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Voice Coaches Radio – #665 – Charlene Will Tell Ya, “Read The Reviews!”
Voice coaches radio, everything voiceover. Welcome to a brand new episode of Voice Coaches Radio. My name is Marissa. And, uh, another week upon us brings us another former student and somebody who is, you know, getting ready to, to dive into the wonderful crazy world that is voiceover as we. Start to, to wrap up 2024, which is crazy.
Um, but, uh, Charlene, welcome first of all to the, to, to the lovely podcast. Um, but how are, how are you feeling today in this moment right now, just tell me I. Well, Marissa, first of all, I wanna thank you so much for having me. Um, I'm very excited to be here. I have a little nervousness that I'm super excited to be here.
Um, I sometimes feel like when I'm having a conversation, I get lost and don't always. Say everything that my mind wants to say. So I'm just trying to stay present here with you in this conversation that, that's called adult, A DHD. I have that too. It's fine. Uh, um, but no, I, I, Hey, first of all, I will tell you no need to ever be nervous with me because I am ridiculous.
Um, and anybody can tell you that. But, um. You know, it's, I've had this blessing over the course of, of the last, you know, portion of this year where I, I get to talk to a, a lot of different students that, that I didn't have that. So I'm like, I get to meet you for the very first time right here now in this moment.
And, um, you know, I can already tell that you're, you're, you're a fun, you're a fun chick. You got a Taylor Swift shirt on, so, you know, Swifties. Swifties already know the mentality they have to be to to be successful because you're watching the right person for that. But, um. Tell me, tell me a little bit about you.
Like what have you been doing this entire time, or, you know, what, what sparked this interest in this, like, you know, passion to, to get here, to, to dive into this stuff. Yeah. This is great. So, um, I, I used to go to parties, well, I still go to parties, but I used to read this vibrator review at the party. I would go to after, well, look at us, I gotta put an x rating on this podcast episode.
I didn't even know, uh, that's the only word I'm gonna say. But I would read this, this review and because it was so hysterical, and the girlfriends were always like, Charlene, you gotta read the review. And so I'd read the review and then, um, I, my friends would say to me, you know, you, you've gotta do this.
You've gotta look into this. And then. I had this memory open in my mind about being a young child and, um, you know, way back in the seventies and my dad had the reel to reel. He would set up the microphone and he would let me read into the microphone and play the reel to reel back. So I feel like I've had this passion since I was.
A little girl. Little girl, and I just got pushed down and squashed and now here I am. Right. Happens, right? It's like you, you, you we're, we're kids and we know what we wanna do, and then something happens and all of a sudden it's like, oh yeah, no, I did wanna do that. And now 30 years has gone by. Um, you know, but.
Do what, what happened with this vibrator situation? Like do you still do that? Do you still voice something for that, for your friends? You know, yes. I, like I said, it's always requested at every party. Can you read the vibrator reviews? Um, I do it and it's a lot of fun and I get a lot of laughs and, um, so yeah, that's kind of, kind of what brought me down this road and them encouraging me and saying, you know, you, you are so fun.
And so here I am. Well, and I can tell you already, I agree. You are fun. Um, so, all right. That's the last thing that I was expecting to be told that has led us here today. But you know what, I will take it and I will run with it. So, all right. So you, you, you read these reviews. You, you make your friends smile and giggle and all the things, and um, you know, you end up here with us in this program.
It is voiceover what you expected it to be. I don't know that I really went in with a lot of expectations. Um, it was very interesting and fascinating to me to learn about it and, um, to find out that I'm a competent, cold reader, you know, and, and all the things. And, um. But all the tricks of the trade. I, it's just so fun.
It's just so fun. I wanna read all the scripts. I wanna read all the things. Well, and you know what that excitement is is just a beautiful thing, right? I mean, because I think it's like you, you have this, we all have an idea of what this is going to be, and then you start to see what it really is, and then when you're really like just diving in, it's like, well, God, I mean.
Where do I start? What can I do? I wanna do everything. Um, so demo wise, what did you, what, what did you make your focus? Um, uh, audiobooks. Audiobook. Okay. So like audiobook, narrative side of things? Narrative. Yes. Definitely Tina, um, Tina was my coach. Mm-hmm. She was amazing, but she identified that I was narrative right out the gate.
