In the Past Year I Learned a New Phrase
I’ve been a full time, professional voice over actor for quite a while now, but in the past year I started hearing for the first time a new term: imposter syndrome. I started hearing it on social media, on Clubhouse, and at conferences too. I found it surprising because in all my years in VO, I had never heard any other talents speak to this before. What I have learned is that this term refers to the feeling that one does not actually belong, or is not what they claim to be and is, instead, an imposter. Suddenly, in the past year, I am hearing about others feeling this way frequently. It is coming up often in conversation. Perhaps it is because many turned to voice over during covid. Perhaps it is because some start working or trying to work before they are actually prepared. For a multitude of reasons, suddenly I am hearing this all over the place. If you are interested in being a voice over actor, and you really want to succeed and do NOT want to feel like an imposter, perhaps consider my experience, as this has never been an issue for me.
Lots of Training
When I started working in voice over, really working, it was after no less than a year of working at getting into voiceover. In that 
year, I worked with 4 coaches and took advanced acting and improv at a local theater. I spent sic to eight hours A DAY studying and working on my craft. I worked on scripts. I practiced characters. I recorded. I edited. I submitted to my coaches. I listened back to my assignments. I did research and followed prominent voice actors to see what they were booking. I took multiple private lessons each week. I was in group classes with GVAA. I had practice partners. I met with those partners. I did homework for those partners too and I took each and every assignment so seriously, as if my life depended on it. So when I say I had lots of training, that is just when I started out. Since then I have continued to have lots of coaching. Have coaching is the foundation of all we do. I think by the time my website launched, I was so ready to work that it never occurred to me that I was not prepared to serve my clients.
Long Days
Both as a student of voice over and now as a professional, I have always put in extremely long days. From morning to night, often going back into my booth after dinner, my days are long and rigorous. Sometimes new talents ask me when they will start booking. They tell me they have submitted 50 auditions. I try to keep a straight face. I typically submit more than 30 auditions in a day, even now, so 50 auditions is in no way impressive to me. I have often heard of the rule of 10. I believe that Gaby Nistico has even made a video about it. If you work 10 hours a day more than 10 months a year for 10 years that is when you start making six figures… Well, I believe there is something to this. I have always had the luxury of being in voice over “full-time.” Well, let’s flesh this out. What exactly does “full-time mean? To me, it means I maintain standard business hours and I am in my booth al day every day to serve my clients. The more you are available and the more you record and submit, the more legitimate your business is.
Sure of My Identity
When my business launched, in audition to lots of coaching and sweat equity under my belt, my first website helped establish my identity. I never had doubts about my identity as a professional. I had been told by every coach I ever worked with that even at the start of my career, I should introduce myself as a professional. I did so with confidence. As I get clients under my belt and had testimonials, I felt more proud of what I was building, but it never came from a place of doubt. I was certain that I was building a great service business that would help my clients get what they need.
Wholly Committed
Another reason I think I never suffered from this imposter syndrome is that I was entirely committed from day 1. Basically, I bet the house on it. I built a high-end studio. I had an expensive microphone. I was working full time. It was never an option for it to not work. Success was my only possible outcome. It never occurred to me that I was not a voice actor. I set out to live this life and I did. Period. Sometimes we have choices in this world, but as a working mom, failure was not an outcome I was willing to explore. I only had one potential outcome for myself and my children, and that was for the business to take off.
When I started my voice over business years ago I had headshots done for my website. While a long time ago people used to say that voice actors did not need to show their face, as the VO industry has continued to evolve and we, as talents, now have to bring in the bulk of our own work, it is on us to run our business like a business. If we want our clients to connect with us, having current pictures is a must. So, about a year back, I was presenting at an online eLearning conference and I was super excited. When they asked for my head shot, I became for cognizant of the fact that the photo no longer resembled me. I was thinner, my hair was shorter, I always wear glasses… the list went on. I decided to take new photos and update them. While my old headshots had been done by a professional, I took the new ones in my booth with an iphone. I loved them and was thrilled.
