Maria Ceballos-Wallis is a Georgia/Florida Certified Spanish-English Interpreter on staff with the DeKalb County State Court, in Decatur, GA. She has worked in multilingual communications since 1990. Her passion has always been eliminating barriers to effective communication through the mastery of language and the media. In addition to being an accomplished television/documentary producer, in 2002, Maria received a certificate in translation studies from Florida International University and was certified as Spanish><English translator by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI.com.au) in Australia. She is also a Georgia-registered civil and domestic mediator (GODR.org). Maria holds an M.A. in international studies from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL and a B.A. in communication arts with a minor in French from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. She has also taught English as a second language at Miami Dade Community College, lectured on mass communications as an adjunct at Florida International University (Spanish/English), taught online classes with De La Mora Interpreter Training and presented at NAJIT, AAIT and Emory Healthcare Interpreter Conferences. Maria occupied various key positions on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Association of Interpreters and Translators (AAIT.org) from 2011 – 2016. In 2017 Maria was appointed to represent interpreters on the Board of the Georgia Commission on Interpreters.  She joined the team of instructors for the Georgia Commission on Interpreters Orientation Program in 2019. She is a member of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT.org) Bench and Bar Committee and offers private instruction for interpreters looking to improve their skills.