We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenn Overton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenn below.

Alright, Jenn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

Being realistic with how much I am able to handle at once! I am still in the beginning stages of my career, and a lot of the time the biggest priority for me has been to get as much hands-on experience as possible. This led to me saying yes to a lot of projects I was excited about that were all happening in one period of time. While those projects were all super fun to work on and gave me the experience I was looking for, I would constantly neglect my own health in order to get everything done. There is no way to avoid stress completely, but I realized I was consistently putting myself in an unsustainable position where I was way more stressed than I needed to be.

It is taking some time, but learning what I can realistically do in a given period of time while still leaving room to take care of myself has been crucial to not only having a sustainable way of working, but also still being able to fully enjoy what I do. Being better about writing my entire schedule on a calendar has helped me a lot. This gives me a more tangible thing that tells me “no you actually don’t have time to take on these other things, sleep has to happen!”. I think a part of me was worried I would miss out on something or not be competitive enough to succeed, but burning myself out this early certainly isn’t going to help.

I still struggle with overdoing it sometimes, but since I have worked on a few projects I have a better understanding of how long things take and what I can realistically do. While I’m sure I will still have schedule related stress in the future, I will hopefully have more tools to manage it along the way.

Jenn, 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?

I am a sound designer in Chicago IL! I jumped into this field coming from a background in music education and saxophone performance. Even though I am not directly in music anymore, the skills I gained from that experience have helped my work in sound quite a bit! Within sound design I am mainly focused on video games, creating sound assets and implementing them using middleware. Video games have always been a large part of my life, and being a part of the creation process has been insightful and fun!

When I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, sound design wasn’t even something that I knew I could do as a career. Towards the end of undergrad, I came across some sound design behind-the-scenes videos for a game I liked, and my gut said “that is something I want to do” in a definite way that I had never felt before about any career path. The more research I did made me more solidified in my decision. While my main focus has been on games, I have also been able to dive into audio dramas, sound synthesis, and digital instrument building. One of the biggest things I was looking for in a career was being able to enjoy the job I do, and sound design definitely fulfills that.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My biggest pivot was between undergrad and grad school. This was when I decided to make the change from music ed to sound design. The main issue I was facing at that point was that I had no experience and didn’t really know where to start. After looking at different schools and self teaching routes, I found Northwestern’s MA in Sound Arts and Industries program. One of the big draws of it is that it teaches from the ground up, so anyone can join regardless of prior sound experience. I felt like this was my best chance to break into the industry, so after student teaching I got a remote job to pay rent and did the program part time.
The biggest fear I had with this change was that I would have the same feeling of it not being right for me like I had with music ed. That fear went away within the first month of the program. I don’t think I have ever felt as happy with what I was learning as I did with my sound classes. Coming out of the program I can say I have no regrets with this pivot, and am excited to see where the rest of my career leads as I learn more.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I have always enjoyed the collaborative aspect of sound design. It is extremely rewarding to work together as a team and make our shared vision become a finished project we are all proud of. Not only do I get to learn about perspectives and fields I am not as experienced with, but I also get to work with great people who are as passionate about their craft as I am with mine. Whenever I work on a project with someone else I feel like I gain something as an artist or just as an individual that I may not have gained if I only worked with myself. As someone who is more introverted, working on a team has also helped me come out of my shell a bit and forge connections with people as we work towards a common goal. I treasure those connections, and am excited to make more!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://overtonaudio.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-overton-1087691ba

Image Credits

Troy Cruz