My newest member of the Rock Star Squad is Charlotte-Ann. I met Charlotte-Ann at a networking event and was taken by her warm personality and really cool career. She has a really great story about chasing her dream in the City of Angels! Enjoy…

Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Charlotte Ann and I’m a voiceover artist (www.charlotte-ann.com) who also owns an event coordination company (www.bigdayyourway.com).  I was born in the Bronx, New York but my Mom got remarried when I was 8 and we moved to Columbus, Ohio.  Talk about two different worlds!  The people in Columbus like to think they’re in a big city but when I can see cows on the way to Target…well…it’s just not a big city to me.

In 2000 I moved to Los Angeles to attend the prestigious theatre program at the University of Southern California.  I graduated Cum Laude in December of 2003.

I quickly learned that I didn’t have it in me to do the “starving artist” thing so I got a job working at USC and pursued my acting career in my off hours.  After years of working towards an on camera career I decided it just wasn’t for me.  I took some voiceover classes and fell in love.

For me, voiceover is the blend of creativity and control that I was looking for.  I appreciate not having a career that’s mostly based on looks (as is an on camera career) and it’s wonderful being able to do most of my work from my home studio.  Plus, for a chatty cathy like me, talking for a living is a dream come true!

Did you go through a quarter life crisis? How was your transition into the “real world?”

Absolutely!  The transition was very tough for me.  For one, I felt like a failure when my on camera career wasn’t going anywhere.  I was disappointed that all my hard work in school wasn’t magically turning into success in real life.

I debated a lot about what I wanted to be when I grew up (and I still do!) and that led me to take a look at what I loved about acting and what I didn’t.  Once I examined it I realized that I loved being creative and having someone recognize my efforts.  I liked being the star of the show but I didn’t crave fame.  I would have been fine being a commercial actress and not a movie actress.  I also realized that I abhorred being kept waiting at auditions and driving around town all day.  I also hated being criticized for being a bit of a chunky monkey.  It’s hard enough not being a size two in L.A. but try being a plus-sized actress!

So, I started looking for career paths that had what I loved but left behind what I didn’t.  That’s how I began my event coordination company.  It allowed me to be creative and work on my own time (for the most part) and it also allowed me to draw on my compulsively organized nature.  I still love event planning and continue to do it but it wasn’t satisfying everything I needed.

Then came voiceover.  I took some classes just to see what it was about and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I started to pour all I had into it as a career.

I can’t honestly say that I’m completely out of my quarter-life crisis yet (I’m 28) but having found something that I’m passionate about has made me less worried about what I’m going to be when I grow up and more focused on how to achieve it.

How did you overcome your 20-something crisis?

Haha, not really sure that I have.  I have days where I start to freak out about where I am in life with my career and family life (the in-laws want babies!) but I’ve tried to take baby steps.  Each week I try to accomplish something, be it for my career or personal life.  Feeling like I’m making progress always helps.  My life involves a lot of lists…it feels great to check things off!

I also really try (although it’s harder than it sounds) to keep from comparing myself to my friends.  I realize that everyone is on his or her own path and I’ll get to experience things that no one else will because of the unique road I’m walking down.

You have a really unique career – how did you first get into your profession? What do you love about it? What are the downsides?  What did you do to prepare, etc.

Well, I’ve already talked a bit about how I got into it and what I love about it but how did I prepare?  Classes, classes, and more classes.  Oh, and then throwing a little bit of money at it.

Being a voiceover artist can be expensive but as they say, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.  To be a successful voiceover artist it’s an absolute MUST that you have a great demo.  Demo’s cost a lot of cash.  So first I made sure that I took a lot of classes to prepare myself so when I did record my demo it wasn’t a waste of money.

Once I had my demo I invested in a home studio (and am currently building a better one, one nail at a time) so that I could audition for projects.

Lastly, even though I finally get paid for what I do, I still have to spend money on workshops to keep me sharp and now I spend a lot on marketing!

How are you now living life on your own terms?

Being a voiceover artist lets me work on my own time schedule.  I’m able to often submit auditions in the middle of the night if I want.  It allows me a ton of freedom.

I’ve also started to make sure I’m surrounding myself with encouraging and wonderful friends. I’ve cut out the friends in my life that weren’t true friends and having a great support network helps keep me focused on what’s important.

What’s the hardest part about following your dream? What was the easiest?

The hardest part is to keep going after my dreams when I feel like I’m being rejected all the time.  I only land about 5% of the jobs I audition for but that’s just the nature of the business.  Sometimes it’s really hard to remember that it’s worth fighting for when I feel like a really great audition of mine got turned down.

Easiest part?  Deciding that this is what I want to do with my life.  Once I really got into recording auditions and booking jobs I realized how much I love it and knew that this is what I wanted to do.

Do you have any advice for anyone trying to conquer a quarter life crisis?

Shut your brain off.  I was sure I wanted to be an on camera actress.  It’s what I’d worked so hard for, for so many years!  But when I finally let the world take me where it wanted to, I landed into a voiceover class.  It wasn’t something I would have consciously thought I would like, so try new things and don’t let your brain tell you what you will and won’t like.  Sometimes it just doesn’t know.

Anything else?

A quarter-life crisis is less about conquering something and more about the journey.  Enjoy the “crisis.”

Thank you Charlotte-Ann! I love her last line – it is totally true that we all should sit back, relax and Enjoy the Crisis. Extremely well put. Be sure to check out Charlotte’s site if you’re looking for event planning or you need voice work done.

Instability is hard for me. So far (knock on wood) I’ve had puh-lenty of writing / editing / design assignments. But there’s always that wiggly voice in the back of my head that says, “yeah, but what about NEXT month?” Learning to roll with the ebbs and flows of freelancery is a tricky transition. The easiest part about following my dream is … the unexpected sparkly perks! Getting interviewed by bloggers I respect (like Ms. Nailah Blades!), getting invited to speak at cool venues, getting fan mail (whuuuh?), and getting noticed and high-fived by people I admire. Swoon.

Anything else?