“I loved the character you portrayed.”

“I love your voice — have you thought aboout doing radio or television?”

Those were the comments I heard over the years about my voice or personality. I always knew I loved acting. When I was 11, I discovered my interest in it.

If you are familiar with Summerville, South Carolina, you may know about the Flowertown Players or Rollings Middle School of the Arts. I practiced and “studied” theatre at both places. My characters were friendly, cheesy humans and animals.

I did theatre in high school at Ashley Ridge High and it was my minor at Francis Marion University. To blab on more about my life, I studied journalism (mass communication) in college. In that major at my university, I had to interview people, write, create VOSOTS & packages.

I’m sure you are asking, “Katrina. Why are you saying this?

I’m saying this to explain how and why I am in a voice acting now.

I know in high school they said not to use Wikipedia, but here you go:

“Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to represent a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists or voice talent.”

I have desired to dive in it for about two years now, but in 2019, I started the research.

I went to a free Such A Voice class where the instructor explained what voiceovers are, how we can get involved in it, how we can record audio from our closet, and of course — if we want further training with them we can for over $4,000. I know I always tell my friends and myself we need to invest in ourselves. But I wasn’t ready to invest in that.

From there, I searched around for voice acting coaches out in D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV). I actually found one I could afford and then COVID canceled her in-person classes. I wanted a shot at this, but I wanted to invest in myself. I continued to save my money during the first few months of COVID.

Fred told me to audition for a few projects — even without training. “You already have an articulate voice that can do various characters.” I tried to protest, but I realized I should just take a shot and NIKE it — just do it.

Fred and I both follow radio personalities for the station near us. We noticed they had microphones and were working from home because of COVID. Fred told me to contact one of them on Instagram and ask her what microphone she was using.

I did not want to bother her, so I researched on my own. Several microphones, inexpensive recorders popped up and I tried to narrow it down. Fred said again, “Are you sure you don’t want to ask her?”

I was tired of narrowing down microphones and recorders to use. I finally messaged her through Insta and she said she utilizes a Blue Yeti Microphone.

That was the answer I needed because when researching, I constantly saw the Blue Yeti pop up. I ended up purchasing a Blue Yeti Nano because I had to invest myself within my budget.

From there, I used sites like Upwork, ACX, and Backstage to apply for voice acting projects.

Upwork (freelancer site for creatives. It’s not only for voice actors, but other industries as well) is similar to Fiverr where we set up a profile, attach our works, and we do proposals (applications) for projects. ACX is where you can be a voice actor or narrator for audiobooks. Backstage is meant for acting, modeling, but I see they have several voice acting projects people can audition for. I want to warn you Upwork and Backstage requires money.

I have had success with Upwork and ACX. One of the audiobooks I narrated is “Habitually Awesome.” The author of the audiobook provides 1 tip that allows you to break habits or create positive habits. It can be found on Audible. I am also the narrator for children’s book, “Serena’s Dilemma“. I enjoyed voicing that one because it highlights splitting chores between young boys and girls.

Currently, I record in my closet because it is quiet. In my opinion, I feel like the clothes in the closet help with my sound.

I do know how to do light editing with Audacity.

I am just glad that I finally have the opportunity to do something I wanted to do for a while. My 2020 — like I am sure others dealt with this — was great for me! I disliked how it was for others, but I am grateful for my 2020. I finally dived into voice acting and other endeavors. I have even made a little bit of yang yang — (that is what my dad calls money).

I pray one of these days I can get a commercial. If not a commercial, I would love to do voice mail systems for businesses near me.

Now that you have read more about me . . . Are you ready to invest in yourself? Have you put in the research to follow one of your dreams?