Amy Vaughan:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our weekly Power Lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughan and I am the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. You can join the movement at togetherindigital.com and today we are joined by someone who is literally changing the sound of an entire industry. Kristi Harst is a voiceover actor, former college athlete, and fierce advocate for gender equality and media. When Christy encountered the barriers women face in sports voiceover work, she didn’t just break through for herself. She founded Building Doors VO to create opportunities for women in the industry historically dominated by male voices. Christy’s voice has become the national brand voice for YouTube, TV, Walmart and John Deere.
Amy Vaughan:
But her real impact goes far beyond the mic. She is using data and storytelling to challenge the status quo in media representation, proving that equality isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s good business, as we all know. Working from her studio, Brick Studio in Cleveland, Ohio, holler to our Cleveland members and fans. We love Cleveland. Christy has become a leading voice for gender diversity and the voiceover community. And today she’ll share how women across digital fields can amplify their voices and build their own doors. Welcome, Christy. We’re so excited to have you here on the Power Lounge.
Christy Harst:
Yay. I’m very excited to be here too.
Amy Vaughan:
Fantastic. Well, we are here with our live listening audience as well, so. Hi, listening fans. We love that you’re here. You know, you could be anywhere else, but you chose to spend some time with us today. Use that chat. Let us know if you have questions for Christy. You’re already getting lots of shout out and love in the chat, so look at that.
Amy Vaughan:
We’re off to a great start there. Fantastic. Don’t be shy. Ask your questions. I’m going to go through a number of questions and then I’ll check in with y’ all one more time before we go into our power round of some fun little rapid fire questions. But Christy, you know, originates such an important aspect of life, who we are, where we came from, how we came to be, who we are. It’s always inspiring to hear that. I’m curious, you went from a college athlete to a voiceover actor and now an inequality advocate. What made you realize that the voiceover industry needed a dorm built and not just a knock on that little door?
Christy Harst:
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity to kind of share a little bit more about how I got to where I am today. I also want to say thank you very much to all the door builders who are in the chat who showed up. Yay. Thank you. I love it. So I majored in broadcast communications in college and I wanted to be the next Barbara Walters. For those people who are not familiar with who Barbara is.
Amy Vaughan:
Don’t know what to say. Yeah, go on.
Christy Harst:
Barbara. You know, as a 12 year old girl, I was raised in a very strict Catholic house and I wasn’t allowed to watch a lot of things on tv. And so on Friday nights I would sit because, you know, that’s, that’s what we did. We were cool. I sat with my parents on Friday nights and watched 20 20. And so I remember I stood up after watching her many times and said, I’m going to replace her someday. And my dad laughed. You know, Barbara was the only woman who was on the Nightly News. Literally the only woman. She was interviewing some of the most powerful and some of the most influential people in the world.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And had a reputation for making them cry, getting them emotional.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And so as a young girl, to see that. Right. As an example and as the only example.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
I took that and wanted to become much more. I wanted to be Barbara. I wanted to get Barbara out of her chair. So I went to college, and majored in broadcast communication. And I was at my final internship. I had four internships in college and the last one was at MTV in New York.
Amy Vaughan:
Nice.
Christy Harst:
And I saw how women, specifically this one woman, she was. There were three top positions at mtv. Two men and one woman. And my intern desk was right diagonal.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, wow.
Christy Harst:
And what I saw and what I heard was not something I wanted to do.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
I didn’t want to have to be like that. No. To get to Barbara status. And so if I’m at MTV and I’m a senior in college and I’m seeing this woman who’s at the top of her game.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And she has to act like this. I don’t want it.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
So I said, well, I’m just going to get some other type of job. A job. So I worked in nonprofit and government and real estate development doing marketing and PR. So I had about 10 or so years in marketing PR. And I would drive every day to work and listen to commercials on the radio. And I would be disgusted. I can do so much better than that. Why am I not doing that? And so I made a New Year’s resolution one year to get an agent.
Christy Harst:
And I did. And I had that agent for 17 years. And I did national television commercials on camera. It started off with a lot of on camera because when you’re, you know, 22, you get booked to play the 40 year old mom. Yeah, right, yeah. So now that I am bc. No, I’m sorry, that was BC before children. Now that I’m after children, I don’t do as much on camera. But with the birth of our first child, I decided that the cost of daycare. Yeah. It was too much.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh yeah.
