More Than the Viral Moment: The Business of ASL Interpreting
The Breakfast Club
The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 14.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
This week on The Latest with Loren LoRosa, Loren sits down with nationally certified ASL interpreter, accessibility advocate, and entrepreneur Cheyenne Atkins for a conversation that goes far beyond the viral clips from Essence Festival.
Cheyenne shares her journey into the profession, why Black ASL interpreters are still underrepresented, and what it really takes to interpret concerts, festivals, and live events. From translating hip-hop lyrics in real time to explaining the teamwork behind those unforgettable viral performances, she gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look at a career many people don't fully understand.
The conversation also explores accessibility, cultural representation, pay equity, mentorship, and why creating inclusive experiences for the Deaf community is about much more than checking a box.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:06.4 | I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. |
| 0:10.0 | You know if you're going to lie about that, right? |
| 0:12.2 | Lauren came in hot. |
| 0:14.2 | Hey, y'all, what's up? |
| 0:15.0 | It's Lauren LaRosa, and this is another episode of the latest with Lauren LaRosa. |
| 0:19.8 | This is your daily dig on all things, pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations |
| 0:24.9 | that shake the room, baby. |
| 0:27.0 | So today we are about to get into a conversation that I know is going to shake the room |
| 0:32.3 | for sure. |
| 0:33.6 | I'm going to move the brown girl grinding pillow a little bit more in the screen because this is about to be a real brown girl grinding conversation here. |
| 0:40.7 | This is about to be a real brown girl grinding conversation here because joining me, I have a ASL interpreter. |
| 0:49.4 | Her name is Cheyenne Atkins and you guys may have seen her in some of her work and work like hers because |
| 0:55.7 | recently during the Essence Festival, we talked about it here on the podcast as well too. |
| 0:59.5 | There were a group of black women ASL interpreters who went so viral during the Essence Festival |
| 1:04.3 | for interpreting the concert space of the festival and just how they were doing it, going |
| 1:09.9 | off, having a good time |
| 1:11.0 | and doing what, you know, black people do, just bringing joy to everything that we do and everything |
| 1:14.7 | that we touch. So we're going to get into that conversation and the conversation overall about |
| 1:19.0 | being an ASL interpreter, those viral moments we see online when they go viral for various things |
| 1:25.4 | tied to celebrity interaction and interpretation, |
... |
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