Today’s 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent are answered by Tasha Johnson, a professional voice over talent based in Atlanta, Georgia.

1. The beginning: When did you know you wanted to be a voiceover talent; how did your career begin (please include what year it started) and then when did your passion for voiceover develop into something professional?

I would read aloud all the time, and re-deliver every commercial from the family couch, line by line. I honed my skills by mimicking the people already being paid for what I wanted to grow up to do.

At the time, I didn’t know it was called ‘voiceover’, and nobody told me to do that, but parroting the TV and the radio was one of the main ways I entertained myself.

Interestingly enough, we all now understand that emulating the people who are already successful at what one wants to do is one of the best ways to sharpen your skillset.

Like a lot of us, I had a brief stint in radio, but I didn’t actually become a professional voiceover talent til 2005.

I was an intern for an advertising agency, voicing about half the spots that came out of production for 6 months. From these commercials, I produced my own demo, and shopped it to agents myself.

After I secured my agent, I started booking, and the rest is history.

There are a million different ways to be in this business, but I’m grateful that Georgia is a right to work state. Most of my work is national and union.

2. What is the one thing you know now that you wish someone had told you when you first started out in voiceover?

I would say that I wish someone had told me how much legwork and marketing of ones’ skills is required in this business.

I discovered that one on my own, but if someone had told me before I got started and perhaps helped me put a clear, consise plan together, I wouldn’t have struggled so hard in the beginning.

I invested in my equipment, yes, but I wasn’t prepared for the marketing!

3. What do you see as the biggest professional or personal obstacle you face that impacts your voiceover business and how are youworking to overcome it?

The biggest professional and personal obstacle is getting my name and my body of work out there so more people know who I am, and what I can do.

My current marketing strategy will overcome it, but if I tell you any more, I’d have to kill you.

4. What personal trait or professional tool has helped you succeed the most in your career so far?

I think my sunny disposition has helped me almost as much as my unique ability to interpret copy.

Even the most seasoned among us get in our heads sometimes, but when I do, I pause, take a big breath and tell myself:

“You booked the gig because you do your job WELL. So smile and DO IT!”

A positive self image and positive self talk works wonders.

5. In your development as a voice over performer, who has been the one particular individual or what has been the one piece of performance advice (maybe a key performance trick, etc.) that you felt has had the most impact on your actual voice over performance and why?

I had a rather unconventional start in the business, so I can’t name an individual who’s had an impact on my performance, but I am grateful every day for the love of the fellow voice talents who are my community. The support of one’s peers will take you far.

Tags: 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent, 5Q:VO // 2 Comments »