Christy Harst:
It didn’t make sense to have a full time job. So we built out a studio in my basement and that’s when I started doing voiceover full time. And after 10 years in voiceover, you start. When you’re in voiceover, you start to realize what you’re good at, what you like, what you’re passionate about, you know, because there’s so many different genres of voiceover.
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely.
Christy Harst:
And what I realized was I could combine my passion for sports because I’m a former college athlete and my kids drain my bank account with their elite sport and their elite sport. Right, right. And why not combine that passion with voiceover? So I started to learn the art of promo. For those who are watching or listening. Promo is what you hear when you’re watching a TV network or you get a streaming ad on Netflix that says this Sunday on Dateline, you know, or tune in Friday to watch Rory McElroy, you know, that kind of stuff. But specifically because my timber is lower, I wanted to do male dominated sports. So I spent five plus years perfecting my craft, paying coaches a lot of money.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Doing out of the box marketing and I was getting nothing, I was getting nowhere. So now I’m like 15 years into voiceover, five plus years of focusing on this genre and I can’t even get an audition in this genre. So I’m talking with a LA agent, a woman doing a workshop, because as we do, we learn and I read for her and she goes, oh, booked, booked. I go, no, I’m not, sister, I’m not booked. Let’s talk about it. Because I’m not booked.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
I’m not like I’m not getting anything. And so I told her what I’ve been doing and she goes, it’s not for a lack of talent, Christy, it’s a lack of opportunity. You’re a woman and these opportunities don’t exist in abundance, right? Yeah. In the same amount for women as they do for men. And I woke up the next day and I was really angry and I thought to myself, well, I can either give this up. Right. Just give it up. Like, I just wasted five plus years of my life and a ton of money from my bank account. Or I could say, what do I have to lose? I could make a thing of it.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And so I decided the very next day, with the help of Brandon Miller, a fellow voiceover actor, to start a campaign called Building doors. It was February 9th, so I had two and a half weeks until Women’s History Month. And I was like, let’s do it for Women’s History Month.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Let’s feature women all around the world revoicing scripts originally voiced for men.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it.
Christy Harst:
To show people women belong in these spaces. You’re not missing anything. No. The intention was to do a handful of posts, and that was it. And then it kind of turned into something, and now I’m almost two years in.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. I love it. It’s such a great origin story and super relatable, I think, to a lot of our listeners, obviously, Building Doors folks, and together with digital folks, because, yeah, life happens, and it’s either something that’s happening to you or happening for you. And I feel like you’re the kind of person that’s just like, well, if this is gonna make this, I’m gonna make this for me. Like, even though it’s a door in my face, I will just build a door.
Christy Harst:
Yeah, right.
Amy Vaughan:
I will build my own damn door. And I love that so much. So were there any other particular obstacles that you faced? Breaking into sports. Sports voiceover specifically. And maybe how did some of those challenges help shape Building Doors? VO because it’s. I mean, opportunity is obviously a big part of it. Is that the only part of it, or were there other things that were barriers?
Christy Harst:
So, you know, for anyone in voiceover, and I think just anybody in any industry, really, when you decide to pursue a certain avenue of your job, you have to be good at it, right?
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
You can’t just say, oh, I want to become a copywriter, and you’re a copywriter. No, you’ve got to go to school or you got to go to training. You got to workshops. And so that’s what those five years that I did really focused on, was making sure that I was ready to put myself out there. Right. And so everyone I trained with. And I’d like to point this out. The majority of my coaches were men.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Okay. That’s first and foremost, the majority of the coaches who are men said, oh, Christy, opportunities are just, yeah, you trust me, you’ll be fine. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah. But then when I talk to the women in the industry, coaches or women who are actually getting these opportunities, they would say, look, yeah, yeah, it is better. It’s better in the sense that we’ve gone from zero opportunities to maybe one.
Amy Vaughan:
Uh huh.