Yeah. Pretty much. But, um. But my, my demo was pretty diverse. I mean, I picked, 'cause again, I wanted to read all the scripts. Yeah. So we were able to narrow it down and it was, it was just so much fun. And, you know, finding you guys was, it's just been life altering for me. It's been so great. And when did you end up, uh, completing this demo?
When did, when did you get the, the final piece? Oh, let me tell you about my demo experience. Okay. Okay. You know, so I'm working. I've worked so hard. I'm so excited. I'm going to to record my demo. It's a Friday afternoon, three o'clock. I'm on summer vacation. Life is grand. I get there. There's nobody there.
Oh, no. So I'm like, oh no, what is happening? I can't imagine that anybody put this much effort into scamming me. Yay. So I called, I tried to call the studio. No answer. I tried to call voice coaches again. Friday, three 30 in Colorado is, ah, yeah, we were, our offices were closed. Yeah, we closed at like four 30.
So, so I'm there. I'm banging on the door. I'm calling, I leave a message. I, uh, to the, to the studio. I, of course, have left a message with, um, voice coaches and I've kept myself together. I'm not crying hysterically on this message. Go back to my car, and then this cat comes out of the studio and he's kinda looking around and on his phone, and so I get out of the car and he's like, oh man, I'm so sorry.
We must have double booked. You know, I can, I can bring you in and we can try to figure something out or, I'm like, I don't think that, that's sounds like the best idea, especially now that I've spiraled. Yeah. Now that I'm a, now that I'm a psychotic mess, uh Right. Uh, I think I'm gonna reschedule. So then, you know, I call, um, voice coaches Monday morning and.
Tell them my story and also that I need to reschedule and that I want Tina to be my producer. She's who I've been working with, right? Mm-hmm. Yep. I am told I have six weeks to wait. Ugh. So what I did, Marissa, is I flipped that script. Mm-hmm. And realized that I had six more weeks to hone my skills. That is true.
That is true scripts. But I kept reading out loud. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then demo day came six weeks later and it was so great. It was so fun. Yeah. You know what I, I think what you just learned was that, that day, that initial time, that wasn't your time, was not my time. You know, and, and as excited as you were and, you know, feeling like you were ready to go, like it allowed you some, some time to like decompress.
Educate and, you know, feel, feel good about what you were doing and not necessarily like frightened or intimidated. And I'm sure you went in still having a little bit of those feelings, but like, you know, you had that prep mode, that prep time to like. I got this. Um, you know, and, and I'm putting words in your mouth, but am I wrong?
You are not wrong, Marissa. This, I feel like a pretty good read on people, Charlene, but you just never know. Uh, so. In there as well. But yes, I'm sure. Yeah, no, if I listen, I already have to put an X rating on this, so if you wanna go ahead and cuss, uh, I'm kidding. Um, but, uh, so, alright, well demo demo's all said and done.
You're feeling good. Um, you know, feeling, you know, I'm sure accomplished what, as we are, you know, winding down for 2024 and. You, you now know that you're so excited to dive on into all this stuff, and I know you wanna explore all of it. You know what, what, what do you think, I mean, and maybe you've already taken some first steps, but what, what are the first steps for Charlene?
So, first steps for Charlene is, um, realizing that I need to put my three Ps into place, right? My persistence, my professionalism, and my, I'm gonna forget the last p. Assistance, professionalism. I can't remember. Anyway, well, you'll figure it out and then they'll all be in order. Uh, it's been the work that we did within class.
They talked about the three Ps. So anyway, I am, I'm really headstrong into those. I kind of put the cart before the horse a little bit here. I, um, kind of already bought some studio equipment that I am. Using today because I was able to figure out how to do that. And so that's not the cart before the horse that's investing in yourself.
And that way you'll be able to audition a little bit more freely, ma'am? Yes. That's what I will tell you. Uh, and that's where, what I was thinking. Mm-hmm. So, um, I'm excited. Um, I've had a friend who was. Um, making a speech for where she worked and she felt uncomfortable doing the speech. And so I've done my first pro bono because she asked me to do the speech for her.
Oh, cool. Um, at this event, it was an open house event and, um, she just knew that she wouldn't be able to get through it without, you know, getting too emotional so she knew, because it's all I can talk about because that I wanna be a voice actor. Right. Well, that's. So she knew, and so she reached out and she's like, Sean, I just don't think I can do this.
