We recently connected with Anne Ganguzza and have shared our conversation below.

Anne , appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I am grateful to be able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. However, it certainly didn’t happen overnight. My overnight success was a 10-year journey of hard work, with many twists and turns along the way. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, truth be told. I have learned so much on my journey! As an educator for over 35 years, I consider myself a lifelong learner, and that is something that will always keep the challenge going and my spark lit. Stagnation is detrimental to me. I think one thing that I have learned along the way that has served me well is to always be authentic and true to both myself and my clients. I find that it is always appreciated. And that no matter what, its the relationships that truly matter for a successful business. I do wish that I had given myself more grace in the beginning of my career, as fighting off sabotaging thoughts and imposter syndrome was a tremendous time suck, and I think about how many more relationships I could have nurtured instead, or how many other opportunities I could have had to really make a difference – either using my voice, or by mentoring more students to realize their dreams and build their businesses.

Anne , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a voice actor, coach, and award-winning producer located in Orange County, California. I am also the Founder and host of the popular VO BOSS podcast, which is about the business and entrepreneurship of Voiceover. Prior to starting my own creative business, I worked as a biomechanical design engineer for Stryker, designing hip and knee prosthetic devices. I then moved over to education and Information Technology for more than 20+ years. All of which helped shape my business today. The combination of creative and technical truly inspires and challenges me always to keep both myself and my business evolving. I definitely try to do something every day that scares me just a little so that I can learn and be the best I can be. I’m proud of being able to use my voice to elevate my clients’ brands, as well as to help motivate and educate my students and podcast listeners. I am committed to always having a heart of service to my clients that drives me to have purpose beyond profit.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have had to pivot multiple times in my career – once for health reasons, and other times due to adjusting to technological disruptions in our industry. As a cancer survivor, my business was challenged while navigating my diagnosis and illness – both mentally and physically. As a creative whose brand is very personally affected by health, I was affected both negatively and positively. Negatively as the emotional and physical toll the diagnosis took on my body. Performing behind the mic requires both mental and physical stamina to do it right, and I had days where it was really tough. Thankfully I had great clients who were able to understand and grant me time extensions if needed, and working as an entrepreneur, I could take the time to go to doctors’ appointments and recover when I needed to. Positively – I had a much clearer perspective once I started to heal. Anything that would have stopped me from performing before the illness (ie imposter syndrome, fear of really trusting my characters and voice) just seemed so small when compared with the illness that I had just survived. And I could transition back into working more hours when I felt capable. Home wasn’t far away – It was mere footsteps.

Technologically speaking, there was the evolution of the home studio that drove us all to have to learn about sound engineering enough to be able to build our own studios and produce broadcast audio from our homes rather than record in professional studios. This became of utmost importance during the pandemic when there was no choice but to record from home, This also led to online everything for our business, including online casting sites and audition opportunities – allowing us a more global audience.

Also, the evolution of AI and synthetic voice is something that has the potential to truly affect our industry. Thankfully my 20+ years of experience working in technology has taught me to welcome the challenge – live on the edge of technology and embrace it – to work with it and have my business evolve. The best way to do this is to research and educate myself I chose to do this through my Voice and AI series on my VO BOSS podcast. In addition to becoming a resource for the voiceover community, it has helped me to really strategize how I can provide voice services to my clients now as well as in the future.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are several ways that society can support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem. Having been an educator for over 35 years, I truly believe that education is KEY. This can include things like art schools, workshops, and other opportunities for artists and creatives to learn new skills and techniques. Also, provide financial support such as grants, sponsorships, and funding opportunities for artists and creatives to pursue their work. And something I teach all of my students – To VALUE their worth – To have people recognize and value the contributions of artists and creatives: This can include things like awarding prizes and grants, and providing public recognition for the work of artists and creatives. This is especially important as synthetic voice evolves – and one of the main reasons for the Voice and AI series of my VO BOSS podcast. Companies developing synthetic voice must recognize the value of the artist – their voice as a true asset in the creation and licensing of synthetic voice – and how it can contribute to the development of the industry. This will also involve protecting intellectual property such as copyright laws and other measures that help ensure that artists and creatives are able to control and benefit from their creations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anneganguzza.com/, https://www.voboss.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aganguzza, https://www.instagram.com/vo_boss/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnneGanguzzaVoice, https://www.facebook.com/VOBossPodcast/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneganguzza
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/anngan

Image Credits
Images by CeCe Canton – https://www.cecephoto.com/index