Language Center Staff

Eric serves as a Project Manager for Interpretations at TLC. His role of project manager began in 2018.  Eric has both bachelor's and master's degrees in Intercultural Studies and loves to interact with and explore different cultures and languages.  Eric lived in China for almost three years and has had many opportunities to travel throughout the world.

Eileen has served as a translator with TLC since 2020. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in political science from George Washington University.

Maya was born and raised in Bulgaria, a country where knowing languages is a must, especially now that it is a member of the European Union. She holds a bachelor’s degree in pedagogy of the teaching of Bulgarian and English as a foreign language and a master’s degree in educational management from the University of Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria. Maya received an academic scholarship via the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus Programme to study in Spain at the University of Granada, Spain. The years she studied and lived in Spain as a student marked her life in a way that now she loves the Spanish peoples, cultures, and language as much as she loves her own. 

In her home country of Bulgaria, Maya taught Spanish and English to adults and children at a private language institute and performed a great deal of translation and interpretation work, some of which was for the Educational Department of the Spanish Embassy in Sofia. 

She has always loved her job as a teacher, and after moving to Nashville in 2007 to get married, her biggest hope was to continue to teach Spanish. Maya is happy to have been a Spanish instructor with the Tennessee Language Center (TLC) since then and to personally confirm what she had heard about the students and the teachers – they are the best! She looks forward to becoming part of your Spanish language learning journey, and she is excited about every single step of it!

After graduating from Auburn University and working several years as a legal assistant, a recommendation that she begin volunteering at World Relief as a mentor for a newly resettled family began her love of working with refugees.

In an effort to expand her teaching experience in hopes of working professionally as a refugee English teacher, she served as an Education and Community Development Specialist for the Peace Corps in the country of Georgia. There she worked at a public school, partnering with Georgian co-teachers to develop curriculum and teach K-12 English students. She also taught an advanced level English class for professional adults and a discussion course for government employees. She also worked with fellow Peace Corps volunteers to develop and implement a summer camp in a community of internally displaced survivors of war.

After returning to Nashville, she worked as an Education and Resettlement Intern at the Nashville International Center for Empowerment while earning her Teaching English as a Second Language Certificate from the Tennessee Language Center (formerly the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute.) Upon graduating with her TESL certificate, she began working as an English as a Second Language teacher for the ESL to Go program at TLC as well as the Center for Refugees & Immigrants of Tennessee.

After developing her teaching skills, she was offered a job as the Curriculum Coordinator of ESL to Go and has since been promoted to the Assistant Director of English Programs at TLC. She is currently also serving as a workgroup co-leader for GOAL Collective, a group of adult education providers working together to improve adult education access within Nashville. Erin also enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and exploring nature. 

Adrian McDaniel was born and raised in Middle Tennessee and has always loved all things international. She earned a bachelor’s in International Relations from Middle Tennessee State University and a masters in International Business from Southern New Hampshire University. Adrian is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and served in Belize for two years as an elementary education teacher trainer with the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Teacher Training (Caribbean CETT). She has over ten years of experience in global customer service operations and account management, including restaurant service equipment, automotive glass, international education program management and healthcare revenue cycle management. She enjoys traveling, journaling, reading, music and DIY crafts.

Missy has more than 25 years of marketing and communications experience, and leads marketing and communication initiatives for the Tennessee Language Center including advertising, public relations, brand identity, and community relations to support  TLC’s strategic goals at the local and state level.

Previously, she served as Communications Director at the nonprofit Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, where she supported fundraising and operations through marketing and communications for programs that served homeless children and families. She also worked for Vanderbilt University’s Public Affairs Department where she coordinated communications for the university’s multi-year greenhouse gas study as well as helping to develop the myVU intranet for employees.

She is a magna cum laude graduate of Maryville College and is pursuing a master's in strategic communications from the University of Tennessee.

Jenny was raised in Tennessee and felt deeply connected to the people around her and the need to help people within our community. She went to MTSU and received a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in Spanish. but felt drawn toward the immigrant and refugee population. Jenny began volunteering at a local Spanish community center and Nashville International Center for Empowerment, where she then heard about a position for Youth Education Coordinator. She grew her skills and understanding working for the immigrant and refugee population. Then she took the 150-hour Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) course and moved to the coordinator position at Tennessee Foreign Language Institute (TFLI). As other job positions opened, she applied for them and has become the director of English Programs overseeing the ESL and TESL programs.  

Jack Willey is the Coordinator of World Languages for the Tennessee Language Center (TLC). As an adult learner of Spanish and Portuguese, as well as a former Spanish teacher, he is passionate about supporting others across the state in their language and culture learning endeavors.

Prior to joining TLC, Jack founded the nonprofit Workers’ Dignity, where he supervised personnel across multiple languages, managed grant portfolios, and facilitated strategic development. A native of Flint, Michigan, Jack earned his bachelor's in Romance Languages at Wayne State University and master's in Spanish at Vanderbilt University.