Christy Harst:
So, you know, it’s improved. And what’s so interesting, what’s so interesting to me about that is, and I, I’ve talked about this before at the beginning of the campaign in year one, which is perspective. To all the men that I had been working with, to all of the coaches, all of the people I had been talking to. Yo, yeah, things are improving, things are improving. But to all the women. Yeah, not so much. What I compare it to is if you’re sitting in a baseball stadium and 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it was, imagine all the pink seats in the upper seats, Right. The whole stadium is filled with pink seats, but the good seats are the blue seats. Right? Yeah. So fast forward 20, 30 years and the men are saying things are improving. The men are saying things are improving because now when they look to their left, there might be a woman somewhere in the row.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
When they look behind them, there might be a few pink seats behind them. So they see improvement.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
But to women still sitting in the upper deck of the stadium, it’s not. It really is.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s a great analogy. Good visual analogy. I love that. So on that note, like with, you know, breaking into more seats for women, more doors for women, whatever we want or need them to be, a lot of our members and our listeners are working to break into male dominated spaces. Ironically in marketing, I think it’s more that there’s a lot of women in marketing and communications because guess what, we’re good at communicating. However, when you look at the top tier jobs, you look at the C suite, it is abysmal for women. What do you feel like there are any strategies from your voiceover journey that have helped translate maybe into other industries in a way to help people try to shift the gender balance? Because I do. I love that idea, the campaign idea of like let’s just re record all this and make it women. You know, are there other strategies, tactics, things that you have found that are effective that might even be industry agnostic?
Christy Harst:
So I think I will start with the umbrella thought of women needing to unite with other like-minded women to make the change. Because you’re not going to do it by yourself. No. I may have started this campaign but I have a slew of like 40, 45 women who are Door builders who have lent their voice and who, you know, help me market, who helped me brainstorm, who introduce me to people that can advance the mission. So yes, I have this amazing team of women that I work with. But I would like to share a few stories of how women are doing it in other industries. So for example, I have three to four zoom calls a week talking to people, women and men in male dominated genres of the world, of the working world. And I hear a lot of stories.
Christy Harst:
And so in the insurance industry, I guess I didn’t realize how male dominated insurance was until I started talking to women in insurance. And listen, that that place is an HR nightmare. I will just tell you that much. That whole industry. So one of the things a lot, there’s a lot of HR conferences. That’s where they meet with brokers, that’s where they get deals done. And so all throughout the year, insurance people are traveling to this city, that city, blase woo woo. And it always revolved around drinking, men and bars.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep, all.
Christy Harst:
I mean they might have a 10am happy hour. No joke. My friend did. My friend works in insurance and she had a 10am happy hour and she was like, Christy, I can’t do it. And so someone in her industry, a woman, decided to have an 11am Woman’s tea.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And she invited all the women who were attending that conference to go to a women’s tea. That action alone of putting all the women in that male dominated industry together to swap stories, to share tips, that is building a door, that is what’s going to cause more change. Now let’s get into another story. Which is Big ten, Big ten college football or just Big ten college? Big ten colleges. So I’m talking about Ohio State, Michigan, and Nebraska. So the Big Ten of college sports are D1 schools that have major, major brand recognition.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
So one of, I’m not going to say who, but one of those brands in the lower part of the top 10 hired a marketing firm to come in and do an analysis of how they could get up in the ranks of that top 10. What are we doing wrong? What can we improve? What do we need to do less of and more of? So this marketing firm was led by a middle aged white man. They spent three months analyzing all of their departments. They meet in a conference room and in that conference room there are about 20 people. Only two of those are women.
Amy Vaughan:
Hmm.
Christy Harst:
They’re all men. This middle aged white man sits at the conference room table and the first words out of his mouth were based on our company’s analysis. We believe the number one thing you can do to improve your standings in the Big ten is to remove all women from positions of authority. They would be better served at home.
Amy Vaughan:
Whoa.
Christy Harst:
Now you may think that’s a wow moment for me. For me, for me. It isn’t because of the phone calls that I’ve had. I mean, zoom calls that I’ve had. Yeah. That story is not unique at all.
Amy Vaughan:
No, of course not.
Christy Harst:
That story happens tenfold every day around the world. Here’s what made my jaw drop. Not one man, not one man stood up and challenged what this man said. And the two women in the room wanted to. But now imagine putting yourself in that conference room and you’re one of two women. Are you gonna stand up and say something to this firm that your job just paid millions to to make this announcement analysis? No, you’re not going to say anything. And so what I think needs to happen so that more doors are built when you take these two stories is one, women need to create more space for women to support one another. So if there is no space, create the space.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And then in terms of the other story with the Big Ten, well intended men need to feel empowered to know what to say and how to say it in moments like that.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes, absolutely.
