Teresa Toronjo, Senior Manager of Localization and Internationalization at Malt, joins Host María Roa for a thoughtful and highly practical conversation about localization strategy, AI adoption, stakeholder engagement, and the evolving role of human expertise in global organizations.
With more than a decade of experience across Europe and Southeast Asia, Teresa has built localization workflows for global brands including Workday and Malt. In this episode, she shares firsthand insights into scaling localization programs, balancing automation with quality, and ensuring localization teams remain influential across organizations during a period of massive industry transformation.
Localization Is Not About Saving Money
One of the strongest themes in the conversation was Teresa’s perspective on efficiency and AI. While many organizations focus purely on cost reduction, Teresa explained that the real value lies in what teams can do with the time and resources AI helps unlock.
At Malt, the localization team experienced a 99% increase in content volume while simultaneously reducing costs by 7%. But Teresa made it clear that success is not simply about spending less.
Instead, the gains allowed the team to shift human expertise toward high-impact projects where nuance, creativity, and brand voice matter most.
She highlighted the example of the “Malt Tech Trends 2026” report, where human linguists worked across every asset connected to the campaign, from reports and landing pages to client emails and supporting content. Rather than replacing people, automation allowed the team to focus human effort where it delivers the greatest strategic value.
As Teresa explained, localization today is increasingly about building intelligent hybrid workflows that combine automation with human expertise in the right places.
AI Is Changing Localization, But Human Judgment Still Matters
The discussion explored the growing pressure on organizations to adopt AI quickly while maintaining quality and trust. Teresa described the challenge of simultaneously advocating for AI in some workflows while firmly defending human involvement in others. For lower-risk content, automation can dramatically improve speed and scalability. But for highly visible, high-impact content, human reviewers remain essential.
She emphasized that responsible AI adoption is not about choosing between humans and machines. It is about deciding where AI creates value, where human oversight is required, and how organizations can remain flexible enough to adapt when strategies need adjustment.
Importantly, Teresa also addressed the environmental and operational realities of AI adoption. AI may feel “free” to many organizations, but in reality, it comes with financial, infrastructure, and environmental costs. That means localization leaders must think carefully about building scalable systems that are sustainable long-term.
Her perspective was refreshingly practical:
- Test new approaches carefully
- Make decisions based on available data
- Stay flexible enough to reverse course if necessary
- Focus on measurable business outcomes rather than hype
Why Localization Teams Must Earn Strategic Influence
Another standout topic was Teresa’s perspective on visibility and stakeholder engagement.
She argued that one of the most meaningful measures of success in localization is not a dashboard metric at all. Instead, it is whether stakeholders invite localization into conversations before decisions are finalized.
For Teresa, true organizational influence happens when product, legal, marketing, or design teams proactively ask localization for input during strategic planning rather than after implementation begins.
Over time, her work at Malt helped embed localization into company processes. Designers now proactively consider localization requirements. Teams ask about internationalization before launching new features. Legal teams consult localization when shaping compliance decisions.
This shift did not happen overnight.
Teresa explained that localization professionals often struggle with visibility because many people in the industry are naturally process-oriented rather than self-promotional. Yet she stressed that localization leaders must learn to communicate their value clearly and confidently when major wins occur.
As she noted during the episode, if localization professionals do not claim space at the table themselves, nobody else will create it for them.
Scaling Localization Is About Readiness, Not Just Growth
Teresa also challenged the common understanding of “scaling.”
Many organizations associate scaling localization with simply adding more languages or entering more markets. But Teresa believes true scalability is about building systems that are ready for future expansion.
Drawing from her experience across Southeast Asia, Europe, and SaaS environments, she explained that every region introduces different operational challenges:
- Southeast Asia brings enormous linguistic diversity
- Europe introduces legal and compliance complexity
- SaaS environments demand continuous speed and agility
To succeed globally, organizations need localization systems capable of adapting quickly while maintaining consistency and quality.
For Teresa, scalable localization means:
- Building reusable infrastructure
- Designing flexible workflows
- Preparing systems for rapid market expansion
- Ensuring localization is integrated into product and operational thinking from the beginning
Her experience leading Malt’s internationalization marketplace initiative demonstrated how globalization and localization must work together strategically rather than operating as isolated functions.
Community, Mentorship, and Staying Human
The episode closed with a deeply personal reflection on the future of the localization industry.
Teresa spoke openly about the uncertainty many professionals currently face as AI reshapes workflows and job markets become increasingly competitive. Despite these changes, she emphasized the importance of preserving the supportive and collaborative culture that has long defined the localization community.
She credited mentorship programs, including those offered by Women in Localization, as transformative for her professional development. Mentorship helped her navigate visibility challenges, leadership responsibilities, and major strategic initiatives.
For Teresa, participating in conferences, teaching, podcasts, and industry discussions is not separate from her day job. It is part of remaining connected to a rapidly evolving industry and continuously learning from peers across the globe.
Her final message was both timely and powerful:
As technology continues evolving, the most important decision professionals make every day is how they treat each other through uncertainty and change.
The key takeaway from this episode is clear: the future of localization is not simply about automation or scale. It is about building thoughtful systems, empowering people, and ensuring that global experiences remain human-centered no matter how advanced the technology becomes.