Mariella Satow - listening to her intuition
Our society is divided into two: useful / not useful.
Since we start expressing our pure desires, we are taught that what is not logically useful is not worthy of pursuit.
It has been a few months since I noticed a desire rise in me. I already speak 4 languages, most of which I was forced to study because those were the ones my school offered (English, French and German - the latter I refused to pursue after my studies because I simply did not resonate with it). I realised I desired to learn Korean. Why? What for? It will take you many years to master for you to then use it… and use it how? Do you want to be an interpreter? Do you want to work for a Korean multinational? Do these questions sound familiar to you? If they do it’s because they get encapsulated into our thinking, whereas the root of curiosity gets extirpated and what if? doesn’t comprise our vocabulary anymore.
Mariella Satow, on the contrary, followed her curiosity and despite being fully able to hear she went on to study sign language.
Tanya: How did the decision to study sign language come about?
Mariella Satow: My kind of “sign language origin story” is when I was in a supermarket when I was around 10 years old and I asked a man where something in the store was. He stood up and replied by pointing to a pin that said I am deaf. That was it, we just couldn’t communicate. And this episode just has been ingrained into my brain ever since. I taught myself the alphabet a couple of weeks later and then started to learn officially in March 2020 during the first lockdown.
Tanya: Seven years passed since that first encounter. The right moment came when your GCSE exams were cancelled (for those unfamiliar with it, it's the General Certificate of Secondary Education) and you had big chunks of time, so you dedicated yourself to sign language. From studying sign language out of curiosity, you got the idea to create SignUp. How did that happen? (SignUp is a free-of-charge Google Chrome Extension that provides ASL captioning over Disney+ videos, as described on the website).
Mariella Satow: I had no idea this was what I would do with it.
Normally when I learn languages - like I’m doing Spanish A-level, I watch a TV show in that language or with subtitles. And there are so few TV shows with ASL in them and no subtitles. So I thought that would be a good idea, I started doing it just for me at the beginning. Then I started doing online polling, like on Facebook groups, and I realised that deaf people could benefit as well. I haven’t realised but there are a couple of different reasons why sign language is sometimes the only language, deaf children have a slightly delayed reading age, so there’s a longer time that sign is needed and also people like me who are just learning could benefit. So suddenly it became something bigger than just for myself. And it could help a lot of people.
Tanya Gervasi: What is SignUp Captions at the moment? And are you doing it alone?
Mariella Satow: So far it has been a non-profit, and all the money has been donated or I’ve earned it doing dog-walking jobs or babysitting. We’re technically nothing, we’re not a charity nor a corporation. I have to figure it out.
I’m running it alone. I have a developer based in India to do all the coding and technology (Softpulse Infotech), and I have two main interpreters who do the videos- they’re volunteering. I do social media, marketing, and all the admin.
Tanya: What was the reaction of the people around you?
Mariella Satow: I think my family is just so shocked whenever a big company recognises me. I think it was my grandma who told me about the BBC article and she was just so shocked. It’s been cool, I think the press has been shocking to them. And they’ve all been so supportive. Also, they started to get more involved with SignUp which is nice. My sister is helping with social media posts and marketing, which is quite fun.
Tanya: How are you living all this that is happening to you? What did you learn from the deaf community?
Mariella Satow: It’s very surreal. I can’t quite believe the traction it’s gotten. And I sort of thought ‘ok I’m doing this for me and then a couple dozen other people might use it’, and now 1000s of people have seen it and it’s very crazy to me. I don’t think I’ve quite realised what has happened. I think it’s harder when you are involved in the project rather than looking at it. But it taught me a lot of skills like social media, polls, and cold calling. As a student, you don’t usually get the opportunity to learn these things so I feel very lucky that I’ve gotten the chance to learn so many things, especially from the deaf community.
The main thing was realising how needed SignUp Captions was. I guess I thought captions are on everything now and that was enough, but I didn’t realise that sign language captions would be that much more helpful for people. I also learned what the daily challenges for deaf people are especially in Covid, having to wear masks. My perception of the challenges changed, I think they were a bit outdated before whereas they’re up-to-date now and it’s been amazing collaborating for SignUp Captions with them.
Tanya: I do wish for you - if this is what you desire - that this becomes your company. If it were your company, what would you envision for it?
Mariella Satow: I think the next step right now is a BSL version for the UK, to start with. And then I would just want to expand to as many places as possible. There’s a lot of interest in Australia and Brazil, those will be the next places. Getting all the 300 sign languages would be cool. I guess also more movies, now we have around a dozen. Getting all the movies on Disney+, then moving onto Netflix and Hulu. So far only PBS approached me to put SignUp Captions on their PBS Kids website.
Tanya: Who is Mariella in your words?
Mariella Satow: I think I’ve always been driven and ambitious but I haven’t done anything this meaningful with it until now. I’m definitely an empath. I take on a lot, which is a good and a bad thing. My parents say I’m really messy. I can be chaotic, and since we launched I’ve definitely been sleep-deprived.
Tanya: What lights you up?
Mariella Satow: I’d say academically, my passion is English literature. And I’m applying to Universities for English literature. I especially love studying poetry. And I love creative writing.
Outside of school, my passion is rescue dogs. I volunteer at a shelter nearby. We are fostering a rescue dog at the moment who was going to stay two weeks and she’s been here 15 months now. We love her, her name is Daisy. I’m a dog lover, animal lover and nature lover in general.
At the time of this interview, Mariella lives in New York with her parents Susanne and Robert, and her younger sister Venetia. She does remote schooling at a UK boarding school.
Two years later, SignUp Captions is revolutionizing media accessibility for the Deaf community considering that 4 in 5 children who are deaf have also reading difficulties so written captions are non-effective. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that Mariella Satow sits at the head of a company that is nothing short of Disney and Netflix… And her approach is truly revolutionary: SignUp Captions extension is free!
