About Us

Amber Gallup, Director, Essential Language

Essential Language is dedicated to improving immigrants' lives and workplace effectiveness through job-specific language training. We have helped numerous organizations bridge the language gap.

Amber Gallup, Director, is an educator with years of practical experience in language training and program development. A specialist in both Spanish and ESL, she has worked and traveled widely in Latin America. This experience brings not only Spanish fluency, but also cultural awareness to the services she provides. In addition, her work as a community organizer and labor activist has enabled her to provide union-oriented language services within the diverse labor community.

Prior to founding Essential Language, Amber was an adjunct faculty member in Spanish at Indiana University, and taught both ESL and Spanish for adults in numerous schools in Indiana, Washington, D.C., and Mexico. She also served as National Organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops, where she had the opportunity to work closely with unions on several labor solidarity projects.

Amber holds a Masters Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Applied Linguistics, and a Masters in Spanish Linguistics, both from Indiana University. She is a member of the United Association of Labor Educators (UALE), the national professional organization TESOL, and its Washington D.C. area affiliate, WATESOL.