My voiceover life. It’s just like asparagus

My voiceover career is like growing asparagus. Seriously. Have you ever tried to grow asparagus? If you have, you will know it takes time, patience and perseverance. Just like growing my voiceover career.

Asparagus takes around two years before you yield any crop. The first year you plant the seeds, water them, watch them grow, but you don’t eat it. It’s not ready. You’ve got to keep nurturing and feeding it to make sure it’ll come back. Then the second season, you should see a lot more stalks growing. But you still don’t eat it. You continue to nurture and feed and water it.

Then, the third season? Wow, there was a decent crop. Amazing, fresh and totally worth the wait. So, this year, my second year into a full time voiceover career, I’m starting to get a fairly decent crop. I have gone from a BBC journalist and lecturer, to scrapping all of this to following what was always a pipe dream.

I started with nothing. A seed of an idea. I wanted to be a voice actor. I wanted to work in animation, videogames and audio drama. I joined the VoiceOver Network, got some coaching from people in the business, such as Gary Terzza, joined Voice123 and got a basic demo. Little steps. So the first year, I didn’t get a lot of work, I got the odd VO job, but I was still learning and growing as a VO artist.

But I knew I’d made the right decision when I was cast in a Frantic Assembly stage production (No Way Back) and I also got my first videogame character too. There were signs that this would work. I have since been in a number of short films and stage productions. I was still balancing part-time work and children (aren’t we all?!) but I wanted more. It wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Last year I attended VOX for the first time and met more great people who have become friends and colleagues. Someone to turn to for help and advice and to convince to keep going! Along with the VO Network, it’s great courses, Gravy for the Brain and the amazing and formidable Nancy Wolfson, I nurtured my voiceover skills and worked hard. Not forgetting Dian Perry, Stephane Cornicard and Donna Grillo. They’ve all been watering and feeding me and helping me grow.

So this year, just like the asparagus, I am finally growing and yielding a crop of work. I am working on an amazing audio drama, I have regular clients as well as always looking for new ones, and I have a great network of friends too.

I can’t wait for my bumper crop! And it will come. I know it will.