I don't think I can do this. I can't make it through it. I'm going to lose it. I need you to do this for me. And so I did, and it was, you know, it was my icebreaker. So I did this in front of, you know, probably a hundred people or so. And, um, I felt very confident and comfortable and I was so grateful that she gave me that opportunity.
Yeah. So. Yes. So, so this, this was, um, this was like public speaking sort of, uh, opportunity. It was a private event, but it was the first time that I kind of put my skills into play. Yeah, well that, that's what I was gonna say is like, so many people will come to us, you know, with the, the idea of voice acting in mind, right.
And. These skills though, they, they overlap in so many things, and public speaking is most certainly one of them. And, you know, I look at myself as more of a, a public speaker and an actor than probably anything because I, I do most of my, my day is radio work, right? And that's, that's what I do. It's, it's public speaking, it's all the same stuff, but.
You know, it's like, as an example, um, I've been on the radio with COVID. Do you think I felt great? No, but I sounded like I was having a, like the best time ever. Um, you know, so it's, it's faking it till you make it sometimes, but it's the acting, you know, and then you, you're, you're putting all these same elements, uh, of, you know, you're, you and you're, you're talking to one person that you know, and it's your best friend and you're having a blast and you're, you know, you're filling them in on certain things.
And so, you know that experience for you. Is awesome because yeah, you got to utilize, you get to read something out loud in a much different perspective than you probably ever had prior. Um, absolutely. Go ahead. Lemme tell you, one of the greatest things that I'm doing, Marissa, is that I'm going over and I'm reading to my 90-year-old mother and my sister who lives with her every week.
I go over and, um, we, we've already finished. Um, it's, it's actually a young adult book and it's called The One and Only Ivan. Okay. And I read that to them and it was so great. And now I've. Reading something else to them. But it's become a ritual for us, right. For me to go over every week and read to them and they love it so much.
Great. So it just brings me so much joy. Mm-hmm. I can do that. And, and it's, it's a twofer 'cause it's practiced. Yes. Yes. That's great. And then, no. Okay. Go tell me. Well, I was also just gonna throw in, I work at an elementary school and so I have, you know, let. The teachers there know that I'm also doing this and I'm gonna, um, for the fourth grade class, uh, I'm gonna read and record an audio book so that they can listen to it, but I don't have to be there to read it.
Right. They're gonna, oh, that's awesome. See, you know, the God, the, you know, you and, and the, the other women that I've had the opportunity to talk to, um, lately, it's, it is putting your, you're proving put yourself out there. The moment that you do. Opportunities there. Now, is it gonna bring in a ton of money?
Not necessarily. At first, it's getting you experience, you know, these are things, these are resume things. These are, I did this, you know, and, um, it's allowing you to kind of learn, you know, while you're doing it as well, and, and be able to, you know, be that much better for the next thing and then the next thing after that.
Um, so that's exciting. Um. So you haven't done that yet? That's gonna be coming. I haven't done that yet. That's gonna be coming. We kind of just talked about that as a team yesterday. Um, you know, I kind of let 'em know, Hey, I have this little setup. I need to get some practice in. And we have a field trip coming up and we wanna read this book.
How about I record it? And so I think it's gonna work out perfectly that I can do it over Christmas break. Yeah, give you time. Yeah. Yeah. So the timing is perfect. So I'm excited about it 'cause that's gonna gimme the practice that I need to feel confident enough. To go out and get those jobs that I know I'm gonna get.
Well, well, damn right you are. Uh, especially with an attitude like that. Um, so alright, audiobooks clearly the focus here. Um, I guess what, what would be the question I wanna ask you? Um. Obviously you are taking some great steps. I don't even know necessarily, you know, if I wanna ask what your big goal might be.
'cause I, I think, you know, obviously it's probably getting some major, you know, book deal of some sort. Um, but what, what do you find, I guess, like the most rewarding for you as you are? Kind of, um, doing some of these books. I mean, right now you're kind of doing them in person, um, you know, but as maybe you're just like doing 'em by yourself to yourself, like, what do you find to be the most rewarding for you performing these?
