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

Alright, Elise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

My background is in sketch comedy at places like Second City Chicago and UCB. The biggest rule I learned when writing comedy is show don’t tell. You don’t tell the audience when something is funny, you show them the joke. It also taught me to be brave, and try something new even if you don’t know what you’re doing.
During the pandemic when we were all stuck at home I found myself missing my family desperately. Especially my nieces and nephews. They were all so little at the time and FaceTime wasn’t the same. I started creating content for them. One week I would write and perform a silly song. One week I would teach basic sign language with my deaf dog Dory. One week I would write a short story and paint pictures for it. I would then narrate the story with my puppet pal Antony.
Everly was one of those short stories. I decided to write her story into an actual book. The trouble was her story wasn’t quite landing the way I wanted. Everly was supposed to be funny. Then thanks to my nieces and nephews I was introduced to some amazing cartoon literature for kids like Dog Man.
I had never drawn cartoons before or even studied it. But I figured I would give it a shot using the panel style of those books as inspiration! The cartoons felt like illustrations of sketch comedies. Luckily for me I’m drawing and writing for kids. As one of my artist friends said it makes sense my drawings look like they were done by a seven year old!
I have a friend who does layouts for books as a side gig. He loved my story and how punk rock it was. I draw things by free hand and scanning them into the computer. He then helped me format my book so it was able to be printed.
Then came the tricky part. My book does not follow the traditional guidelines of published literature. Also most publishing companies won’t read your book without an agent doing the submission. That’s when I decided to go free style. I self published my book so I could immediately get it out to audiences everywhere.
Everly is about a witch who doesn’t follow the traditional rules. She sets out without permission to achieve to her goals. I decided to follow her example.

Elise , 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?

My father built me a puppet theater when I was 6 years old. I loved creating new characters and finding different voices for them. I got my BA in Drama and my minor in Media Studies. While I was in college I got cast in our college’s improv troop. I was the first woman to be cast. Improv and comedy were very much considered a male dominated field.
This led to me moving to Chicago and performing for theaters like Second City Chicago. I performed and wrote improv and sketch comedy seven days a week for years. While I was there one of my coaches told me I should get into voice over. I was very interested so I paid way too much money for a demo and did a mass mailing of my CD. I happened to be picked up by one of the largest agents in Chicago, Stewart Talent. From there I started booking commercials like Pop Tarts, Maxwell House coffee, etc. I loved it and decided what I really wanted to try next was cartoons.
So I moved to LA. One of my best friends got me an interview with his voice over agency which was one of the largest in LA. They picked me up. I was sitting in the waiting room to do an audition when I fell into conversation with an actor who had been doing voice over since the 80’s. When I told him I was interested in cartoons he smiled and told me it would be ten years before I booked anything like that, but to just be patient. I booked my first cartoon which aired on Comedy Central my second year in LA. Not only was it my first I did most of the female characters and some other children on the show as well.
I find Los Angeles a bit tricky. I don’t fit into any of the stereo types. Hollywood often doesn’t know what to do with me as far as on camera work goes. I’ve never let that stop me though. As artists we can’t wait around for someone else to figure out who we are. We have to create our own opportunities in the mean time. I’m always writing and creating and producing. I’m very much a jump into the pool! We’ll figure out the swimming part once we’re in there!
I got into children’s content because of my family. Jim Henson and Robin Williams were my childhood heroes. They’re story telling abilities as well as their hilarity. What I loved about them was not only the joy they brought, but they made you think. The lessons they showed us stayed with us well into adulthood. I believe we can all make the world a better a place, and humor plays a big part of that. I would like to show kids how to be fearless, bold and brave. With a fart joke or two for good measure! Nothing makes me happier than bringing joy to other people.
Luck favors the prepared. Keep your craft sharp because when opportunity comes knocking you’ll be ready! And if it doesn’t make your chance! None of us need permission to succeed.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

So many wonderful creative ideas are lost because non creative people don’t see the dollar signs on them. Nowadays you have to already have a millions followers or a famous person’s backing before anyone will take a chance on something new. Especially now with AI taking thousands of creative people’s jobs. Ultimately I would love for Everly to become an actual cartoon series. A series where I would employ actual artists to create her world and other voice actors to join me in creating these wacky characters I’ve written. I published Everly Book One: The Familiar in October 2025. I’m wrapping up Everly Book Two: The Potion to be published this year and I’m currently writing Everly Book Three: The Spell. I would love for these books to become so popular I can create work not only for me, but my fellow industry artists.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It’s very difficult in our current climate to be a creative in Los Angeles. Almost immediately after Covid which took so many of our jobs, then our industry went on strike. I found myself struggling to get work so I could pay my bills. As an artist we all frequently have to jump into side gigs to support ourselves. I’ve worked many odd jobs in many odd places like dog salons, to grocery deliveries to working in a zoo. Most of these jobs are physically and mentally demanding. You come home from work and it would be easy to lay on the couch and zone out. However, those few precious hours are the ones you have to do the work that fuels you.
For myself I do my best work in the mornings. So I’ve trained myself to get up early and concentrate on my craft when I’m at my freshest. I have been offered promotions at these other jobs. Believe me as I get older it’s very tempting to “quit my dream” and take the stable path. Maybe if I hadn’t been able to hold onto my health insurance through SAG it would have been more tempting!
When I’m working on Everly a sense of peace fills me. I can hear the quiet voice inside we all have, Mine is saying it’s not time to give up yet. So I’m not.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @raisingdory
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ elise-dubois-53623b6b
• Youtube: @ElisesToyTime