icanbe.org.uk
I’ve been invited to speak about being a voiceover artist by I Can Be a registered charity that brings 7- and 8-year-old girls into the world of work, introducing them to inspiring women and helping them to discover the breadth of opportunity around them.
I love the idea of introducing youngsters to vocational work especially as now more than ever we are witnessing such a shift in the way we work and the digital world has created so many opportunities. The pandemic has been a significant shift in the world of voiceover, with many out-of-work actors creating home studios, many more people setting themselves up to work from wherever they might be. So many more pieces of content being created that need voicing. The industry is constantly changing and growing.
Having attended a private girls school in the 90’s when I told my teachers I wanted to work in radio and ultimately use my voice to build my career, they had no idea what to advise me to do. They told me if I wanted to work in radio I needed to be a journalist and I wasn’t set to get an A at A-Level English, which was one of the requirements for doing Journalism at University and I was told ‘Go off and see what you can do and then let us know’. Sure enough, once I had gone off and become a successful radio presenter with Global Radio, my school invited me back to a Careers evening to talk about it.
We know that our children are going to have a very different experience of work-life than we do. Imagine if you had learned about the many types of jobs we know exist now. Would your career have been different?
My son is six years old and has a voiceover agent he recently had an audition for a film – something I’ve not yet had the opportunity to even do. He also auditioned for one of the characters in one of his favourite cartoons and loves recording in my booth and I love the fact that I’ve introduced him to a skill at SIX that he can earn a living from. How amazing is that. He’s also just made his TV debut in an advert for Soreen.
I’ll be talking about my work with I can be and giving the girls I am speaking to an insight into how they could use the skill i’ve learnt in their every day. If the one thing they take from my talk is how to speak with more confidence, I will be thrilled. If they decide that this could be skillset they want to explore further, even better.
They really can be ANYTHING.