Student Success Stories!!!

Christopher “Zippy” Kaufman

My voiceover career came by way of a pretty devastating corporate layoff from what I considered a dream job, so to say that I was in a sensitive place would be an understatement. Edge Studio’s training program provided me with a foundation, a sense of direction, and the belief that I *CAN* do this at a time when I was questioning if I could do anything at all, much less dive headfirst into what was always a pipe dream of mine. So in a sense, Edge didn’t change my life as much as they saved my life, and for that I’ll always be grateful.

A California native, Zippy is a full-time voiceover actor and a proud Alumnus of Edge Studio’s voiceover training program. Wait why Zippy? The nickname comes from a character he played in a talent show in the second grade. It was his first acting experience and the nickname stuck. Zippy has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). He also attended the Westside Comedy Theater’s (WCT) Standup Comedy and Improv program in Santa Monica, where he wrote and produced a sketch comedy show. He also became a regular performer in WCT’s flagship show, Mission Improvable, as Agent Hammertime. When Zippy isn’t in the booth, you can probably find him in the kitchen making delicious chocolate chip cookies. He currently lives in Las Vegas, and has worked with clients such as LEGOLAND California Resort, Smash Burger, Priced Out (animation series about the Housing Crisis in San Francisco, CA), Google Fiber, Audible, Amazon, MTV/Durex, Ashley Furniture, BI-Lo, Camelback Lodge and Jefferson Bank.

Leslie Aguirre

I began my voice over training with Edge Studio in April of 2017 and it changed my life. A native Spanish speaker, I trained for the Spanish language voice over market at Edge Studio with Ernesto De Villa-Bejjani as my coach. As a Mexican immigrant, newly relocated to the US at the time, Edge taught me how to introduce myself professionally and how to secure clients, thus providing me an opportunity to launch my own business. To truly have a career in this industry you need a solid foundation and Edge provided me with that by ensuring I had all of the proper materials in place to promote and present myself well in this competitive industry. I still do every single thing that Edge taught me, including auditioning every week.

I am so proud to have the opportunity to represent women and the Latinos in the voice over industry. It is challenging, but there is a market for the wonderful and diverse Spanish language, you just have to work diligently and give it everything you have. In the process of my voice over journey, I have secured three agents and have had the honor of working with clients such as Cuyo Films , Saratoga Records, Triple Helice (WalMart Central America 2018), Noise Media (Plus Ultra, Airlines 2018) Círculo Azul (Campaign against violence and HSBC 2019), Schiefer Chop Shop (Boost Mobile 2019) and Riester Sonoran (Arizona 2019).

Natalie Hitzel

Edge Studio is amazing! The experiences with group classes, one-on-one training with working professionals, and recording my demos have just been priceless. My character demo continues to book me games that I never imagined I could be a part of. Thank you to my incredible advisor and mentor, Susanne Pinedo, my two wonderful coaches, Kara Edwards and James Andrews, and to all of the other great people I’ve met there.

A native of Atlantic City, NJ, Natalie is a voice artist, animal lover, video game and cartoon enthusiast, dancer and is well versed in all things tech. She received her an AFA in Theatre/Fine Arts under the direction of Broadway veteran, Deborah Bradshaw. She can be heard as the voice of the Holo Assistant in Cloudfire Studio’s Starport Delta, the voice of Ellen in Tunnel Vision Games’ Lightmatter and Psye in Com8com1’s Rigid force Alpha. Natalie trained for Narration, Commercial and Animation with Edge Studio.

Mark Karten

Having been an actor for the last 30 years, I’ve been told endless times, “You’ve got a great voice.” It never dawned on me that I could just use my voice alone, rather than always auditioning for on-camera jobs.

I was at an actor’s networking event and heard some folks talking about voice over and they suggested checking out Edge Studio. I signed up for the “Investigate Voice Over” class and worked with Danielle Quisenberry, who recommended that I focus on Commercials and Narration to start. I learned that regular voices are in demand (versus announcer types) and being older is a plus since we represent a growing segment of the population.

