We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Burchell McGhee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Burchell, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The naming of my brand came to me from comments from people in various parts of my life. I was the MC of a Run/Walk fundraiser. It was being livestreamed on Facebook showing the winners, but I was off-screen. Someone posted a question asking if it was me. Years later, I was at a panel discussion and a guest asked if I did the announcing for that same Run/Walk because she recognized my voice. I made a few announcements at an event and the host started to refer to me as the voice. Over the next year, two other people started to refer to me as the voice as well. Then I was at the mall talking to a store owner and a woman came out of the back and called my name. She said she knew it was me because she recognized my voice. We had not seen or talked to one another since 1989. That was a shocking confirmation for me. These series of comments along with an analogy my audio-visual tech savvy father said to me years ago formed the name of my brand. I had been practicing a speech or something and he said that in his world my voice was like the voice of God. It was booming and commanding and people would stop and listen. There it was again…The Voice. So I became The Voice of Burchell: The V.O.B.

Burchell, 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?

Hello. I have been employed with our local government for over 22 year. I have educational background in mathematics, business management and human resource management. However, my current job and my education have nothing to do with my career and business ambitions. I had to pose a question to myself. What do I love doing? The answer is reading to myself and others!! I’m interested in creating a career using my voice in the arenas of reading, voice acting, narration and audio description. I currently volunteer for the Mindseye Radio organization: Translating vision into audio for the sight challenged through broadcast and live audio description. Over the past year, I have found great joy and satisfaction providing the live audio description for several plays and musicals including: Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Tempations, Much Ado About Nothing, The Color Purple, In the Heights and In My Granny’s Garden. I actually had a chance to speak with several of the patrons after these productions and they were pleased. That brought me joy and satisfaction and confirmation to my purpose. I’m passionate about reading and sharing my love of reading with the community. My career interest and passions have led to the birth of my business: The Voice of Burchell: The V.O.B. For my clients through my company, I will read and bring to life the one dimensional words and stories on the paper. I can also calm and soothe the soul or command a room with my voice depending on the services that fit your needs.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

My most rewarding aspect of being a vocal artist is the satisfaction from a client. I recently filmed a video clip for a client. My topic of speech was given to me a week earlier. I was given creative freedom with the content and my attire. The night before I sent an audio clip of my content. I arrived early ready and dressed business casual and stylish. An hour and a half was allotted for the production. We did a dry run and filmed. We were done in less than 30 minutes. They were both pleased and amazed. They had time to review and add additional content and views. They actually thanked me for arriving early, being well prepared, versatile and my professional demeanor. I thanked them for considering me. Their feedback to me onsite was wonderful. I was shocked that both the content manager and the event planner/creative contacted me later to inform me that they were very pleased with my performance. That was very rewarding.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Non-creatives may struggle to understand my journey as a creative because they may not view my talent as a creative. I use my voice to transform and bring to life the written words for an audiobook, a speech, the narration of your business video or live description of a play. My voice helps you and others (possibly your market) to visualize whatever story is told or shared or experienced. Whether you need me to read calmly to sooth your soul or command the attention in a room of hundreds, I possess the vocal variety to deliver.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thevoiceofburchell
• Facebook: The Voice of Burchell: The VOB
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/thevoiceofburchellthevob
• Other: TikTok: @burchellmcghee Email: [email protected]