Having studio dogs is a luxury. As a working mom, I have blogged about this before, but I never knew if I would be able to have children. When I was 22 and I got my first Cavalier King Charles Spaniel of blessed memory, I was not sure if this fur baby would be my only child. While I have been blessed with human children too, they never changed the status of my dogs, who have meant the world to me. My dogs have been there for me and by my side on my best and worst days. For my greatest celebrations and for my worst sorrow. I believe that Barclay, Violet, and Daisy understand and connect with me in a unique and special way, and having them in my life is as much a dream come true as my professional voice over career is. I very much view having these precious fur babies by my side in my home studio as a luxury. Everything about my career, from my studio set up to being able to be present for my children is icing on the cake to being able to live the dream of life as a full-time voiceover actor. If you are thinking of getting a studio dog, I urge you to move forward without hesitation. If you are thinking about it, let me share the traits that have made my dogs ideal to be in the studio daily and give you some
Violet has always been a wonderful studio dog. Violet is a Blenheim cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Her temperament is calm, quiet, and she is eager to please. She rarely barks and sleeps a lot. Despite her angelic personality, there are several challenges to having this love muffing in the booth. When Violet sleeps, she often snores. Despite her tiny size of only 15 lbs, her snore sounds like a local train coming through town. The next challenge is that Violet, who was bred to be a lap dog, very much wants to sit on my lap. While she will sometimes settle down and snuggle with her sister, she will more often beg to be on my lap. Imagine that I am doing a long form narration or eLearning project and she is on my lab. If she exhales or shakes and her collar rattles, the mic will pic this up. While Violet is pretty close to being perfect, there are some hiccups sometimes and as human as she seems she still has no idea that I am doing actual work or that she can interrupt it.
working while my family is outside enjoying a beautiful day together. I never feel like I am missing out because I have very specific goals and I am on a mission. Often having fun and reaching one’s goals are mutually exclusive. That brings me to my current conflict, I am a mom of twins, and my twins are rising seniors in high school. College visits are not only an essential part of the admissions process, but my twins have unique interests, so they are looking at entirely different schools. At the moment, all of my values as a parent and goals as a solopreneur are being put to the test: am I steady enough to juggle everything and be there for my kids while continuing to fuel my business? I have felt tremendous pressure, and been having a constant mental struggle, until our weekly Clubhouse today.
is an on-going course that you can still take! Since then, I have followed Jonathan and continued to learn from him regularly on social media. I went to school for Political Science and History, so there was a major gap in my marketing knowledge. I studied with Jonathan to fill said gap. Anyway, the Clubhouse is meant to help others in the community, but this one hour with Jonathan left me feeling so re-inspired. It reminded me
So if you asked me when I got into voice over what I dreamt of doing, I would have told you that “I want to be a Disney princess,”or “I hope to book a target commercial.” Never did I utter the words, “I want to do radio imaging.” Why? Because I had no idea that this genre of voice over even existed, or what it meant to be a female radio imaging voice for a station. I actually attended a GVAA webinar that J. Michael Collins did on radio imaging and a light bulb went off in my head. All of this energy, enthusiasm, and passion that I was constantly having to tone down for my conversational commercial voice over reads was what made me perfect for radio imaging! That enthusiasm was the essential ingredient for station liners, stingers, promos… anything necessary in imaging! 
The team at OneVoice put together an all-star panel for Radio Imaging. I am elated to be on stage with these folks. In addition to me, the others include Randy Thomas, Joe Cipriano, AJ McKay, Paul Cartwright, and Brent Williams. I have to say, to be up there with Randy blows my mind a little. When J. Michael and AJ did my first multi-format imaging demo back in 2017, and I asked how to get started in radio imaging, JMC connected me with Randy. She suggested that I fly out to LA for her VO Mastery conference, which turned out to be amazing. Since then, she has been a mentor to me. While there, I took a master class with Joe Cipriano in promos. It was incredible. I had been a working pro for quite some time at that point, but was new to radio imaging. To be on a stage with them means so much. If you don’t know, in addition to voicing countless radio stations around the country, Randy has announced the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and the Tonys! Joe Cipriano is a man who typically needs no introduction, but just in case you’ve been locked in a broom closet, he has been the voice of Fox and CBS for over 25 years.
