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

Cheryl, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on was launching my first podcast at the beginning of the pandemic; 19Stories: from fear to Hope. 19Stories is about women and men working in various creative endeavors. I’ve interviewed some of the most stellar talent in voiceover, music and broadcasting as well as authors, speakers and coaches.

We have intriguing conversations about the successes, challenges, and fears they’ve faced and what they did to press-through to a future filled with joy and hope. Oh, and we laugh…a lot!

Prior to launching it, I ruminated on another podcast idea for years and when our country went on lock-down, I thought “if not now then when?” I pivoted on the other idea of interviewing creatives, and people in other fields as well, who were 55 and older and thriving in their lives. Although I currently live in Northern California, I was born and raised in Los Angeles which is very youth oriented, and older folks tend to fade in the background, and with that the very interesting lives and stories they have to share.

I’m incredibly grateful that these stories have resonated with folks and been recognized with a 2023, 2022 and 2021 SOVAS Award Nominations for Best Podcast – Producer.

Cheryl, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hey there, I’m Cheryl Holling and I thank you for taking an interest in my story!

I was born to talk as I’m eternally curious in hearing about and telling people’s stories, and as an adult, I now get to do that without being sent to the principal’s office!

I was born into a creative family that originally hailed from Manitoba, Canada and my folks moved to Los Angeles right before I arrived, to pursue a career in the arts. My dad was an actor and director, and my mother had a beautiful soprano voice and sang in everything from community theater to full opera productions at the Dorothy Chandler. Given my mom always gave me pixie haircuts when I was young, I was the perfect fit for the role of a choir boy for a production of the opera Tosca that she was in and I took the stage at age 5. I definitely caught the performing and acting bug early on.

After studying drama, dance and voice in high school, I went onto to college to continue my creative studies. It was then that I was given an opportunity to work at the local NPR station in Santa Monica, CA. which has since become a nationally recognized station. I began there at the age of 18, and have taken a very circuitous route to get to where I am now. I’ve worn many hats in the creative arts and in “secular” jobs. From national radio and record promotion, ad agency producer, to film and television work; both in front of and behind the camera, working on several award shows both as talent and talent producer, before finding my “voice” in podcasting and voiceover.

To answer your question about “what I’m most proud of”, it would be all of the experiences that I’ve had; both the good and the very challenging ones, as they’ve afforded me the opportunity to work with such diverse personalities, fields and environments. I’ve attained skill-sets that I otherwise would not have and learned to be versatile, tenacious in figuring things out and in adopting a heart of service. In the end, no matter what field we choose, it all comes down to serving one another and going the extra mile to do our jobs well. Given I am very human at times, I fall on my face and don’t always get it right, but rest assured that if someone hires me, I will do my best to be attentive to deadlines and the needs of my clients.

As the solo producer, host, researcher and editor of my podcast, I understand and appreciate the time and effort other content creators pour into their projects and I always want to honor and respect that by being someone that others want to work with. That carries into working with me as a voice talent. I get my auditions in on time and when I’m awarded a voice project, I always strive to deliver earlier than expected so my agent or client can move onto completing other aspects of their project. Speaking of voice work, I’ve done commercial, narration, animation genres and of late am getting more medical opportunities presented to me.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is a great question and one that I will answer a couple of ways.

I believe my entire journey illustrates my resilience as it hasn’t been a linear one and certainly hasn’t been easy at times.

As a society we are getting better talking about addictions, mental health and other topics that were tabu for far too long. While I do not suffer from addiction or mental illness myself, I did grow up in a family that had alcoholism and mental illness and that definitely had an adverse affect on me as I was forced to take on responsibility that wasn’t mine to do at a such a young age.

The negative impact it had on me, I’ve dealt with in therapy and still deal with from time to time when unexpected triggers present themselves or I take on other peoples “stuff”. The very positive outcome is that I’m more empathetic, sensitive and aware that everyone has something or someone in their life that is a heartache or they feel a burden for. All the more reason that I strive to create content that is inspiring, entertaining, educational and most of all does no harm.

As far as resilience in my creative journey, I’ve had many starts, stops and delays due to “life” circumstances and yet here I am still here creating and pursuing my hearts desires. It can be really difficult when friends or family members in more traditional jobs look at me as an older woman and question my choices. At the end of the day, and dare I say our lives, it will be our memories, experiences and how we served humanity that matters. Not did I save enough in my 401K…however that its a bad thing if you did.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Wow, this is another great question!

In the United States, we LOVE to hear stories of those who have overcome great obstacles to achieve truly remarkable things creatively. Having said that, we don’t really have systems set up to support the efforts of artists and creatives so they don’t have to struggle before they make a living or thrive.

In Europe and other countries, there are funds allocated to composers and painters to commission works of art or music so said artist can concentrate on creating.

As creative entrepreneurs, voice talent and content creators, we have to be jack of all trades now. Unless you can afford to farm out a large portion of your work.

I’ve had a vision for an artist co-op, and there are version of this that do exist here in the U.S., that consists of a creative collective of studios for voice, stage, film or video, and podcasters to work on their craft, while also providing a business and legal hub that support the efforts of the artists in residence. I even have the name and have fleshed out the vision a bit more, so if there are any investors who’d like to have a conversation then I welcome a phone call.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cherylholling.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylhollingvo/ and https://www.instagram.com/thevoicekitchen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.holling.3
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/chollingvo

Image Credits
Mark Atteberry Becky Deniz Chevalier Adrienne Grechman