I signed up the next day and started the full training program with two demos (thanks to my awesome Education Advisor, Shannon Mann). Once I was ready to start coaching, I was teamed up with John Foran. John was beyond wonderful. He was amazingly helpful in showing me how to choose my potential demo material, and finding the nuances of the script as well as how to best perform each one. By breaking down the scripts, I learned what did and did not work for me, training my ear to get the best take on each. It’s that hands-on, laser-focused input that helped me grasp the specifics quickly.

We recorded my first demo six weeks later and it’s excellent. I then had the option to choose a different coach for my second demo, but I was so happy with John that I chose to continue working with him. We then practiced and recorded my second demo five weeks later. The entire process, from start to finish, took five months. I started auditioning on a daily basis from the comfort of my home studio (there is nothing better than that!) and have booked numerous gigs already. So far, I’ve recorded a 20 installment e-learning module, a bunch of social media ads, and right now I’m working on my second audio book.

Edge’s training is all-encompassing. I learned every aspect of the business: from building a home studio, to how to audition, how to market, pros and cons of pay-to-play sites, which software to choose, and detailed instruction on the top choices.

I can’t believe it took me decades to embrace this part of acting, I kick myself for not recognizing this as an opportunity years ago. This now has me working every day and with enough flexibility that I can still do my on-camera acting as well. I continue to learn and push my boundaries to become better in other aspects of voice over, but the key is that I’m working and this was the best decision I could have made.

Mia Bankston

Working with Edge has been life-changing! I learned and grew so much while taking classes and coaching with them. My demos continue to stand out and I consistently book work off of them! I am also honored to have been nominated for a Voice Arts Awards for Best Commercial in 2017. Many thanks to all of the wonderful teachers and HUGE shout out to Carol Monda for the coaching!

Originally a stage actor, Mia has been acting for most of her life. She has had unlimited opportunities to “play” with the spoken word in theatre training at Tennessee State University and the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. She obtained her voice over training from Edge Studio and continues to work with various private coaches. As a full-time voice actor, her home studio is based in NYC.

Client list: The Oprah Winfrey Network, Nick Jr., Chateau St. Michelle, McDonald’s, Random House, Toyota, Pandora Internet Radio, Secret Deodorant, Pantene, General Mills, Remy Martin, Independent Lens, WTMJ-TV Milwaukee, Bank of America, and NBC.

Karen Asconi

Edge Studio was the PERFECT launching pad for my second career! The world of VO had moved WAAAY forward since the ’90s when I first tried to toss my tonsils into the ring. And Edge’s comprehensive class structure gave me a full program that, in addition to finding and honing my “voice”, included necessary Tech/Home Studio, and Business, and Marketing classes. I am SO grateful for EVERY person I connected with, each of whom was passionate about the work, attentive to what I needed, and so much fun to work with. Special thanks to Kristin Price who suggested I seriously consider doing On-camera work. I did. And do. To David Guzzone whose words, “YOU are enough” opened my heart. To Carolee Goodgold who reawakened my singing voice. And to Jay Snyder for “getting me” and stretching my imagination.

A former Theatre Arts and Science educator, Karen has been entertaining people with her voice for almost as long as she has been on the planet. Also a trained vocalist, during her years as “the singer with the band,” she enjoyed getting people of all ages up on the dance floor with renditions of old favorites like “I Will Survive” and “Dancin’ in the Streets.”

Selected Client List:

Alconost, Scholastic, Havas Health, MVP Health, Kevzara, Contadina Pizzetas, Phillips Sonic Care, Hackensack Meridien Health, Burke & Herbert Bank, Amaranth, K. Hovnanian Homes Communities (Westshore, Beacon Park, Sonata, Terra Lago, Indio, New Kent, Leeland Station), Four Seasons, The Gates @Savannah, Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club, Arbor Creek, Autumn Meadows, Cedar Hollows, Founder’s Ridge, Castrol, 3 Beep Studios, National Tri State Trek, National Corn Toss Fundraiser, Private Moon Studios, and You Tell Me Stories.