Christy Harst:
Because I know that in that room there were well intended men. And I don’t know personally, I’m just saying I know out of 20, some men, they have daughters, they have sisters that you know, but they don’t know how. And so the more well intended men speak out against that kind of behavior and call it out.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
The less it’ll happen. And those two things, just those two examples are going to cause more women to be in those rooms. It’s going to cause people to listen to them. Because when you gather women and you’re all saying the same thing, they can’t ignore you. But if it’s one woman, right.
Amy Vaughan:
She’s standing alone.
Christy Harst:
She’s standing alone.
Amy Vaughan:
Well, isn’t that such a great case in point? And strategy for dealing with non diverse spaces and giving voice is oftentimes we think, oh, we just need more diverse voices in the room. No, actually we just need the people with privilege to feel empowered to speak up. We often say we have to empower women. Yes. But we also need to empower the well intended men who feel like they are going to be shamed, blamed, ridiculed for speaking up and say, no, dude, you are okay to speak up. You are okay to use your privilege like don’t just say, don’t just recognize you have privilege and have guilt about it. Own it and then use it. That will help to absolve that guilt.
Amy Vaughan:
And I mean, I’ve had situations like that where an executive creative director. We were doing a pitch for a major restaurant chain. We worked our asses off on this, but we had a guy team and a gal team. And he came back. We didn’t get to go to the pitch, even though we did all the work. And he sat there and presented our work to the agency and then was like naming all the guys and who did what for that work. And then he’s like, and then the girls did this. Did not even mention one of us by name. He just called us the girls. I saw the faces of my team and I’m like ready to just put my hands on their shoulders and be like, sit down, ladies. It’s okay. I walked up to him immediately afterwards and I said that was not cool.
Christy Harst:
No, what did he say? What did he say?
Amy Vaughan:
He’s like, I’m not sexist. My dad’s gay. I was like, I don’t think you understand anything that I’m trying to explain to you. So I’m just going to stop right now.
Christy Harst:
And you know, I think too, Amy, these stories, these situations are an opportunity to educate. Some people want to learn.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Some people are open to it.
Amy Vaughan:
I’ve worked with guys who I’ve been able to kind of call out the BS. And they’re like, I hear it, I see it. And. And then what’s great is like some of them literally have gone on a CFO that I used to work with, literally started a whole non profit to help get more diverse students, like grants and scholarships.
Christy Harst:
That’s awesome.
Amy Vaughan:
Get into advertising because I basically just started calling out all the bullshit I was seeing and he was just willing to listen and then leverage his power and his privilege to pull that together, you know? Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy. But that is such a good strategy is, I think, you know, if we have any guys listening today, and I know we’ve got Matt with us too, but I think that’s one of pieces of advice you can give to a man, you know, is if you hear a woman getting spoken over, if somebody starts to kind of take her idea and, and say it in their own way, be like, that was a great idea that Chrissy just had. I agree with you. You know, Joe.
Christy Harst:
Right?
Amy Vaughan:
That’s exactly what Chrissy just said. And you don’t have to do it in a totally dickish way. Just, like, say it and state it plainly, and then people will start to see it. And then, yes, the same thing for women. I think there’s too much competition among women. And I think with your community and definitely with our Together Digital community I can speak for is like, there is no competition.
Christy Harst:
Right.
Amy Vaughan:
There’s plenty of each other. There’s more than enough room and success for all of us.
Christy Harst:
There we go.
Amy Vaughan:
And no drama, Mama.
Christy Harst:
I see. I’m no Ms. Cleo, but I see a business opportunity of a course to sell to men and companies.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes, absolutely. Because, again, we try to empower the women, and at the end of the day, we truly are empowered. It’s the systems that hold us back. It’s the systems and the bias and the things that are outside of our control. Right. So stop. I mean, not that I’m saying I want to stop empowering women. I love it. But again, that only gets us so far. The systems and the people on the other side of things have to start to listen and change along with us. So. Yeah.
Christy Harst:
I got a message shortly after I started the campaign from a, I won’t say their name or anything, but they are well seated. I will say in voiceover.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
This woman is, you know, people know her.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And she’s in a position of influence. And she said, look, Christy, I applaud what you’re doing, but in essence, I’m summarizing her message. Good luck. Because you’re fighting against systems that have been built for centuries, and I think you’re fighting a losing battle.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s so heartbreaking.
Christy Harst:
It is. But for me, I’m a very competitive person. Yeah. And I want to be able to say whether it’s tomorrow, whether it’s three or five or eight years from now, I told you so. I get it.
