THE STORY OF OUR NAME
MEMRA
( /mˈɛmɹə/ )
Memra is an Aramaic term related to the Hebrew word, (אמר), which means word, decree, or speech; the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world.
Memra Language Services is a learning and analytics laboratory that brings linguistic research techniques into workplaces to improve outcomes across systems and teams.
Linguists who work for Memra use language analytics to deliver nuanced insights about any area of work directly linked to successful language-use: company culture, leadership development, sales implementation, diversity & inclusion, customer success, and change management.
What is linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Linguists study how language works as a system - both in the brain and out in the world. In an academic context, linguists conduct formal studies of speech sounds and gestures, grammatical structures, and meaning across the world’s 6,000+ languages. These formal studies have implications for all areas of work and life: whethaer it’s telling a joke, naming a baby, using voice recognition software, or improving workplace communication, linguistics touches everything we do, or, rather - *say*.
MEET OUR TEAM
Samantha Beaver, MA Applied English Linguistics
Founder/CEO
Samantha Beaver is a Linguist. She received her Master’s Degree in Applied English Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics, and Conversation Analysis are her areas of linguistic expertise, and her favorite topics to explore are language equity, language & gender, language learning, language & people management, and language & power. When she’s not doing linguistic work for other people, she is at home fostering the language development of her two young sons, Simon and Louis.
Jonathan Jibson, PhD English Language and Linguistics
Consulting Linguist, Teaching & Training
Jonathan Jibson is a linguist. He has lectured on phonetics, phonology, sociolinguistics, and writing. His primary research involves listening experiments with artificial vowels – testing how small a change listeners can detect before the vowel sounds different (or before the speaker sounds like they have a different dialect). He has also done work in dialectology, language attitudes, linguistic prescriptivism, and etymology. This academic background is bolstered by years of real-world experience as a copyeditor, for publications ranging from religious institutions to peer-reviewed journals to corporate training manuals.
Norah Goldfine, MS Computational Linguistics
Consulting Linguist; Software Development
Nora Goldfine is a linguist. She specializes in natural language processing, and thrives solving problems at the intersection of language and technology. Her background as a computer science educator has honed her ability to clearly communicate complex technical concepts. Nora supports and advances Memra's proprietary software.
Naga Sahiti Akondi, MS Business Analytics
Consulting Business Analyst
Naga Sahiti Akondi is an Analyst. She earned her Master of Science in Business Analytics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she developed a strong foundation in data analysis, project management, and data visualization. With expertise in advanced data analytics, economic development research, and optimization modeling, she is passionate about using data to drive impactful solutions. Her work often focuses on understanding and addressing economic impacts on local communities, evaluating performance metrics, and transforming complex data into actionable strategies.
