MINNEAPOLIS — For months, Nic Zapko has been the silent observer, and in some ways, biggest communicator at Gov. Tim Walz's nearly daily briefings.
An ASL Interpreter, Nic says she is just pleased to be able to communicate to the thousands of Minnesotan like her whose first language is American Sign Language.
"I feel somewhat overwhelmed. This is all so unexpected because I was just showing up to work and I certainly didn't expect to go viral. So I am touched, I am inspired and I am inspired that they are inspired."
Nic's animated delivery is getting noticed, from fans on Twitter to one social media user suggesting yeah, she should win an Emmy for this.
"The tweets, the Facebook messages, I do read them all," Nic, who is deaf said through interpreter Patty McCutcheon.
Nic was born deaf and encouraged early and often by her mother, who died when she was just 13 years old, to always try and not give up when society wasn't making information available to her.
In the 1970s, it was far more rare to see an interpreter like Nic at major news events.
She knows that, and giving the deaf and hard of hearing community access to information in ASL in real time, is her passion.
"For my career I do want to continue to do more interpreting and become more involved in shaking up the whole discussion around access, that’s my goal."
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