Amy Vaughan:
Well, and it’s because there are still women out there in positions of power and privilege. Right. We all have some, to some degree, that don’t reach a hand back that are like, I clawed my way here, I worked my way here. Why should I help anybody? Nobody helped me. And I’m like, that is not the mentality to have. Because here’s the other thing, honey. You’re gonna become over 40, you’re gonna be over 50, and what’s gonna happen? You’re gonna be irrelevant all of a sudden. You aren’t gonna be the hottest thing around, and it’s gonna suck. And then you’re gonna have to look to the women, your peers around you or people that are even younger than you for help. And who’s gonna want to help you when nobody else does.
Christy Harst:
Because you were nasty.
Amy Vaughan:
You were nasty. Exactly.
Christy Harst:
Nasty.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, my goodness. It’s such a fun conversation. All right. And then also enraging and, you know, empowering all at the same time. Ah, let’s see. My next question was. Oh, okay. Using data, I think that is important, right, to challenge the media representation norms, which honestly probably not too hard to do, right? When you get a lot out there and you just listen, just listen to the radio guys, gals, for the next 24 hours and tell us if you notice discrepancy. What does data actually show, though, about gender representation and voiceover and how do you use those numbers to create changes?
Christy Harst:
So when I started the campaign again, it was just supposed to be a month, a handful of posts. And so I immediately got a response. I got responses from women around the world. I was getting messages from women around the world saying, oh my God, Christy, this is how I feel. Yeah, Christy, I feel the same way. And then I would get responses from men, which I knew, right. I was prepared for that whole shaboo. And what I realized real quick was that I needed data. This isn’t just Christy complaining that she doesn’t get jobs. Right. It’s rooted in fact. And so I went in search of this and there’s not a lot because voiceover is a niche industry, so I’m trying to focus on a niche within a niche.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay. Yeah.
Christy Harst:
So there’s no data, right? There’s little to no data. So I decided just to go collect it myself. And so the first study I did, the first poll I did was within the voiceover community. And I had about 200 people respond and it was pretty equal in terms of gender. So it was 46% men and the rest were women. And what I discovered was that 73% of men polled said that they receive five plus auditions for male dominated sports promo a year. That only leaves 27% of their female counterparts to claim the same. So that data point really helped me at the beginning to prove, no, women are not getting as many opportunities.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
And so then I dug deeper and started to have a poll on our website and started to send it to advertising executives and creatives and people who are voice seekers, people who make the decision to hire voice to get a better sense of the kind of opportunities that are available. And also, you know what, what would the general public be willing to do? Do they even notice when it’s a male voice or a female voice?
Amy Vaughan:
Sure.
Christy Harst:
And so from that poll, I discovered that 74% of people polled say that they do notice if it’s a male or female voice. Wow. Okay, so that’s a, that’s a great, great data point. Right. People notice it’s not just something that just is like, oh, whatever. Yeah. And then the next data point that I found fascinating is that over. I would say 30% of people polled said, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s a male or female.
Christy Harst:
Doesn’t matter. So 70% said, yeah, it does matter to me. I’m going to spend my money with a brand that is. That exemplifies gender equality. That’s great. Right? That’s a great data point. That’s a lot. You know, if you’re more gender inclusive, you’re going to get more money. Because 70% of people polled said, yes, but to me, the gold is in that 30%. Because if 30% of the people in that poll say, eh, doesn’t matter, that’s an opportunity for conversion. That is an opportunity for a brand to say, hey, that’s untapped ads. That’s untapped brand loyalty.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
So if it doesn’t matter either way, that’s 30% of the population or of. In my, it was a little over 400 people that took this poll. That means I can sway them. That means if I use more women, it’s not going to be damaging. That way, if I use more women in front of and behind the camera, I’m going to tap into more money that I didn’t have before. They’re leaving. Brands are leaving potentially millions and billions of dollars on the table by not including more women. When you take into account this simple equation that 83% of women globally control their finances, their family’s finances.
Christy Harst:
Yep. So when it comes to choosing the cell phone plan, the swag, the season tickets, all of those things women do. So when you take the information I have from my poll, you combine it with simple data points about the power that women have with money. Your brand could get more money. Now, some people say, christy, why are you so focused on trying to get brands more money? Because that’s what they listen to, right? That’s what they want. No, but guess what happens when brands start to do that. Women become more empowered in the economy. They get to spend their money where they want to spend it, which uplifts the brands that support women.
