Tucson Woman Wins 4th Annual Great Voice Company Voice-over Victory Contest
As a little girl, Kay Long spent hours performing make believe shampoo commercials in the shower. Recently downsized from her corporate job, she asked herself: “Kay, what do you really want to do?” The answer: voice-overs!
Unfortunately her initial efforts were misguided. She recorded a demo at her Marana, AZ home and attempted to email it to a producer. Unfamiliar with sending audio over the internet, she mistakenly sent it 15 times. He replied: “Sweetheart, please don’t stalk me with your demo. Once is enough.” Humiliated, Long realized she needed some guidance.
An internet search lead her to the Great Voice Company, an Englewood Cliffs, NJ based company where she could get tele-coaching from top voice-over talent Susan Berkley, the well known voice of AT&T.
“When I joined the Great Voice Inner Circle program, listened to the guest speakers and participated in the Q&A time, I felt as if all the dry, parched places of my voice-over soul were getting fed intravenously, ” said Long. “I began to own this voice-over dream. and doors started to open.”
Opportunity literally came knocking last summer when Long got one of her first jobs sitting on the examination table in a hospital gown waiting for a physical. The doctor walked in with her chart where she had listed her profession as “voice-over artist.” He said “Hmmm. I see you’re a voice talent. How much do you charge?” Long gulped before remembering Berkley’s words from a coaching call the night before. “I’d be happy to talk about my rates,” she said. “But first, tell me more about what you have in mind.” Within days she was the voice of her doctor’s new software venture.
Long landed a few more jobs after winning the door prize at a networking event. When called to the stage, she introduced herself as a voice talent and caught the attention of a business owner who hired her to voice his training videos and a local advertising executive who booked her for a radio campaign.
While Long now markets herself through her website www.specialkay.com. She doesn’t yet have an agent. She says: “What I do have is talent, ingenuity, people skills and my ‘little girl in the shower’ passion that has been rekindled thanks to Susan Berkley and The Great Voice Inner Circle.”
