The Dream Chasers - Episode 10 - Michelle Balfe

The Dream Chasers Podcast

Hosted by Samantha Ainsworth

Episode 10

Michelle Balfe

Michelle M Balfe, CI CT NIC

ASL English Interpreter for 30+ years

Adjunct Instructor for 25 years

Academic Advisor at CCAC for 2 years

Health & Wellness Coach for Oola the Mind & Body Company for 4 years

Wife, mom, sister, aunt. Dog mom to 2 crazy Labradors

Chaser of dreams for a long ass time.

30 years deep into an interpreting career took me from Akron, OH to Anchorage, Alaska to

Pittsburgh. I have interpreted more than a few Broadway shows – Chorus Line, and Jersey Boys

(twice) are favorites. Stand-up comedians Jerry Seinfeld, and Lisa Lampanelli. Speakers Dr. Maya

Angelou, and Sir Edmund Hilary. Countless politicians. Musicians like Steven Curtis Chapman, Josh

Groban, Tyrone Wells, and JT Hodges.

Currently, I process video relay phone calls for the FCC and holy hell have I seen / heard some

shit during these calls. 11 years of processing phone calls could fill a book. I even have a title for it “I

Couldn’t Make This Shit Up” I may write it when I’m 90.

I teach the process of interpreting at CCAC not ASL, I leave that to the Deaf community to do. I

teach what to do with ASL after you have a firm grasp of the language. I train future interpreters best

practices, help them decide what kind of interpreting best suits them – educational, medical,

theatrical, political, legal, etc.

I also teach College Seminar for CCAC. All the shit you wish someone would have told you

before you started college. I help them answer 3 questions: what do you want to be when you grow

up, who can best educate you for that purpose, and how do you do it without going broke or crazy?

Being a teacher and motivator at heart lead me to becoming a Coach. Oola helped me find a

life of health and wellness from the inside out. I followed the Oola framework for a year on my own.

One of the founders, Dave Braun, emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in being a Coach. I said

no, because I was committed to offering certified interpreters workshops every month for the entire

year. Dave knew nothing about interpreting, but he knows workshops. He emailed me every month or

6 weeks or so to ask how it was going and how he could help. He wanted nothing from me, he just

wanted to help me succeed. Creating materials is time consuming and expensive. Oola framework

aligned with my training philosophy, and their materials are top notch. In January 2020, I became a

Certified Oola Coach.

Dream Chasing, to me, means taking my gifts and talents and building a balanced life of purpose.

Finding a purpose and impacting the world with it IS the chase and the dream, therefore, changes.

I always say 2 things:

1) I can change the world in 10 minutes.

2) they (you Samantha!) could write a bad B flick about my life.

Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore— And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?