Christy Harst:
And so I know that this is not something. While the equation is super simple to spell out, I know it’s going to take a long time before that happens. And so right now I am trying to find a funding source to sponsor or pay for a study. And I don’t want to get too much into it, but it’s going to be some AB testing of the same commercial for a male dominated brand voiced by a man and voiced by a woman. And I want to see the outcomes of this because if I can have a third party, a professional third party, let me know the real deal. Right? Let me know where the connection points are. What? Because for example, did you know, girl, I could talk forever. Did you know that there was a company, an audio data collection company that did a study over a year to determine what voice the general public likes to hear from the most? Can you guess? And I’m turned on in terms of gender and race. Guess, guess which after a year of study and surveys and all these ads that they had people listen to, of all these different races and genders, which voice resonated the most?
Amy Vaughan:
I don’t know why, but I think black women.
Christy Harst:
You are right.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Yeah. It’s black women. By and large, people prefer to listen to a black woman over any other…
Amy Vaughan:
Because they have the best voices.
Christy Harst:
They resonate emotionally. They remember there’s a recall that they remember what the ad was for. And so just take that data point alone.
Amy Vaughan:
Right.
Christy Harst:
And put it with the rest of the. So there’s just a huge case to be made and no one else is making it. And I think this is a huge opportunity for building doors to make it and to create strategic partnerships to really blast it out. And so that’s why I take any opportunity I have to be on podcasts like yours and connect with women in digital spaces or even creative spaces. Because the more I can get in front of those women who have seats at the table.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christy Harst:
The more apt they are to share this data, which I hope to get from this company. Right. Even more data than I already have. Because the reason I know about that black woman is this. I was speaking with an audio engineer. He said that he attended the conference where they released that study. Two weeks later, he was in a conference room with a client and a brand and they were discussing who should voice it, who should voice this commercial. They were going back and forth, back and forth.
Christy Harst:
And so he piped up and he said, well, at this conference I was just at, they said a black. They ended up hiring a black woman because of what he said. Yeah. There’s power in data. There’s power in having a third party like an audio collection firm or whether it be from cnn, you know, whatever, whatever data, you know, there’s power in that. And so I. If we take it back to the first question, right. When we have women creating more spaces for women to be women within these male dominated genres, like the tea time that we talked about. About when we talk about empowering well and well intended men to speak up and how to do it. Yeah. And then you take it and you give them data points to share.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep.
Christy Harst:
It takes away ‘this is my opinion’ to ‘this is fact’. Did you know?
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Christy Harst:
Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
I think data is a really important part of validation. But then also I’ve been doing research for a book I’m writing about closing the networking gap for women. Because networking is so fraught with so many landmines like drinking and late nights and all these things that just sound terrifying to us. Golf course, big time for other guys. Right. Is it that women don’t rise through the ranks based on getting leadership opportunities, positions, leading projects, or even having more time with executives on a golf course? They actually get more opportunities by third party referral. So another ally tip like, or even women speaking up for other women.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. You. If you make the recommendation for a woman, she is that much more likely to get the role of the opportunity. And so yes, people who have positions of power and authority, like you have to speak those names, you have to bring them into space. And this is what I loved so much about what you do. Christy is. I mean, before this, some of you may or may not know, I was a creative director for companies like Folgers and Pringles and Febreze and Ford and all these different brands. And it was always very important to me from a casting standpoint.
Amy Vaughan:
As a creative director, I was deciding on talent. I was the one putting forward the talent. And you know, the messages not only need to be able to resonate with your audience, but they need to be able to see themselves in that space. And so, yeah, creative directors, if you’re listening, start paying more attention to how you’re casting and who you’re casting. It’s such a small but very significant opportunity that you have to have an impact.
Christy Harst:
And Amy, do you still stay in contact with your creative director colleagues, network and friends?
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, yeah. Yep.
Christy Harst:
Yeah, I’d be interested in what their stance is and what they see in trends. Just curious.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, yeah.
Christy Harst:
Maybe we can get together after this and do a little polling. Poll.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. I love it. We love a good poll. We love data digital marketers. That’s it. That’s what we live for. That and a good spreadsheet or freaks in the sheets, as we like to say. All right, so building the Doors Bureau. You’re creating opportunities for women in voiceover as we clearly determined. Walk us through how the organization works and what are some tangible doors that you’ve opened for other women?