Randy Latta

Never Too Late!

After a lifetime of “just thinking” about the profession of voiceover I decided to fulfill that dream after retirement from a career in healthcare. As a retired professional, I wanted professional training in voiceover and luckily was referred to Edge Studio to begin my quest.

Endless thanks to my Education Adviseo Fantástica, Susanne Pinedo, and my great coaches Dan Friedman, Jay Snyder, Pen-Pen Chen, and especially David Goldberg who so helped me bring it all together.

I love the online audition arena for the freedom and creativity it provides and I am starting to get significant traction already after just my second year in operation. Develop your ear along with your voice, study and practice hard and above all have fun!

Oh, and did I mention that I am 70?
It’s never too late… 🙂

Recent Clients include:
Amazon Echo, Budweiser, Indonesia, Deloitte Digital, Hashplay, Stella Artois, Qatar, Philips Healthcare, Hungry Howie’s, Formica Group, Goodwill, R-Steel, IPification, M6-Surgical, GE Tonnaire, St Regis, Texdome, HIA, BluTrade, ASCP, Darvis, NeedyMeds, FPNTC, Solas Technology, UCN, VMware

Vidya Murthy

I came to Edge Studio in 2018 because I wanted to become a VO artist following 15+ year career in corporate marketing. VO is a natural extension of my deep love for performance. I have a background as a solo Indian Classical dancer (an art form that is equal parts drama and dance), and performed for diverse audiences across the U.S. and India, received the Princess Grace Award and has enjoyed critical acclaim by the New York Times.

Edge Studio gave me a wonderful foundation to jumpstart me as a VO artist.

I gained valuable insight into what NOT to do while starting out as well which was so helpful. My coach was incredible and so patient with me. I looked forward to every single one of my sessions with her. Both my coach and my advisor, Susanne Pinedo, truly set me up for success.

Clients include:

-SpokenLayer (production company that casts talent for major media brands – voice for WIRED, Foreign Affairs Magazine, Gizmodo, LifeHacker Narratively, Medium)
– Biogen – corp VO
– Dentsu – corp VO
– IPG – corp VO
– Initiative – corp VO

Kimberly Wetherell

I left acting/singing in 1992 to pursue producing and directing opera. Ten years later, I went back to ‘the boards’ one last time when I got a request to fill in for an ill actor and perform with The New Jersey Symphony. At the reception, one of the audience members asked me if he recognized me as one of the voices of NPR’s Selected Stories. Well, color me wildly flattered, but no, I wasn’t. But over the years, those extraordinarily kind words always stuck with me, as I had always loved reading aloud and to do it for a receptive audience (not to mention with a full orchestra behind me) was a true thrill.

When I had a major life upheaval in 2015, I spent several years re-evaluating absolutely everything, and I had to ask myself: What will make me creatively fulfilled AND pay my bills? In January 2019, I finally scrounged up my courage and took an Investigative Voice Over class with John Foran, who said, ‘Yeah! You could *totally* do commercial and narration work!’ I also really wanted to explore audiobooks, so I also had an audiobook evaluation with Johnny Heller and after that, I. Was. In. Love. So one commercial demo and six audiobook samples later, I jumped into the VO deep end with both feet. Ingrid French Management took me on as a commercial/animation client almost immediately (!!!) and I am so proud to say that just over one year after my first coaching, I am now a full-time audiobook narrator and voice actor. I’ve worked with publishers such as Tantor Audio, Pink Flamingo Productions, and ProAudioVoices, as well as having self-produced audiobooks with several independent authors through the ACX platform. I’ve also been chosen to be featured in an ACX University video. Pretty cool, right?