Because I know audiobooks are done in a lot of different ways, but it gives you an opportunity to explore different, you know, abilities that you have. So, I mean, you tell me. So I think what it is, is. The ability to bring a story to life. Mm-hmm. And to not have it be, you know, a monotone reading, but where you give it life of its own and you can bring, you know, the emotion out and how I read my words and um, you know, just being able to share stories I think is, yeah.
Fascinating. It's not, it's not easy, you know, like a lot of people think that it's gonna be like probably the easiest thing to, to go ahead and do. And that's why like people will get so frustrated when they hear somebody doing an audiobook and they're like, eh, you know, I can do better than that. And it's like.
Maybe, maybe not. Um, you know, it, it does take, it takes time, it takes practice, it takes understanding of what you need to do and, and being able to paint that picture and, um, and like fit the vibe too. You know, like so many people don't really understand, like if it's something more suspenseful, you know what you're gonna have to do to, to pull that out of you because.
It might be a little bit of acting, you know, because there might need to be a little tremble in your voice, or, you know, you might need to be a little bit louder here and a little bit softer over here. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's, it's. There, there's a, like an ex, you know, a little extended pause, you know, kind of technically for dramatics, but also because, again, vibe, um, that needs to be painted.
So, you know, when you've got somebody like yourself who's just like really excited and, and passionate for it, it's a beautiful thing. 'cause I can already tell without even hearing you do this stuff, like I know that you probably do it rather well if you've got, you know, the, the, the day on the calendar every, every week that you're going and reading books to mom, uh.
And I'm sure mom would love you to just go ahead and do anything, but still. Yeah. Um, has it just been the one book that you've done for mom? Have you read other stuff? Um, oh, of course. I, you know, I've read a ton of Taylor Swift articles to her. I read, is she a Swifty and 90-year-old Swifty? Well, I'm working on it and I'm getting there.
But I read the time interview that when, remember a year ago, she was person of the year for Time Magazine. And that article, um, you know, it was like a 30 minute read and there was, it was, it was difficult. You know, it's Time Magazine. It's not just some teen, it's, it was, it was an intensive, um.
Thoughtfully done interview and yeah. No. And so, yeah, I've read a lot of just miscellaneous stuff. I didn't really start reading a book to them until after I did my demo. Gotcha. But prior to the demo, we were doing a lot of practicing things. Like she's, uh, she was a physical therapist, so she brought out one day, one of her, you know, her medical books and said, here, read me something from this.
And you know, she's making me practice the big hard words and Right. So, you know, the support that I've gotten from my family has just been tremendous and, and fun. And they're willing to listen to me read anytime I wanna read, which is super. And it's important, you know, I think that's what happens, uh, for a lot of us as I.
As, you know, the Youth of America or wherever we, we know what we wanna do, but we don't always have the support to back us. I, thankfully, I had the support for me, even though I was so shy. My parents probably shouldn't have been supportive, but they were. And uh, and thankfully it paid off 'cause I got a job rather quickly after I decided to start going this direction.
But, um. I'm gonna say this right now for you. Next Read for Mom, just, just based on what I know now. All right. 50 Shades of Gray. Um, you know, you've got like a good four or five book series there that you can go ahead and, uh, I, you know, it, it might get her heart going a little bit. You know, sometimes it's good at 90 to almost feel like you're exercising without even having to move.
Um. I already practiced the vibe that you're That's what I'm saying. You know, it's just, it's very fitting. Um, you know, just as a bookend here, but, um, no, I appreciate you hanging out. Um, and, and, you know, I am, I'm excited to know like, how the kids felt about your read, uh, you know, for that book that you're planning on doing for them.
I'm excited for like the first opportunity that you get where that check is gonna come in, because I have a feeling, you know, you, you're, you're already, you got a lot of good things in place. It's just a, you know, it's a matter of time. Um, and when we can be of help you holler. Okay. Absolutely. And I just wanna shout out one more time to Tina.
She was so knowledgeable and motivational and encouraging to me, and she helped me realize that I'm a coachable person and I can do things that people ask me to do. And so I'm just. So excited. I can't thank you enough for having me. Oh, of course, of course. And, uh, you know, if you've got questions, you can always reach out to me.
Any, anything like, you know, you got a, you know, exciting update or something, Marissa, at voice coaches.com. Okay. And, uh, we're gonna have a brand new episode coming next week. So, uh, stay safe everybody, as we continue to get, uh, deeper into this holiday season. And, uh, you can get more [email protected].
