Businesswoman Beatriz Hunter today runs one of the UK’s fastest growing translation companies,
betterlanguages.com.
But Beatriz, originally from Spain, has had to fight harder than most to get to the top.
She was born with a deformed left arm and had to endure cruel jibes and overcome prejudice to find success.
She was even forced to quit her first job – as an auxiliary nurse in a Madrid teaching hospital – after one of the senior doctors branded her an “eyesore”.
But Beatriz has had the last laugh. Today she and her husband Mike have a booming business with a network of around 150 translators.
Their customers include household names such as Mothercare, Weetabix and New Look.
Life has been quite a journey for Beatriz, a mum of two who now lives in Bingham, Notts.
“My father was one of General Franco’s bodyguards,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Franco didn’t approve of his match with my mother because one of her sisters had worked for the other side during the Spanish Civil War. Dad had to choose between my mother and Franco. Luckily for me he followed his heart and chose my mother.
“Many years later I was working as an auxiliary nurse in the hospital where Franco died. Spain was so divided at that time. As you moved around the hospital you would see people celebrating his death with champagne in one room, while in the next others huddled together and wept.”
Even as a young child Beatriz, now 52, knew she was different from her two brothers and one sister. She had been born with a congenital deformity; a bone was missing from her left arm. Today it appears much shorter than her right arm.
She said: “It was just one of those things. It had nothing to do with thalidomide or anything like that.
“It had a huge effect on me growing up, of course. The teenage years were particularly tough. I was bullied at school and was very unhappy there but I used to compensate by being the life and soul of the party.
“In Spain, even more than England, people judge others on their physical appearance. It is such a hot climate that people walk around with few clothes on. I can remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, ‘I can’t go out of the house looking like this’. But there was nothing I could do about it.”
Not surprisingly Beatriz regularly played truant from school to escape the bullies’ taunts. After she left with few qualifications to her name she began working as a nurse auxiliary at one of Madrid’s largest hospitals, La Paz.
She said: “I loved the job and enjoyed the work and the contact with patients. I was very popular there and people said I had a real gift for empathy.”
But her happiness was short-lived and her newly found confidence evaporated after a cruel remark from someone who should have known better.
She said: “One of the most eminent surgeons in the whole of Spain worked at La Paz and one day he came to the area of the hospital where I worked.
“I was taking some notes and he came over to me with his entourage in tow. He asked me about my arm and said he would like to examine me to see if there was anything he could do to help me.
“I very politely declined, telling him I had explored surgical options as a youngster and had decided against such intervention.
“He then said to me, ‘If you won’t let me help you, then you will have to get out of this hospital because you are an eyesore for the patients.’
“I was devastated. My confidence was already very low but after that I felt destroyed. I was so humiliated.”
Friends urged her not to quit but she felt unable to continue in the job she had loved so much.
She said: “I looked for another job but no one would give me work because of my appearance. It was a very unhappy time in my life.”
After a spell living with friends she moved back in with her parents and began doing voluntary work at a Christian rehab unit.
“I enjoyed the work and my ability to empathise came to the fore. I found a great strength through my Christian faith. I was able to move on.”
In January 1989 she came to Nottingham for a three month secondment to the Christian Centre on Talbot Street. She loved the city and the UK so much she decided to stay.
After marrying Mike in 1990, Beatriz took a degree and qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. She then began working as a freelance translator, and found there was much demand for her language skills.
But it was only after Mike was made redundant and decided to join his wife in business that
betterlanguages.com really took off.
Now the company has a network of around 150 linguists and provides translation services for household names including Mothercare, New Look and Weetabix. They have also done work for Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire County Councils.
Beatriz said: “Since Mike got involved we really haven’t looked back. I have had to fight all my life so it’s wonderful to be running our own successful business together.”
Mike, who holds an MBA from Nottingham Trent University, said: “I learnt Spanish after meeting Beatriz and became fluent when we lived together in Spain for four years.
“Betterlanguages.com Ltd. exists to help effective communication in any major world language. We translate documents, labels and packaging materials using translators and proofreaders from all over the world.
“The job’s very varied. One day we’ll be translating legal documents into Urdu. The next we’re translating a Thomas the Tank Engine lunch box into nine Nordic languages.”
Beatriz and Mike’s business has been nominated for the title of East Midlands Language provider of the Year at the UK Trade and Investment Awards on 23 November.
Beatriz added: “I have come a long way since I lost my nursing job because of my disability. Now we have a thriving web-based business and life couldn’t be better.”