I can’t say enough wonderful things about the foundation Edge Studio gave me. Johnny Heller and Carol Monda are some of the finest audiobook coaches in the country, and I still continue coaching with them today (because your education never ends, y’all). Tom Dheere’s business acumen has kept me grounded and mindful that I am not just an artist, but an entrepreneur. David Goldberg’s advanced audition workouts got me to a place where I’m not [as] terrified to put myself out there and be confident in delivering commercial copy for casting directors. And education advisor Shannon Mann kept me on track and smiling the whole time, making it a joy to walk into the studio every. single. time.

The decision I made to dip my toe into the water at Edge Studio was maybe one of the best I’ve made in my life. It took a good five-to-six months of training to get me to a place where I felt ready to take the leap, and the significant investment I’ve made in myself is already yielding significant results. The past ten months since I officially hung my VO shingle have been simply amazing. I am proof that major life upheavals, while soul-shattering, can also yield some wonderful things once you get to the other side. I am always excited about tomorrow now, and the good folks at Edge are a big part of that.

Anthony Palmini

I am so glad I trained at Edge Studio. The staff is amazing, always pleasant and caring, Education Advisors like Susanne and Kendra really want to help you succeed and feel confident on your voice over journey. My instructors really took their time with me when we had my training sessions. Johnny Heller was an amazing Commercial VO coach, and so was my Animation Coach, Jay Synder. Both coaches taught me the tools I needed to be confident in my vocal choices. I appreciate the killer demos I made with both instructors. With these demos, I was able to submit to a new VO talent agency and get representation from them!

I was grateful that my instructors were able to give me the skills to successfully audition both in-person as well as submitting online with confidence. Now, when I book a gig from an audition sent to me by my awesome agents, I know that Edge was the key to give myself the tools and connections to jump-start this career I have now in the voice over world. Through my time with Edge, my demos, and my agents, I have worked with a number of clients, including New Jersey Lottery radio ads, Amplify Children Educational Videos, and the PGA.

Anthony has been in every aspect of the business, from video editor for MTV, Video director for online sketch comedy for companies such as Buzzfeed and actor/writer for his comedy troupe “Room28”. But his passion was always to be a voice over artist and now thanks to the training he received at Edge Studio he is able to pursue Voice over as his main focus full time. He is based in New York.

Rachel Vega

Long before my official voiceover journey started, I imagined being a voice actor as a child (like recreating commercials and acting like a TV Guide announcer). I was also very active in children’s theater and later the university stage. The Edge Studio program was my first formal experience in voiceover, taking me from “clueless” to “do this!” From the Investigate Voice Over class with the wonderful Noelle Romano, to my kind and thoughtful advisor, Susanne Pinedo, to my talented and inspiring coach, Carol Monda, it was a positive experience resulting in a great demo! These along with the broad range of classes, audition contests, and feedback forums provided me a well-rounded overview of VO. I’m regularly booking great jobs in many genres. Thank you to everyone at Edge who helped make this possible!

I am now a full-time voice actor with a top-notch home studio. I continue to improve my craft through coaching sessions, workout groups, and seminars. Remember that voice over is a life long journey, and we all need to keep practicing to stay on top of our game!

Recent clients include:
Infinity, Inc., PAWS, P3 Fabrication, Book Buddy Media, Red Grove Woodworks, Fitness on the Go , Fraser Institute, RCS Studios , Sounds True, Frisella Nursery, The Every Aspect Podcast, InnovaSea, Brandon Valley Schools, Mad Rose Media, Study.com, XM.com, The Nadia Sahari Show, ESL for Leaders Podcast, Sentry Management, Infinity Trading Group, Intertek Alchemy, Fearlessly Facing Fifty Podcast, Skystar Entertainment (former company; individual now), Reptiles LS, PG Kids

Ken Foster

I ended a 20+ year career as a traveling software & project guy, where I spanned the globe solving other people’s business problems. It sucks to be good at something you hate, and traveling was impacting my personal life and health, so I took time off to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up (at age 45). I’d loved working as a radio DJ after high school, and felt maybe voiceover was something to explore to feed my creative side (largely ignored since college). And maybe I might just be half-decent at it. But no clue where to go, or how to even try to start. Then someone introduced me to the Edge Studio website and training program. Today, even years later, I don’t think there is another such comprehensive, logical & accessible repository of voiceover related information FOR FREE anywhere on the Internet. Many of these resources, like the Script Timer, Rate Info & Script Library, I still use today.