Visit voice coaches.com for more voiceover news and information.
Um, but, uh, Charlene, welcome first of all to the, to, to the lovely podcast. Um, but how are, how are you feeling today in this moment right now, just tell me I. Well, Marissa, first of all, I wanna thank you so much for having me. Um, I'm very excited to be here. I have a little nervousness that I'm super excited to be here.
Um, I sometimes feel like when I'm having a conversation, I get lost and don't always. Say everything that my mind wants to say. So I'm just trying to stay present here with you in this conversation that, that's called adult, A DHD. I have that too. It's fine. Uh, um, but no, I, I, Hey, first of all, I will tell you no need to ever be nervous with me because I am ridiculous.
Um, and anybody can tell you that. But, um. You know, it's, I've had this blessing over the course of, of the last, you know, portion of this year where I, I get to talk to a, a lot of different students that, that I didn't have that. So I'm like, I get to meet you for the very first time right here now in this moment.
And, um, you know, I can already tell that you're, you're, you're a fun, you're a fun chick. You got a Taylor Swift shirt on, so, you know, Swifties. Swifties already know the mentality they have to be to to be successful because you're watching the right person for that. But, um. Tell me, tell me a little bit about you.
Like what have you been doing this entire time, or, you know, what, what sparked this interest in this, like, you know, passion to, to get here, to, to dive into this stuff. Yeah. This is great. So, um, I, I used to go to parties, well, I still go to parties, but I used to read this vibrator review at the party. I would go to after, well, look at us, I gotta put an x rating on this podcast episode.
I didn't even know, uh, that's the only word I'm gonna say. But I would read this, this review and because it was so hysterical, and the girlfriends were always like, Charlene, you gotta read the review. And so I'd read the review and then, um, I, my friends would say to me, you know, you, you've gotta do this.
You've gotta look into this. And then. I had this memory open in my mind about being a young child and, um, you know, way back in the seventies and my dad had the reel to reel. He would set up the microphone and he would let me read into the microphone and play the reel to reel back. So I feel like I've had this passion since I was.
A little girl. Little girl, and I just got pushed down and squashed and now here I am. Right. Happens, right? It's like you, you, you we're, we're kids and we know what we wanna do, and then something happens and all of a sudden it's like, oh yeah, no, I did wanna do that. And now 30 years has gone by. Um, you know, but.
Do what, what happened with this vibrator situation? Like do you still do that? Do you still voice something for that, for your friends? You know, yes. I, like I said, it's always requested at every party. Can you read the vibrator reviews? Um, I do it and it's a lot of fun and I get a lot of laughs and, um, so yeah, that's kind of, kind of what brought me down this road and them encouraging me and saying, you know, you, you are so fun.
And so here I am. Well, and I can tell you already, I agree. You are fun. Um, so, all right. That's the last thing that I was expecting to be told that has led us here today. But you know what, I will take it and I will run with it. So, all right. So you, you, you read these reviews. You, you make your friends smile and giggle and all the things, and um, you know, you end up here with us in this program.
It is voiceover what you expected it to be. I don't know that I really went in with a lot of expectations. Um, it was very interesting and fascinating to me to learn about it and, um, to find out that I'm a competent, cold reader, you know, and, and all the things. And, um. But all the tricks of the trade. I, it's just so fun.
It's just so fun. I wanna read all the scripts. I wanna read all the things. Well, and you know what that excitement is is just a beautiful thing, right? I mean, because I think it's like you, you have this, we all have an idea of what this is going to be, and then you start to see what it really is, and then when you're really like just diving in, it's like, well, God, I mean.
Where do I start? What can I do? I wanna do everything. Um, so demo wise, what did you, what, what did you make your focus? Um, uh, audiobooks. Audiobook. Okay. So like audiobook, narrative side of things? Narrative. Yes. Definitely Tina, um, Tina was my coach. Mm-hmm. She was amazing, but she identified that I was narrative right out the gate.
Yeah. Pretty much. But, um. But my, my demo was pretty diverse. I mean, I picked, 'cause again, I wanted to read all the scripts. Yeah. So we were able to narrow it down and it was, it was just so much fun. And, you know, finding you guys was, it's just been life altering for me. It's been so great. And when did you end up, uh, completing this demo?
