Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex Picard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alex, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

All my life, I wanted to be two things, an actor, and a teacher. I loved being creative, but I also loved stability and health insurance… I got my BA in Education, and after graduate school where I got my MFA in Acting I ended up back in Boston where I was raised. I was substitute teaching and auditioning when I got a call that a High School theatre program lost their teacher and needed a sub. I ended up teaching that day at noon, and then I was the theatre teacher there for three years. I followed that job with more high school teaching at another school and finally found myself a Professor of Theatre in Higher Education for 14 years. 23 years of teaching theatre. I had security, I had healthcare, and now I had a family as well. Then things at work (a job that had always fulfilled me) started to go south. The culture had changed, the college’s priorities were out of line with my wants and hopes for my students, my co-worker started down a road that created a great deal of stress in the theatre and my last five years there were truly awful. I was constantly stressed, and became physically ill. It was terrible, but I couldn’t see a way out. My husband was begging me to leave, but the idea of leaving a steady job was absolutely terrifying. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else! I’d continued acting with a summer theatre while I was teaching, but that was just one show a summer with a regular company – there was nothing sustainable about that. How would I continue to help support my family? What would I DO? I truly felt I had no other skills to offer. I was 46 years old and there was nothing appealing about starting over at 46. I knew that the state of Higher Ed had changed and finding a full time job teaching theatre was incredibly difficult – It was all adjunct work. So I stayed, and I became more ill and miserable. My family finally drew the line – they were done – I was unhappy and needed to leave. And then there was a pandemic. I was teaching on zoom, but I was home – I started to feel better, started to enjoy things again – had time with my kids and husband – time to read and rest. That summer a friend of mine who was an audiobook narrator posted that he was taking students for coaching. I mentioned it to my husband and he said to give it a shot. So later that week I found myself on a zoom learning the ropes about audiobook narration. I continued to teach as we moved out of the pandemic but I then found myself with my first book. I did four books that year while I taught full time. That winter I started to picture a life without that job…. that January I resigned. I took the leap. I decided to bet on me. I finished up the spring semester while narrating as well. I narrated that summer and that winter taught one part time class. That year I managed 16 books. Last year was my first full year as a narrator and not only am I healthy and happy, I am making money, I am creatively challenged every day, and I am contributing to the support of my family and my home. Resigning from that job was terrifying, but I am grateful every single day that I took that risk.

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 have been a professional actor my whole life and an audiobook narrator for the last three years. I started coaching with a fellow narrator and have not looked back since. I am a theatre actor, director and producer as well. My entire life I was always told that I was “a lot” a little to loud, a little to much… So, I named my LLC Not Too Loud Productions. I’ve made a career of being “too much” and I love all that comes with – the big feelings, the big laughs, the big life. I am a snarky loud lady who dearly loves making people laugh. Don’t ask me to cook and don’t ask me to make anything grow – but I was once called the Meryl Streep of New England, An Annette Bening/Olympia Dukakis type and once ran a marathon on purpose (and not while being chased).

As a classically trained actor I excel at bringing the listener to the authors world and connecting the audience with the story. Diving into the emotions and subtleties of a text and the hearts of characters is a joy and a strength I have in my work. I can find the humor in one line and the depth in the next. From Sci-fi to Thrillers, to Cozy Mysteries, to Romance, Women’s fiction and more I connect with characters, give them a distinct sound and feel and always stay true to the author’s world and intentions.

I am so proud of my work in a variety of genres, but never more so than when I hear from a happy author who says “You made her sound exactly as I heard her in my head!”

I recently won Outstanding Actress in a Professional Production for playing Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the New Hampshire Theatre Awards and am starting to work in Commercial Voice Over helping small companies to reach their clients in TV spots, radio ads, or online videos.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Lots of people like to plan. Plan their major in college, the time in their day, the days in their weeks, the perfect job that leads to the perfect promotion and then find a path and stick with it. But whether you’re a creative or not and whether you like it or not, no road is straight. And the harder you try to make it so, the harder it will work to twist and turn and you’ll find yourself lost. You never know what road will get you where you need to be… or even better… where you need to be that you never would have dreamed of to begin with. Hard work leads to opportunities and opportunities lead to growth and change and amazing roads that you never knew you wanted to travel. If someone had told me when I was in college training to be an Elementary School teacher that I would get an MFA in acting and eventually run my own business as a Voice Actor, I would have laughed them out of the room. But sometimes getting a job as a stage manager when you can’t find acting work leads you to replacing a lead in a show that had to leave the production. And sometimes that lead role leads you to being the Managing Director of that small theatre for five years.  That leads to substitute teaching, then a teaching job and taking a chance on some coaching and a whole new career you never would have imagined.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Some people have jobs that are exactly that… jobs. They go, they work, they leave, repeat. There’s nothing wrong with that and many many people are perfectly happy with their jobs and their lives. But as an artist and actor and narrator, while I do love the JOB aspect of my work, there is a fulfillment that goes beyond the work. A deep sense of purpose and engagement, of connection and insight, of satisfaction and joy that reaches beyond the job to not just your own mind and heart, but to others who listen to, view, or enjoy your work. Stories change lives. People see themselves in characters on stage or in films or books. They find their journeys in the stories they experience and see themselves in the struggles and conflict they witness. That’s the reward. The complete silence of an audience after a poignant moment on stage. The tears shed after their favorite scene in a movie. The late nights spent listening to just one more chapter. There is simply nothing more rewarding than that. What we do as creatives feeds peoples lives. Gives them answers they are seeking and hope they are craving. What could be better?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexpicard.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/it_sounds_like_alex/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-picard-a5803a2/
• Other: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@it_sounds_like_alex

Image Credits
Headshot by Nile Scott Studios Shots in Boston by Megan Hotaling Shot on stage by Erin Nicholson Smith All others selfies.