I took the IVO (Investigate Voice Over) class at the very end of December 2013, and lucked out to have David Goldberg leading the class that day. David gave a rundown of basic info & technique, got us in the booth with scripts, and provided individualized comprehensive evaluation a few days after – like if, how, and where I might fit into the VO universe. I received an encouraging thumbs up with some advice, and an outline of Edge’s offerings. Edge Studio’s education program impressed me with its comprehensive approach, logical breakdown of topics, class offerings & talented instructors. And I was soon in webinars, training, & workouts with the help of the Edge-ucation team: Susanne Pinedo & Kendra Baker guiding me towards online classes about The “Biz”, home studio gear & tech, practical techniques and information – from talented folks like Tom Dheere and Danielle Quisenberry. I took in as many webinars, classes and studio events as I could. I made home studio investments – much of that gear I still use today. I started to figure out my way and my brand. When the time arrived, I made my first VO demo – narration – at Edge Studio’s midtown location.

Things have only moved forward from there. I’m fortunate to have a supportive family life, allowing me to dive into this new career direction 100%. From years as a corporate professional, I’ve got a decent perspective on how to move towards success: invest in training, get better each day, practice/practice/practice, and network/network/network (which also means market/market/market). I attended Edge Studio events, and also looked for other VO events, online & in-person, geared towards newer talents. I went to as many voiceover conference events as financially & logistically feasible – like MAVO (Mid-Atlantic Voice Over) & VO Atlanta – and met with peer workout groups online. I made industry connections and friends. I tried out the online casting/P2P sites. I contacted studios, production companies, and sought out coaching/workout events with industry pros. I started booking real voiceover gigs (like, for money ). I made more demos, and explored more genres, and got agency representation. And I lived & breathed all things VO (still do). I maintain that hustle, that approach, that forward momentum every day, and it has evolved into a career in voiceover. I still spend a good amount of the time solving business problems, but now they are MY business problems, and I’m overjoyed to have them.

Recent Clients Include:
McDonalds, Penn State University, MedStar Health, Dennys, Novartis, Walmart, and Temple Health.

Issa Deas

Voice Over began as a hobby…a way to get back in touch with my artistry during a career in business. I had always made voices/characters as a kid and I would remember commercials but VO wasn’t a career in my mind. In fact, my early years were in visual arts. After several years of career burnout, I found I had far more interest in pursuing VO than showing up to a “regular” job. In hindsight, I was always an artist…I allowed myself to hide in a “secure” job for years. Once I was done hiding, at the behest of a friend, I contacted a VO actor who put me in touch with Edge Studio.

I signed up for an intro course and wound up producing my first demo (narration) with Danielle Quisenberry. Although I had no experience in the industry, I wasn’t a fan of “get rich quick” type classes (it’s a red flag in any line of work). I knew that anything you want takes work and focus. Edge didn’t do any of that; no silly gimmicks. The Investigate Voice Over class was an honest assessment of my potential and they “shot straight” with me. I decided to record my first demo with them and got training I still touch on today: breaking down the copy, personalizing the script (who are you and who are you talking to?), which words move the script forward and need more emphasis, how the script suits you, and most vitally: sounding like a human being. Anyone can just read words aloud, but a voice actor has to bring the script to life. While the industry has changed a bit, those lessons and the takeaways have not.

