The third annual AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event serves to highlight and showcase some of the most diverse and impactful young professionals across the Philadelphia region. 

At this year's event, taking place Friday, Aug. 26, Olena Hart will be one of the 40 honorees. 

Biography

Olena Hart is a professional and experienced quadrilingual translator/interpreter, with an ability to speak, translate, interpret, and deliver high-quality written and oral content in English, French, Ukrainian and Russian. 

She has experience in translating different types of documents, including business contracts, fiction books, technical manuals, and more.

As project coordinator at Martti by Uphealth, Hart leads the company’s VRI and OPI service offerings. 

As part of the lead-up to the AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event, AL DÍA asked each of the honorees a set of identical questions and collected their responses. 

Here are Olena Hart's responses: 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your professional career? 

The biggest challenge is the one that takes us out of our comfort zone but overcoming it pays double in the long run. Embarking on my immigrant career journey as a professional who has college credentials from outside of the US, while allowing myself to believe that I am worth my “place in the sun” has been my toughest challenge so far.

What are steps that can be taken to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in your industry? Why is it important to do?

I work in the language access industry, where diversity of ethnic backgrounds, languages and perspectives is an essential part of the business. Our team is extremely diverse. Nevertheless, there is always room for perfection. When teams promote diversity, equity and inclusion, they thrive more than the teams that stay narrow-minded and inclined to prejudice and bias. The main reason is that people from various cultures and backgrounds bring more creativity and talent towards the common good of any company or organization.

What does being a leader mean to you? 

Being a leader means to inspire and motivate others to be their best selves and guide them without judgment or pressure. Good leaders are not the ones who care about roles, they are the ones who care about goals. In my opinion, three main traits of a true leader are empathy, decision making and problem solving. 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Life gets much more exciting when we allow it to unfold in the way it is supposed to. I see myself learning more life lessons and helping people around me in any way I can. I believe that we rise by lifting others. 

The 2022 AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event will take place Friday, Aug. 26 at The Vie at Cescaphe. To learn more or purchase your ticket, click here.