CEO

Yamillet (Yami) Payano is a first-generation Afro-Latina. Currently she is developing the go-to-market strategy, fundraising efforts, and has written technical and business domain documentation for Sign-Speak. Her technical expertise spans a variety of domains, including data based statistical system and data science. Yami is passionate about Diversity and Inclusion, not just from the lens of race and gender but also from the lens of accessibility.

CPO

Nikolas Kelly is a Missouri native and is Deaf. ASL is naturally his first language. He is a graduate of RIT/NTID. During his time at RIT/NTID he led a program called No-Voice-Zone, a program designed to teach hearing students ASL to communicate with their Deaf counterparts. A co-founder of Sign-Speak, Nikolas is Chief Product Officer overseeing Sign-Speak’s product offerings. Nikolas has an emphasis to build with, not for, the Deaf community. He thrives in situations where diversity and inclusion are of paramount importance and encourages others to be themselves at work.

CTO

Nicholas Wilkins was first introduced to Deaf culture while studying for his degree at RIT. He fell in love with not only the language, but also the thriving and vibrant community. After obtaining a BS in Computational mathematics and MS in Computer Science, he went to further his career as a Software Engineer at Google for two years. Unsatisfied with Big-Tech, he decided to start Sign-Speak with Niko and Yami. He is passionate about using deep-tech to improve the equity of modern-day solutions.