The next several years were (and still are) filled with acting classes, improv classes, and private coaches, all of which to some degree or another are still relevant today. I’m a believer that you should always be sharpening your “tools” no matter where you are in your career. Fast forward to today and I am a full time voice actor, still attacking the industry the same way I did all those years ago: one foot in front of the other.

Selected Client List: NBA, Ubisoft, Staples, Voss Water, City of Hope, FanDuel

Liz Drury

My first experience with voice over was when I was working as a TV presenter at a local cable TV station in the UK, called Channel Seven. I would sometimes voice commercials for the channel, or narrate various documentary features. In 2011 my husband was asked to go and work in the States for a couple of years so we moved to Maryland.

I booked my first voice over job in the States when a friend introduced me to a local studio, but I quickly realized that I would only book more work and better paid work if I had a professionally produced demo – which wasn’t something I felt I could do for myself.

I began to do some research as to who could produce some demos for me, and this led me to Edge Studio. What I really like about Edge is the fact that they won’t train just anybody – you assess everyone first to decide whether it’s worth their time and money. I went along to an Investigate Voice Over class in Washington DC in early December 2013. Edge suggested that I train towards multiple demos, and I signed up!

I absolutely loved all the training and looked forward to each webinar and coaching session. I recorded my commercial and corporate demos in March 2014 and my audiobook demos in May 2014. My coaches were Carol Monda, Danielle Quisenberry, and Naomi Jacobson. I also attended a workshop with David Goldberg in Washington DC which was really valuable – and I have kept David up to date with my progress ever since then.

My work is very varied, though I tend to do more corporate than commercial work. I do a lot of e-learning and corporate narration, and along with voicemail/on-hold this is the bulk of my work. I’ve also recorded many audio tours and these are probably my favourite kind of scripts. I’ve worked on some really interesting and fun projects, and two I did last year really stand out. The first was recording a series of extracts from a Second World War POW’s diary, and the second was being the voice of a train that took children to see Santa at a local farm park!

My voice has been used by some well known companies over the last seven years. These include Bulgari (TV commercial), Hilton Garden Inn (staff training programme), Booking dot com (Voice of God for their annual launch event), Nestlé (Voice of God for an awards evening), JCB (health and safety video for their factory tour), Siemens (promotional video), Emirates (radio commercial), and many others.

I have continued to train in various genres of voice over, most recently in documentary narration and also lip sync and dubbing. There is always more to learn.

One of the ways I market my business is by going to networking events and I have made something of a name for myself in the voice over community as an ‘expert’ in networking. Last September I was invited to speak at the VoiceOver Network’s annual conference on this topic.

I absolutely love my job and I can’t imagine ever doing anything else now!

Garrett Thompson

My voice over story is a bit different than most. Right out of college, I got a job working at a children’s theatre as a resident actor and composer in South Korea. While there, it was my job to record scratch/approval tracks for the songs I was composing for the shows. In doing so, I was spending a lot of time in the booth doing character voices. When my time in Korea was coming to a close, I had to decide what my next steps would be and I realized that recording those voices was one of my favorite parts of my job. That, combined with a lot of people saying I have a good voice and my previous acting experience, made me think that I should give VO a try. One of the best decisions I made in a long time.

Fast forward to being back Stateside; to start my voice over career I started taking classes at Edge Studio. I had the pleasure of producing both a Commercial and Narration demo under the coaching of Kara Edwards and James Andrews, respectively. Their phenomenal instruction along with Edge’s emphasis on teaching the business side of things led to a significant amount of work. A little over a year after finishing those demos, I felt I was ready to produce a character demo to try and get work in that arena, ultimately where my end aspirations lie. With coaching from Jay Snyder, I finished my Character demo. Yet another tool in my arsenal!

I have been extremely blessed in my voiceover career thus far, but there is still a long way to go in my voiceover journey. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Notable Clients: Listerine, Glad, Clorox, Bimbo Bakeries, Saving Dreamland (In Post Production), Fishbytes for Kids Podcast (Series Regular).