When did, when did you get the, the final piece? Oh, let me tell you about my demo experience. Okay. Okay. You know, so I'm working. I've worked so hard. I'm so excited. I'm going to to record my demo. It's a Friday afternoon, three o'clock. I'm on summer vacation. Life is grand. I get there. There's nobody there.
Oh, no. So I'm like, oh no, what is happening? I can't imagine that anybody put this much effort into scamming me. Yay. So I called, I tried to call the studio. No answer. I tried to call voice coaches again. Friday, three 30 in Colorado is, ah, yeah, we were, our offices were closed. Yeah, we closed at like four 30.
So, so I'm there. I'm banging on the door. I'm calling, I leave a message. I, uh, to the, to the studio. I, of course, have left a message with, um, voice coaches and I've kept myself together. I'm not crying hysterically on this message. Go back to my car, and then this cat comes out of the studio and he's kinda looking around and on his phone, and so I get out of the car and he's like, oh man, I'm so sorry.
We must have double booked. You know, I can, I can bring you in and we can try to figure something out or, I'm like, I don't think that, that's sounds like the best idea, especially now that I've spiraled. Yeah. Now that I'm a, now that I'm a psychotic mess, uh Right. Uh, I think I'm gonna reschedule. So then, you know, I call, um, voice coaches Monday morning and.
Tell them my story and also that I need to reschedule and that I want Tina to be my producer. She's who I've been working with, right? Mm-hmm. Yep. I am told I have six weeks to wait. Ugh. So what I did, Marissa, is I flipped that script. Mm-hmm. And realized that I had six more weeks to hone my skills. That is true.
That is true scripts. But I kept reading out loud. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then demo day came six weeks later and it was so great. It was so fun. Yeah. You know what I, I think what you just learned was that, that day, that initial time, that wasn't your time, was not my time. You know, and, and as excited as you were and, you know, feeling like you were ready to go, like it allowed you some, some time to like decompress.
Educate and, you know, feel, feel good about what you were doing and not necessarily like frightened or intimidated. And I'm sure you went in still having a little bit of those feelings, but like, you know, you had that prep mode, that prep time to like. I got this. Um, you know, and, and I'm putting words in your mouth, but am I wrong?
You are not wrong, Marissa. This, I feel like a pretty good read on people, Charlene, but you just never know. Uh, so. In there as well. But yes, I'm sure. Yeah, no, if I listen, I already have to put an X rating on this, so if you wanna go ahead and cuss, uh, I'm kidding. Um, but, uh, so, alright, well demo demo's all said and done.
You're feeling good. Um, you know, feeling, you know, I'm sure accomplished what, as we are, you know, winding down for 2024 and. You, you now know that you're so excited to dive on into all this stuff, and I know you wanna explore all of it. You know what, what, what do you think, I mean, and maybe you've already taken some first steps, but what, what are the first steps for Charlene?
So, first steps for Charlene is, um, realizing that I need to put my three Ps into place, right? My persistence, my professionalism, and my, I'm gonna forget the last p. Assistance, professionalism. I can't remember. Anyway, well, you'll figure it out and then they'll all be in order. Uh, it's been the work that we did within class.
They talked about the three Ps. So anyway, I am, I'm really headstrong into those. I kind of put the cart before the horse a little bit here. I, um, kind of already bought some studio equipment that I am. Using today because I was able to figure out how to do that. And so that's not the cart before the horse that's investing in yourself.
And that way you'll be able to audition a little bit more freely, ma'am? Yes. That's what I will tell you. Uh, and that's where, what I was thinking. Mm-hmm. So, um, I'm excited. Um, I've had a friend who was. Um, making a speech for where she worked and she felt uncomfortable doing the speech. And so I've done my first pro bono because she asked me to do the speech for her.
Oh, cool. Um, at this event, it was an open house event and, um, she just knew that she wouldn't be able to get through it without, you know, getting too emotional so she knew, because it's all I can talk about because that I wanna be a voice actor. Right. Well, that's. So she knew, and so she reached out and she's like, Sean, I just don't think I can do this.