Christy Harst:
Yeah. So let’s talk about the organization. In my head, I’m going to. I’m going to close my eyes because I’m a perimenopause and I can’t think unless I have my eyes closed.
Amy Vaughan:
I feel you talk about Perry post menopause. All. All day, every day and together.
Christy Harst:
Oh, my gosh. So when I close my eyes and I think about this organizational chart, Building Doors. Yes, I created it, but I couldn’t have created it without Brandon Miller. I often use him. He’s a fellow voice actor and creative. He creates a lot of content, and so I lean on him a lot. Sandy Harrison Cooksey is someone who reached out to me early in the campaign and basically designated herself as a board of director.
Amy Vaughan:
I was like, okay, fine, yeah, let’s go.
Christy Harst:
And then there are door builders. So they are women who voice for me, who volunteer to lend their voice and time to revise a script. There are global builders. I have a global builder evangelizing the mission on the ground in Australia, the UK and Egypt.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it.
Christy Harst:
And then the general public and our supporters who engage with our content and spread awareness through sharing. And I had a great direct message on LinkedIn yesterday, which was from a woman who applied to be a 2026 door builder. She did not get in. However, she auditioned for a job with a company that typically only hires men. She ended up getting the job because the producer threw in a few women. She got the job. And when she got the job, she was like, oh, I thought this was for men only. Did you do this because of Building Doors? And they’re like, no.
Christy Harst:
What’s Building Doors? And so that opened an entire new avenue of conversation for this woman to establish herself with this company, not as a voice actor, but as an advocate for equality. And so she told them all about building doors. And so now when this woman reaches out again, they’re not going to be like, oh, she’s selling herself. She’s selling herself.
Amy Vaughan:
Right?
Christy Harst:
She wants to talk about something else, something that maybe we could benefit from. That’s one story. And then, okay, I talked about how it’s organized, but then how we open up doors for other women. I believe that story right there is empowering. A woman to take a mission, use it to not sell herself, and use it to create. Right. So that’s one way she’s. We’re creating a way for women to open a door by using the mission.
Christy Harst:
And she’s not even a door builder, and she’s doing it right. One of the first ways that it really clicked for me was three months into the campaign, there was a woman who voiced a spot for Honda Sport. She revoiced it. It was originally voiced by a man. She has a higher tone. She’s young, gorgeous, and has a beautiful smile. And she reached out to me and she said, christy, someone heard my reel. Someone saw my reel for honey.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Do you know why they saw it? Because all 40, some of the women pushed like, and they shared it to their networks. Now, that puts that woman’s voice and image up higher.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
In front of millions more eyes and ears than what happened. Right.
Amy Vaughan:
In the system. Yeah. I love it.
Christy Harst:
So because all the women banded together and did this, someone she doesn’t know who saw this reel, forwarded it to an ad agency in Florida. That ad agency then reached out to that woman, the door builder, and hired her to voice a slew of Honda spots.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christy Harst:
We are not an agency. We are not paid to play. I’m not in the business of getting jobs for women. I’m advancing the mission. However, that right there shows the power of what happens when women come together and support other women.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes. 100%.
Christy Harst:
So that opened a door for that woman. Right. I will share one more story. There are a couple door builders, my Australia door builder, my Egyptian door builder, and several here in the US who have taken what we’re doing with building doors, and they’re. They’ve watched, they’re learning how we do things, and they’re applying it to their own businesses. So, for example, there’s one door builder, and I believe she’s here, Marion Mills. She’s super passionate about mental health.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And guess what? Women were multifaceted. And we can have several streams of income and we can do more than just one thing. And so she used building doors as the example and is now creating her own brand, her another brand called Depression proof your life. She hosts weekly lives where she interviews people about how mental health impacts their business, how it impacts their personal life, how they’ve gotten through it. Right. And so she’s using the template of what building doors has done to do that for herself.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s great.
