Spanish at home and only learned English when we started kindergarten at the U.S. Canal Zone schools in Panama. After becoming an adult, I worked for the U.S. Navy for 20 years in Panama as a civilian and held many jobs, such as administrative assistant, translator/interpreter, executive assistant and protocol officer. Each of these jobs required mastery of both English and Spanish. I also obtained my Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Literature from the State University of New York, Albany. After moving to the United States, I have been self-employed working in the translating, interpreting and tutoring fields.