Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Sims . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I was deep into my career as an ad agency producer – I was actually the Director of Broadcast at an agency here in Los Angeles when I decided to give my two-week’s notice and quit my job to pursue a voice over career, full-time.
At the time I quit my job, I was taking classes, but I didn’t even have a demo. Add to this, I was definitely “older” than most people who make the decision to go into acting, full-time.
While I loved my career in advertising, at the time I quit my job, I was working in a pretty toxic situation and started thinking about what I really wanted to do when I started my career journey in the first place – I had gone to college to be an actor (the American Academy of Dramatic Arts).
I felt compelled to get back to the thing that I truly wanted to do in the first place which was acting. And going into voice acting felt like a perfect fit!
I knew it was a huge risk but felt like I simply had to take that leap. I don’t regret taking the risk, but in hindsight, I would have planned it a little better.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Jennifer (Jenn) Sims Actor/Storyteller/Smarty Pants
I’m a voice actor; on-camera actor and voice over coach.
While it was my intention to become an actor, they don’t hand out acting jobs just because you go graduate from a Los Angeles acting school. (LOL)
I took a job at an advertising agency and worked my way up to producer and eventually became the Director of Broadcast for one of the top agencies here in LA.
In my work as an ad agency producer, I had the opportunity to work on 100s of commercials and listen to thousands of voice actor’s auditions. I worked with talent agents, casting directors. I had the privilege of directing voice talent in the booth, including Emmy and Oscar winning actors.
One day, I was sitting in a recording session and realized, my passion for acting was not gone!
I made a mid-life career turn to go back to acting full time, first as a voice actor, then into on-camera work. I’m also a voice over coach helping actors break into the VO business; discover their signature voice and book more work.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I’d say my mission is to support my fellow Creatives and help them realize it’s important to take themselves seriously as artists, even when it can feel like the rest of the world is telling us that pursuing our creativity it frivolous or not important
I especially feel compelled to champion Creatives who might be contemplating mid-life career reinventions since that’s exactly what I did :)
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I had to unlearn was “it’s too late to become a full-time actor at this stage of my life.” Essentially, I had to reject the notion that I was too old to pursue my dreams as a Creative.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thejennsims.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejennsims/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejennsims
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejennsims/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thejennsims
Image Credits
Joanna Degeneres (headshots) Noelle Romano