Reasons to Feel Enthusiastic
Some Mondays it can be easier to get into the groove than others, right? But today, just back from World Wide Radio Summit 2019, I am feeling about as motivated and enthusiastic about my work as a gal can feel. 
This is in large part the consequence of a panel that my friend, fellow voice talent, and Radio Imaging trailblazer Kelly Doherty AKA “K3” ran. There were hundreds of people from around the world, from Europe, South Africa, all over the US, and Canada, and all week everyone waited for Kelly’s panel. The energy in the room was amazing. You could feel the joy, the love, the pride, and the creative power. For the women in the audience, there was another element though. Kelly was running the show. Not that this is anything new for our beloved K3 as she has voiced the top stations around the country for more than a decade, but here, at this industry event, she was setting the standard and guiding what Radio Industry Imaging protocol was for everyone. So when she asked her highly selective panel of guests if a female voice can be the main voice of a station, Kelly’s question was met with a resounding “YES”!!
There were two sessions specifically targeting radio imaging at WWRS2019. K3 included several other amazing women as panelists, among them Melissa Thom, Issa Lopez, and Ashley Cavalier. These women, unique, bright, and talented share an enthusiasm and passion for our industry. They are also all incredible talented. So I was incredible proud not just to be their to learn from them but to feel that they were representing us. And to clarify the “us” is both the women who are in imaging and at the conference, and those of us who plug away daily in our booths to contribute to an industry that we adore. To be sitting in the audience amongst power houses like Taylor Kaye, Rachel McGrath, Amanda Madi, Heather Walters, Heather Foster, Nicole Britton, Jenn Sweeney, Roberta Solomon… I could keep going but our presence fueled the message of the panel. It used to be they our voices were only used to compliment the mail voice on any given format. Now, as women we have an opportunity to take the lead. So, it is apparent that audiences across genres trust female voices and our moment to shine has come.
Trusting Female Voiceover Actors
While I could go on and on about my radio imaging work this morning because I just got back from this amazing conference, in truth I am super enthusiastic about my voiceover work across genres. I settle in to a commercial read or a telephony project with just as much passion. I try to always consider who I am speaking to and why my client need my voice. According to the Daily Mail, “two studies have revealed that both men and women preferred female voices – which were found to be ‘warmer’ and ‘understanding’.” While I am often asked to be upbeat and conversational, I know that in essence the folks casting me want the listener to connect, and that connection will only happen if the read is believable and the listener trusts the voice they hear.
Apparently, even in the growing world of AI, the shift to women voices is a huge trend! Have you noticed that Siri, Alexa, and often your GPS all sound like women? In an interview of Amazon executives in PC Mag, they were asked why they often use women are for AI voices and Amazon explained “We tested many voices with our internal beta program and customers before launching and this voice tested best,” an Amazon spokesperson told PCMag. “However, for our objectives—building a helpful, supportive, trustworthy assistant—a female voice was the stronger choice,” according to Mr. Redmond. So, it is not only in radio imaging that more doors are opening for women.
Correlation Between Women In VO and Women in Workforce
As the trends for hiring women in voiceover start to shift in our favor in recent years, which I can assure you was not the case when I entered the industry years ago, I can’t help but wonder if this is directly related to changes in the work force in the United States in general. I found some hard facts that lead me to believe that it is. According to WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council):
- As of 2018, there are 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. Compare that to 1972, when there were only 402,000 women-owned businesses, representing 4.6 percent of all firms.
- Women own 4 out of every 10 businesses in the U.S.
- Industries with the highest growth rates in terms of number of women-owned businesses include utilities (151% growth), other services (126%), construction (94%), accommodations and food services (85%), and administrative, support and waste management services (70%).
So it is within this setting that women in voiceover have begun to sparkle. And my hope is that as women entrepreneurs continue to expand exponentially, so will their confidence in the women of voiceover!
If a spec for a voiceover casting asks for a millennial, conversational voice, they really want you to sound like you are in an intimate conversation. To sound like you are talking to a friend should be pretty natural, right? I often prompt myself by saying,“So, Julie…” or “So, Judy” or “So, Liz.” You get the idea, and the person I imagine myself talking to very much depends on the copy I am reading. This can work across genres for commercials, youtube bumpers, narrations and so on.
Sometimes you realize from the start of a project that you need to hire a professional voiceover actor. But other times, the voiceover is an after thought and much of the budget for a project is almost gone. Then the production team realizes that they need a voiceover talent. They scramble to find someone who is willing to work within their meager budget. They may have very advanced technology, spent a ton on instructional design or graphics, but now this very essential element is overlooked! Let me flesh out why it is better to go back to your client and re-budget for voiceover than to look for a cheap voiceover actor. You will never be happy if you hire a low budget talent!
Our demos are our calling cards. There are trends in demos to be sure. For example, right now our first spot is supposed to be short. We are trying to show a change in emotion. Regardless of genre, the demos show case a variety of reads. This is true across the board. In voiceover, different demo producers are sought after depending on the genre. They typically charge well over $1800 per demo. Again, in order to thrive in voiceover, we all have multiple demos. So, if we are willing to invest that much money in ourselves, we need to book jobs that will enable us to build a sustainable income. We are not looking for a race to the bottom.
So, we began searching on line, and learned that Catherine de Medici, the Italian Queen of France, brought Macaroons to France! She also brought the fork, cigarettes, and the side saddle, along with numerous other significant cultural contributions, but this is not about the Medici Queen, it’s about my sweet and smart daughter Emma pursuing her passions. Once we focussed on a subject that Emma loved and cared about, the term paper became a joy and something she was happy and proud to work on.
Before I had my kids I taught Middle and Upper School History at an all girls school in New York City. The thought of commuting now and being so far from my kids makes my stomach turn. I want to be the one who is here when they are home sick. I want to attend the school science fair and parent teacher conferences. I want to pick them up in the afternoon and hear all about their day. I can still work an 8 hour day and do all of these things. One of the benefits of being a solopreneur is that I create and manage my schedule. I lose no time commuting and my studio life is a delight. My studio dog Violet is by my side every minute and she is a love. Her presence is calming and fuels my joy.
While I am preoccupied with my voiceover work, all of my tasks as a wife and mom sit. When my sister and I were little we loved the old fable The Elves and the Shoemaker. Oh how I wish there were elves that would sneak into my house to tidy up and do the laundry or the dishes! I find tasks like cooking dinner and preparing lunch for the kids to be the most challenging because I try so hard to make our food healthy and well-balanced and it is hard to do that quickly and last minute. If I were not spending my day doing what I love, it would be quite frustrating to feel so challenged all the time.
As a small-business owner and professional voiceover actor, people in my family and in truth random acquaintances alike are always making “helpful”suggestions about potential clients I should pursue. So at brunch my dad said, in his heavy Philly accent, “Hey Laur, I was thinking. It would be really great if you could do a car commercial for Mercedes.” Really dad? I am not a sarcastic person by nature, I am pretty much all rainbows and lollypops. But did he really think it never occurred to me that doing a television or radio commercial for a luxury brand like Mercedes would be a dream come true? Or that I did not already have such ambitions? There is only one way to make such voiceover dreams come true: to pursue them with all the ambition I have in me.
