075 The Vocal Empowerment Series - Nic Chats to Samara Bay!

My guest Samara Bay is an Author, Coach, Podcast Host and International Speaker. We delve into Samara's passion for studying accents and their origins, how we relate to the sounds we hear, and how we are socially conditioned to think about them. We talk about the social phenomena of judging and being judged by how we sound, and what it really means to sound like our true self.Samara also talks about her experience of losing her voice in her 20s, shares her thoughts on vocal empowerment and tips on how to embrace it. What You Will Learn In This Episode:- Which factors contribute to an accent's existence, acceptance, and judgement- The stories that fictional characters tell us just by the way they sound- Why some accents make us automatically think of a dumb, intelligent, or tricky person - Why it seems easier to create a vocal persona instead of sounding like our true self- About the cultural mandate of hiding what we care about- What vocal empowerment means to Samara, and what is the best way to embrace itSamara worked as a Hollywood dialect coach for over 10 years, with massive stars from blockbuster movies like Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy. She is passionate about decolonising public speaking, and debunking the invisible voice biases that hold voice workers back. She is the author of "Permission to Speak: How to Change What Power Sounds Like, Starting with You" and host of the Permission to Speak Podcast.Resources:- Join The Voice & Accent Hub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevoiceandaccenthubv - Find out more about Samara & pre-order Permission to Speak: https://www.samarabay.com/ - The Voiceover Social Podcast episode on The Birmingham Accent: https://www.thevosocial.com/the-vo-social-podcast/episode/fd0923cf/brummie - The Voice & Accent Hub https://www.facebook.com/groups/160080935058642/ - Talk to me about coming to the Ultimate Voice Getaway: Ultimate Voice Getaway Retreat - Nic Redman- Sign up to my newsletter https://nicolaredman.com/newsletter/- Follow me on Instagram instagram.com/nicredvoice