Yonara Anastacio Cubas

Christian, Engineer, Foodie, Journalist, Philanthropist, Photographer, Scientist, Student, Technologist, World traveler

Hello world! I’m Yonara Anastacio, an undergrad at Columbia University studying Computer Science and Public Health. “I am my language,” wrote Gloria Anzaldúa, a reminder that language is far more than a communication tool. It is identity, resistance, and memory. Language gave me access to knowledge I once thought was beyond my reach. As Gabriel García Márquez once said, “What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” For me, translation has always been about making knowledge memorable and meaningful to the communities that need it most. That’s what drew me to TED Translators. As a volunteer, I help make powerful ideas accessible to Spanish-speaking audiences, ensuring that information flows freely, not just to those who speak English, but to everyone. Whether I’m using AI or NLP to understand community sentiment, I always come back to the same question: Who is being left out of the conversation, and how can we bring them in? 📌I’m looking for new grad roles. If you or anyone is hiring, please let me know!

I’m passionate about language and sound because I experience them from many angles. As a teacher, a student, a mentor, and a computer scientist. Teaching and mentoring students has shown me how phonetics and sound can either open doors or create barriers to learning, while computer science gives me tools to study language with precision and creativity. I’m also deeply passionate about biology and animals (especially salamanders like axolotls). I could happily talk for hours about neoteny and regeneration, which has pulled me toward questions at the intersection of sound, life, and computation. Lately, this curiosity has evolved into a strong interest in computational genomics, where patterns, whether in DNA, language, or sound,tell stories about development, identity, and evolution.

Technology should not just speak, it should translate. True innovation only happens when data, language, and cultural context meet.

AI, Language translation, ML, NLP, Programming

I used to watch TED videos with my dad after school. I was 15, sitting beside him, listening to ideas that made the world feel bigger and more hopeful. At 17, I discovered that I could translate and transcribe for TED, and for my first translated talk, I gathered my whole family around the table so we could watch it together. I remember telling them how much it meant to me to give those ideas a new language and a wider reach. I began translating while applying to college, holding onto that sense of purpose during an uncertain time during the pandemic. Now, at 21, I understand that TED is more than a community to me. It is where my love for language, connection, and making knowledge accessible first felt real.

Something people don’t usually know about me is that I’m strong (literally). Beyond music and academics, I’m very good at barbell lifting and can move serious weights.