Our Live Captioners
“Reliable and accurate live captioning is vital to accessibility, and highly skilled steno writers are unmatched in every way when it comes to accuracy and content retention. It’s an ever-changing environment that can only be efficiently navigated with a human behind the wheel.”
Kimberly Shea, Owner
Kimberly is a founding member of Global Alliance and has spent a lifetime as an advocate and a voice for change. She believes the best live captioners are those who strive for excellence because they are fueled by the desire to make a difference.
“Steno is a rare skill, mastered by only one out of ten people who attempt it. When a stenotype writer makes the connection between that elusive accomplishment and the actual purpose of our accommodation, the people we serve and how it affects them every day, they experience something special, the gravity of our responsibility. When we realize that someone’s business, education, social interaction, general knowledge, or well-being relies on our skill, on our ability, on our commitment to them, that moment is the very thing that drives us to, on our own time, go the extra distance, immerse ourselves in an unfamiliar industry, subject matter, geographic region, culture, and even language, for our assignment so that we can be adequately prepared to caption the unscripted and unknown day in the life.” – Kimberly Shea
Our Team
Our team is comprised of highly skilled, certified steno writers capable of capturing the spoken word at high speeds with an average accuracy rate of 99%. We require a minimum of five years’ experience, a personally coded dictionary that covers the extensive word building capabilities necessary in order to cover a variety of jargon, including but not limited to technology, engineering, medical, and academia.
Kimberly Shea, CRC
Owner
@saidshea
Kimberly Shea is the owner of Breaking Barriers Captioning and a founding member and Chair Elect of the Global Alliance of Speech-to-Text Captioning. She has 27 years’ experience as a steno writer and currently has the NER Certified Speech-to-Text Provider (NCSP) and Certified Realtime Captioner (CRC) certifications. Additionally, she has held three certifications in court reporting, Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) certifications in the states of Texas and Washington.
She began her career at a high-profile trial analysis firm and had the opportunity to immerse herself in corporate litigation, specifically in the fields of aviation disasters, engineering, and the tech industry. She has resided, traveled, and reported in various regions of the U.S., gaining experience in a wide variety of subject matter and regional familiarity. Those experiences led to a career in global broadcast captioning and CART services. Her captioning of NASA events renewed her love for STEM, which led to her development of area specialties, including but not limited to tech, engineering, and academia.
Kimberly is dedicated to her profession and committed to the communities she serves. She serves as a board member for the Global Alliance of Speech-to-Text Captioning, participates in education and awareness campaigns, provides resources and information regarding quality captioning as an accessibility accommodation that supports Universal Design and ensures equal and effective access to communications.