Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Carmelo learned sign language at 11 y/o through the deaf community, and had his first encounter as interpreter during his high school years. After graduating of HS in 1997, he was invited to continue more professional interpreting training at SOS (Servicios Orientados al Sordo, Inc) a non profit organization in PR. During this time he also attend college with the goal of pursuing a degree in Special Ed at University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, while working as a professional sign language interpreter all over the island. Being the call to be an interpreter stronger than his studies, he moved to Florida in 2008, where he lived and worked for 15 years as a trilingual sign language interpreter, acquiring his RID-NIC and his Texas BEI Trilingual Advance certifications in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Currently he and his long life partner lives in Lancaster PA where he continues working as a ASL/English/Spanish (trilingual) interpreter and also as the Language Justice Coordinator for the Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project a project of The Transgender Law Center.