When I first looked at this line up, I was ecstatic, then I got nervous. Then I realized the very reason I was nervous is why I need to be on the panel. You see, unlike people like Randy and AJ, I did not work into radio imaging because of a background in radio or work as a DJ. I know lots of brilliant talents… Issa Lopez, Chad Ericson, Josh Goodman, Jeff Berlin… who all started as DJs and got into imaging. I am different. I came to voice over in my mid-thirties. I have always booked a lot of commercials. I love doing commercials. I have a ton of energy, and I needed to find what else was in that category. I love working with my radio stations for imaging. From CHR, to Christian, to Oldies to Adult Hits, I am happy in many formats. But you can’t just record a demo and hope that the universe sends you work. Having work in imaging requires consistent, daily follow up. It takes commitment and hard work. It takes determination. Talent and the ability to voice the liners is only a small part of booking imaging work, especially for those of us not from Radio. So I am on this panel to talk about how a determined, hardworking, focused, ambitious voice actor built a solid radio imaging business all on her own.
Ok, after a very enjoyable time sheltering in place with my family during the pandemic, if you asked this working mom where the first place I’d be flying to would be, I would not have guessed Dallas, TX. So, why, when we can finally go anywhere, am I using my coveted Amex points to travel in style to Dallas (not that there is anything wrong with Dallas, but we can all agree it ain’t Paris.)? Well, J. Michael Collins and his mazing team are hosting the 
If I could shout it from the roof tops, I would. I would not be where I am today without my VO Powerhouse as we call ourselves. My beloved accountability group includes me, Diana Birdsall, Kim Handysides, Michelle Blenker, and Shelley Avellino. In our panel called “Build a Badass VO Career With a Powerhouse Accountability Group,” we will help you consider why you need one and how to create one that will help your career the way our accountability group has helped ours. I don’t know where I would be without these amazing women who life me up, inspire me, and have helped me be my best self every day. Sitting on a conference panel with them is an honor and a dream come true and you can find us on Saturday, August 28th at 3:50 PM in Room 2.
I am really excited to be a part of this amazing panel! First of all, to share a stage with Randy Thomas, Joe Cipriano, AJ McKay (who by the way did my main Radio Imaging demo), Brent Williams, and Scott Cartwright is like a dream come true. My path as a female radio imaging voice was different than most. I did not come to radio imaging from a career in radio. Rather, I learned about it from one of J. Michael Collins’ webinars and fell in love! Because of the energy and the vibe, this genre is perfect for me. I look forward to talking about the ups and downs of my journey and how I’ve worked hard to grow the radio imaging side of my business over the years. When I look at the other panelists, I know that my path into imaging was different than theirs. While I may not be as well-known or famous in the industry as they are, I believe I offer the perspective on how a regular professional voice talent can build an imaging career. This panel is Saturday, August 28th, at 5:30 in Room 1.
As part of the joy of coming to One Voice USA, my demo partner Dave Scott ( of All Systems Go AV) and I really want to give something back to the voice over community. Dave and I will both be attending the conference in person, and we will give out postcards with the demo giveaway rules at One Voice. If you are a working, professional voice actor, and you take a picture with either one of us or both of us and post it on instagram and tag the conference and both of us, you will be eligible for a free video demo! It can be EITHER a commercial demo OR a narration demo, and it includes both a video version, an MP3 version, the planning session, and the necessary prep sessions! After a year in, we are very excited to meet more of the community and we thought this video demo giveaway is an awesome way to celebrate our coming back together!
