We recently connected with Cassie Sikes and have shared our conversation below.

Cassie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Creativity was foundational to my upbringing. Whether it was a play, speech competition, or simply making up lyrics to old songs in line in the cafeteria, I loved to express myself creatively. As a kid, I saw it as a fun part of my personality. But pursuing it professionally seemed out of reach. So I followed the traditional career path. Go to college, work hard, land a job at a big corporation.

I was good at following directions, so I fit right in. While the success I experienced on that path fed my ego and afforded me many opportunity’s I will always be grateful for, it wasn’t fulfilling. Sure, being a project manager felt important. I did enjoy parts of the job and the team I worked with. But, the long hours and high stress eventually wore me down. I was burnt out. I didn’t have time to focus on staying happy and healthy. My spiritual life and faith were suffering as well, two things that I claimed were my priorities. Quitting that job with no clue of what I would do next was terrifying. I was tempted to hop right back into a traditional 9-5, just somewhere else. Fortunately that’s not what happened!

I’m a list girl. So I started to write down job possibilities on a white board, and erased them if I decided it wasn’t a good fit. Jobs in banking, aerospace manufacturing, and teaching came and went. But there were two things that stuck. (Well, technically three. I’m not sure why I put “improv” on there, but it made me laugh to see it). What did I keep? Voice acting and Jibber Jabble. For reference, Jibber Jabble is a card game I had created in 2020, but had only ever tried to sell it to friends and family via word of mouth. As for voice acting, I had taken classes years before but never tried to make it happen. I saw two options that I could sense would be fulfilling, but also quite outside of my comfort zone, as I had never considered myself to be entrepreneurial. So I kept them on the board, but I hesitated. Admittedly, I needed more time to recover from the burnout of my last job.

A month after I left that job I found myself around a campfire at a family reunion. I was talking to my cousin Colten about possible careers, when the idea of voice acting came up. It was something I had really been interested in, but I’m one of those people who waits to jump until someone affirms I can do it. And, thankfully, that’s what my cousin did. He simply said “Cassie, I’m serious. You should really give it a shot”. Colten ran his own business as a videographer, and regularly used voice actors, so his words carried weight. He gave me some advice on where I could start, and let me know that he would follow up in a month to make sure I was going for it. That was enough to push me over the ledge. After the campfire we went back inside for some late night games. And what did we play? Jibber Jabble. It was a hit! I knew that when I got back home, I had some work to do. I owed it to myself to give both of these endeavors a shot.

Cassie, 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’ll start with voiceover. Basically, I offer my voice to be used with a wide range of project. This includes audiobook, narration, video game animation, commercials, and more! With my rich history in acting and public speaking, I feel I can really bring life to most any script. I also have a custom-built recording booth in my house, which allows me to deliver audio files very efficiently. With my background in business and project management, my clients can rest assured they will have a professional experience working with me.

When it comes to Jibber Jabble, this is a cooperative “guess the secret word” party game. Basically you work as a group to give clues to one player to help them guess a secret word. The catch is that you have to spell out the clues one letter at a time, without table talk. There are also power cards and hidden roles to spice things up. It’s an extremely simple game to learn and can be played with three or more people. I’ve even played with up to 30 people at a time! It’s perfect for family game nights, road trips or any moment you want to fill with a little fun. I’m getting into retail stores and can also be found on jibberjabble.com.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yes! Especially when it comes to my card game. There is a whole community of tabletop game designers who are so willing to help newcomers. Whether it be Facebook pages, discord channels, or play-testing conventions, there are so many opportunities to learn from others and get feedback. I had been operating as a one-woman show in creating the game, afraid that someone would take my idea if it got out. Turns out, that’s not a huge issue in the board game community. Everyone is extremely supportive and wants to see you succeed.

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

My faith is really important to me. And part of what I believe is that we were created with design and purpose. I believe we are given unique talents. Being creative is a way for me to recognize my full potential. I feel more in tune with God when I’m using what he gave me. The peace that comes from that is worth far more to me than the ego boost from a big commission.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jibberjabble.com and cassieonthemic.com
• Instagram: @jibber_jabble and @cassieonthemic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568478513383&name=xhp_nt__fb__action__open_user
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_feed-secondary_nav

Image Credits

Jacey Sikes