Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dalia Ramahi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dalia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
I am a professional voice actor and one of the biggest risks I took was leaving my cushy well paying corporate career to go into voice acting full time. This was back before I knew how to run a voice over business. I was so burnt out in the finance sector and had saved up a good bit over my 15 year career at that point that I just wanted out. I was already taking voice acting lessons and had my first demo done so I thought why not?!! Of course this was the time before Facebook groups were really a thing and being connected to the voice over community was a lot more challenging, esp. being in the DC area and away from the major hubs like LA/NY. Back in those days, remote wasn’t really an option for a lot of jobs esp. in animation/video games and lots of coaches or mentors only did in person classes so finding a quality coach was frustrating. I had no clue how to get started after my demo but I knew this was the career for me.
To say I struggled my first few years is an understatement. I did everything that coaches today tell you not to do. Sometimes, I look back and cringe at myself when I think about those early days. Other times, I just have to laugh about it. I wasn’t going to quit or give up on myself so I did what I could to figure it out. It ended it up with a lot of trial and error and I mean lots of errors! lol. It was a very lonely experience though. There were lots of nights I cried myself to sleep wondering what I had done. My family and friends kept asking when I would get a real job. People would roll their eyes when I told them what I did as if I was some flake who was just looking for fame. I had little support so I had to learn to rely on myself. I had a really strong why though and that kept me going. I was supporting myself in those days through odd jobs and my dog walking business. I almost quit though permanently. We’re only human after all and after a few years in and no “wins” (back then I had a more imbalanced unhealthy definition of success and plenty of negative self-talk), things started looking hopeless and bleak.
As you’ll learn a little later in this interview, I hit some lows and thankfully found my way through to have a thriving career . I’m grateful every day for taking risks and pursuing a life that feels rich and rewarding. I have a new definition of success now that includes being able to live each day with peace in my mind and heart while staying open to the opportunities that come my way. The biggest thing taking risks has shown me is the art of pivoting. We’re not going to get to where we want to be by staying still, stuck or doing the same things over and over if they’re not working.
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 am a professional voice actor. I lend my voice to different projects and audio/visual mediums. I’m also bilingual and have been able to leverage that in my career. I provide voice over services in both English and Arabic which I’m native in. I define my business as a holistic service that can provide an authentic voice for my clients that allows them to connect more intimately with their audience. I also do script writing for ADR/Dubbing and copywriting. We only have a couple of seconds to get a viewer or listener’s attention so being able to deliver a copy in a compelling way immediately is a skill and one that I possess thanks to my years of training and experience. I have voiced commercials, e-learning, kids learning content, corporate narrations, video games, audiobooks, animated projects, dubbed roles in both English and Arabic, and documentaries. My passion is in video games but I am so happy to get to work in any genre so I like to keep my skills sharp by training regularly.
I’m proud of the career I have cultivated and the most important thing I would like to communicate is that I’m most proud of my journey. I have gotten to voice so many incredibly cool projects and connect with so many talented people in this industry from around the globe.
Covid was definitely a turning point in my career because it made jobs from major hubs more accessible with remote recording. As someone who was already set up with a home studio, I hit the ground running. There are plenty of opportunities if you know how to look for them. I believe this career is one anyone can thrive in if they really want it bad enough.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’ll never forget it, It was Jan 1st, 2016 (New Year Day) and I was walking a dog for a client at 7 am. It was freezing and there was snow and sheets of ice on the ground. I was slipping and sliding and bam! I fell on my back. The dog got away from me and ran off. (lol don’t worry he came back shortly after). I had hit the back of my head and was on my back when I thought oh my god, this is my life. I’m tired and failing and I can’t see my way through. I started crying right there on the sidewalk not attempting to get back up. I literally told myself, maybe it’s time to quit and go back to corporate life. I had cried so hard I was gasping for air. It was the first time in years that I broke down like that. When I had the thought of just walking away from all of it, I turned to my side to get up and right there was a beautiful decorative white garden stone with a dragonfly and on it were carved the words “Believe in yourself”. On the front door was a hanging scroll thingy that said “You got this”. And being a person who doesn’t believe in coincidences but rather divine timing and synchronicity (even though I didn’t know that’s what it was called back then) I thought oh my god this is my sign!! I literally jumped back up before slipping again and falling on my side because of well…ice… but this time I literally rebounded and got back up quickly. The dog had come back and I had this renewed energy. I had this amped up feeling and fire in my belly. I got back to work and decided to get more coaching and get acting lessons. I resolved to travel to wherever I needed to if that’s what it took. The minute I reaffirmed my commitment and made my intentions clear, things just started to fall into place.
I found coaches, a community, friends in the industry and I finally started to flow. And it was all remote (Shout out to the GVAA because they were one of the few that did remote voice acting classes back then.) I found my stride. I call this period my official relaunch of my voice acting career. In addition to finding the support I needed, I also found my voice ironically. I’m not talking about the voices I did, but my actual authentic speaking voice. Speaking my truth and letting myself be comfortable with being seen and heard as I am without fear of rejection. I learned to become more assertive. Find my inner strength and work on my sense of self worth as well. I learned to be more confident but that definitely didn’t happen overnight. With each new connection I made and experience I gained, my confidence steadily increased until one day I realized, I deserve to have this career. When I look back at my career, I like to think of those first few years as me failing upward. With every failure, I learned something new and did it better the next time. I learned to find auditions, network, send emails, and hustle. It got me to where I am today and I’m super proud of everything I went through. I wouldn’t be who I am today without all of those experiences and I really love who I am today.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Some years ago, I was struggling to book more work in characters (like games, animation, etc). I realized even after coaching and training and doing a demo, something wasn’t working. I pivoted by taking more acting classes. Once I did, I started getting more work. It was like magic!! Prior to that, I had lost my way a little and began overthinking my auditions. I focused on how I sounded rather than the delivery and kept getting into my own head. Taking acting courses again with a fresh mindset helped to get me out of my head and into my scenes. I swear I started booking almost immediately or getting call backs every other day. I saw a significant increase simply by accepting what wasn’t working and deciding to take action.
Sometimes we have to pivot in our businesses. You can’t really see where you need to go if you don’t know where you are in the present. Self accountability is essential for a business owner. You need to check in with yourself and honestly assess where you are at in relation to where you want to be. It’s not always easy but I promise you, if you can self-assess, accept, and take action, your business will be rewarded. Sometimes staying the course doesn’t mean doing the same thing over and over if it’s not working. It means adjusting, adapting, and moving forward in other ways to get to your goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/DaliaRamahi
- Instagram: @dalia_ramahi_vo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dalia.ramahi.5/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalia-ramahi/
- Twitter: @DaliaRamahi – https://twitter.com/DaliaRamahi
Image Credits
Ishtar – SMITE