I don't think I can do this. I can't make it through it. I'm going to lose it. I need you to do this for me. And so I did, and it was, you know, it was my icebreaker. So I did this in front of, you know, probably a hundred people or so. And, um, I felt very confident and comfortable and I was so grateful that she gave me that opportunity.
Yeah. So. Yes. So, so this, this was, um, this was like public speaking sort of, uh, opportunity. It was a private event, but it was the first time that I kind of put my skills into play. Yeah, well that, that's what I was gonna say is like, so many people will come to us, you know, with the, the idea of voice acting in mind, right.
And. These skills though, they, they overlap in so many things, and public speaking is most certainly one of them. And, you know, I look at myself as more of a, a public speaker and an actor than probably anything because I, I do most of my, my day is radio work, right? And that's, that's what I do. It's, it's public speaking, it's all the same stuff, but.
You know, it's like, as an example, um, I've been on the radio with COVID. Do you think I felt great? No, but I sounded like I was having a, like the best time ever. Um, you know, so it's, it's faking it till you make it sometimes, but it's the acting, you know, and then you, you're, you're putting all these same elements, uh, of, you know, you're, you and you're, you're talking to one person that you know, and it's your best friend and you're having a blast and you're, you know, you're filling them in on certain things.
And so, you know that experience for you. Is awesome because yeah, you got to utilize, you get to read something out loud in a much different perspective than you probably ever had prior. Um, absolutely. Go ahead. Lemme tell you, one of the greatest things that I'm doing, Marissa, is that I'm going over and I'm reading to my 90-year-old mother and my sister who lives with her every week.
I go over and, um, we, we've already finished. Um, it's, it's actually a young adult book and it's called The One and Only Ivan. Okay. And I read that to them and it was so great. And now I've. Reading something else to them. But it's become a ritual for us, right. For me to go over every week and read to them and they love it so much.
Great. So it just brings me so much joy. Mm-hmm. I can do that. And, and it's, it's a twofer 'cause it's practiced. Yes. Yes. That's great. And then, no. Okay. Go tell me. Well, I was also just gonna throw in, I work at an elementary school and so I have, you know, let. The teachers there know that I'm also doing this and I'm gonna, um, for the fourth grade class, uh, I'm gonna read and record an audio book so that they can listen to it, but I don't have to be there to read it.
Right. They're gonna, oh, that's awesome. See, you know, the God, the, you know, you and, and the, the other women that I've had the opportunity to talk to, um, lately, it's, it is putting your, you're proving put yourself out there. The moment that you do. Opportunities there. Now, is it gonna bring in a ton of money?
Not necessarily. At first, it's getting you experience, you know, these are things, these are resume things. These are, I did this, you know, and, um, it's allowing you to kind of learn, you know, while you're doing it as well, and, and be able to, you know, be that much better for the next thing and then the next thing after that.
Um, so that's exciting. Um. So you haven't done that yet? That's gonna be coming. I haven't done that yet. That's gonna be coming. We kind of just talked about that as a team yesterday. Um, you know, I kind of let 'em know, Hey, I have this little setup. I need to get some practice in. And we have a field trip coming up and we wanna read this book.
How about I record it? And so I think it's gonna work out perfectly that I can do it over Christmas break. Yeah, give you time. Yeah. Yeah. So the timing is perfect. So I'm excited about it 'cause that's gonna gimme the practice that I need to feel confident enough. To go out and get those jobs that I know I'm gonna get.
Well, well, damn right you are. Uh, especially with an attitude like that. Um, so alright, audiobooks clearly the focus here. Um, I guess what, what would be the question I wanna ask you? Um. Obviously you are taking some great steps. I don't even know necessarily, you know, if I wanna ask what your big goal might be.
'cause I, I think, you know, obviously it's probably getting some major, you know, book deal of some sort. Um, but what, what do you find, I guess, like the most rewarding for you as you are? Kind of, um, doing some of these books. I mean, right now you're kind of doing them in person, um, you know, but as maybe you're just like doing 'em by yourself to yourself, like, what do you find to be the most rewarding for you performing these?
Because I know audiobooks are done in a lot of different ways, but it gives you an opportunity to explore different, you know, abilities that you have. So, I mean, you tell me. So I think what it is, is. The ability to bring a story to life. Mm-hmm. And to not have it be, you know, a monotone reading, but where you give it life of its own and you can bring, you know, the emotion out and how I read my words and um, you know, just being able to share stories I think is, yeah.
Fascinating. It's not, it's not easy, you know, like a lot of people think that it's gonna be like probably the easiest thing to, to go ahead and do. And that's why like people will get so frustrated when they hear somebody doing an audiobook and they're like, eh, you know, I can do better than that. And it's like.
Maybe, maybe not. Um, you know, it, it does take, it takes time, it takes practice, it takes understanding of what you need to do and, and being able to paint that picture and, um, and like fit the vibe too. You know, like so many people don't really understand, like if it's something more suspenseful, you know what you're gonna have to do to, to pull that out of you because.
It might be a little bit of acting, you know, because there might need to be a little tremble in your voice, or, you know, you might need to be a little bit louder here and a little bit softer over here. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's, it's. There, there's a, like an ex, you know, a little extended pause, you know, kind of technically for dramatics, but also because, again, vibe, um, that needs to be painted.
So, you know, when you've got somebody like yourself who's just like really excited and, and passionate for it, it's a beautiful thing. 'cause I can already tell without even hearing you do this stuff, like I know that you probably do it rather well if you've got, you know, the, the, the day on the calendar every, every week that you're going and reading books to mom, uh.
And I'm sure mom would love you to just go ahead and do anything, but still. Yeah. Um, has it just been the one book that you've done for mom? Have you read other stuff? Um, oh, of course. I, you know, I've read a ton of Taylor Swift articles to her. I read, is she a Swifty and 90-year-old Swifty? Well, I'm working on it and I'm getting there.
But I read the time interview that when, remember a year ago, she was person of the year for Time Magazine. And that article, um, you know, it was like a 30 minute read and there was, it was, it was difficult. You know, it's Time Magazine. It's not just some teen, it's, it was, it was an intensive, um.
Thoughtfully done interview and yeah. No. And so, yeah, I've read a lot of just miscellaneous stuff. I didn't really start reading a book to them until after I did my demo. Gotcha. But prior to the demo, we were doing a lot of practicing things. Like she's, uh, she was a physical therapist, so she brought out one day, one of her, you know, her medical books and said, here, read me something from this.
And you know, she's making me practice the big hard words and Right. So, you know, the support that I've gotten from my family has just been tremendous and, and fun. And they're willing to listen to me read anytime I wanna read, which is super. And it's important, you know, I think that's what happens, uh, for a lot of us as I.
As, you know, the Youth of America or wherever we, we know what we wanna do, but we don't always have the support to back us. I, thankfully, I had the support for me, even though I was so shy. My parents probably shouldn't have been supportive, but they were. And uh, and thankfully it paid off 'cause I got a job rather quickly after I decided to start going this direction.
But, um. I'm gonna say this right now for you. Next Read for Mom, just, just based on what I know now. All right. 50 Shades of Gray. Um, you know, you've got like a good four or five book series there that you can go ahead and, uh, I, you know, it, it might get her heart going a little bit. You know, sometimes it's good at 90 to almost feel like you're exercising without even having to move.
Um. I already practiced the vibe that you're That's what I'm saying. You know, it's just, it's very fitting. Um, you know, just as a bookend here, but, um, no, I appreciate you hanging out. Um, and, and, you know, I am, I'm excited to know like, how the kids felt about your read, uh, you know, for that book that you're planning on doing for them.
I'm excited for like the first opportunity that you get where that check is gonna come in, because I have a feeling, you know, you, you're, you're already, you got a lot of good things in place. It's just a, you know, it's a matter of time. Um, and when we can be of help you holler. Okay. Absolutely. And I just wanna shout out one more time to Tina.
She was so knowledgeable and motivational and encouraging to me, and she helped me realize that I'm a coachable person and I can do things that people ask me to do. And so I'm just. So excited. I can't thank you enough for having me. Oh, of course, of course. And, uh, you know, if you've got questions, you can always reach out to me.
Any, anything like, you know, you got a, you know, exciting update or something, Marissa, at voice coaches.com. Okay. And, uh, we're gonna have a brand new episode coming next week. So, uh, stay safe everybody, as we continue to get, uh, deeper into this holiday season. And, uh, you can get more [email protected].
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This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa learned an unexpected way that brought Charlene Branch to us…expect to laugh a bit and think outside the box!