Christy Harst:
Then the woman in Australia, she is creating a ton of her own Reels where she re voices ads in Australia, you know, that were originally voicemail and she has a whole page on her website of them that has allowed her to become a teacher at a voiceover school in Perth, Australia. It has allowed her to get connected to major, major voice seekers at major TV stations down there. So I just think that there’s. I didn’t realize when I started what I was doing.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
But as it’s grown, I think that the best thing that Building Doors has done is to be able to empower other women to take this and use it to better themselves, better their business and have something else to talk about other than the fact that they’re a voiceover actor.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, no, absolutely, I agree. It’s like the benefit of the benefit that you just don’t consider going in. I feel that way with Digital. The friendships like the deep, deep friendships, that kind of transition life and career and everything else is so important. But there are tangible, real results where they’re building businesses together or they’re getting inspired by one another or they’re helping grow each other’s client base. It’s just incredible. There’s so much power. And when we work together versus trying to work against each other, like we both very much seem to believe and work through. I love it. And then what was her name? Marian.
Christy Harst:
I think she’s here. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. It feels like you should come and be on that podcast too. We talk about mental health a lot and I am like this right now and ever since COVID in the winter time too. Man, it’s rough. This is a rough time of year. So. Yeah, you can email me marianne amytogetherindigital.com and we’ll get you the form over.
Christy Harst:
And you can hop on.
Amy Vaughan:
We love, love, love talking about all the things because we are whole ass humans. And I know companies will say, oh, you can come to work and be whole. No, it’s still a paycheck. We’re not a family. We don’t pay family to come to see us every day. It’s a job. And so these kinds of communities that we’re all working to create, you know, that’s, that’s what’s needed. I don’t think that’s a problem for companies to solve. As much as I know that they would like to. It ain’t gonna happen anyhow. Slight tangent. All right, back to the next question. For women who in. In digital who want to amplify their voices, whether that be literally or figuratively, what is maybe the first step that they should look at taking.
Christy Harst:
They need to find more women who believe what they believe in.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, yeah. I love that answer.
Christy Harst:
Yeah. Because if you think about it, Let’s talk about Marian again. She’s passionate about mental health. When she starts to put herself out there as a position of authority, that she’s passionate about mental health, she’s connected to these mental health professionals. Other people are gonna be like, oh, God, Marian, I feel the same way.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And remember at the beginning of our conversation, I said that when I first started, within two weeks I was receiving emails from women around the world.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep.
Christy Harst:
If you just put yourself out. You know what I’m frustrated with the fact that these damn staff meetings are an hour and it could have been an email. Right. You know what’s going to happen when other women get along? They’re going to say, let’s create a system. Because that’s what women, that’s what women do.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s what we do. We see a problem, we make it better.
Christy Harst:
And so then that’s going to change. You know, that causes change. Right. You have to find your community, but you’re not going to find your community unless you speak up.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, exactly. That, that. And so scary at first. Right. I think people feel like I have to find my voice, I have to craft it, I have to hone it. I had to perfect it. It’s like, no, please actually don’t like to be vulnerable. Do it scared. Because that is so much more relatable than overly poised and prop. Polished and processed. Because people can feel that. It doesn’t feel authentic. It doesn’t feel relatable. So. Yeah. And I think, I don’t know, maybe you’ve always been outspoken, Christy. I get the sense maybe this is like who you’ve always been. No. Yes, Maybe. But I guess that’s my follow up question. Like for women who don’t feel like they have a strong voice, like, yeah. How do you, how do you begin to do that?
Christy Harst:
So I will say this. I could not have done building doors in my 20s or my 30s.
Amy Vaughan:
Huh. Okay. Yeah.
Christy Harst:
I wasn’t secure enough in myself and who I am. I was too worried about what other people would think about me. And let’s be real. Real. I literally called Brandon and I was on video and I have my finger on the post button for the first post.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Like, because there are, and I’m sure this is like this in other industries, but in the voiceover industry especially, you know, there are anointed gatekeepers, self anointed Gatekeepers, Right. And heaven forbid, one of those anointed self, you know, gatekeepers, doesn’t agree with what you’re saying, right? You’re, you’re blacklisted, right? You’re, you’re, you’re done, you’re out. So I’m sitting there like, oh, do I do it? Do I do it? Oh, my God, do.
Amy Vaughan:
I knew it.
Christy Harst:
And Brandon was like, what do you have to lose at this point?
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
Don’t forget how angry you were when you woke up that day and called me and we’re like, what am I doing? And I was like, you know what? You’re right. At the end of the day, what’s going to happen? Right? It’s not like I’m not going to lose a job because I’m not getting any jobs today. So why. So why not just do it? Right?
Amy Vaughan:
That’s so true.
Christy Harst:
I would say to someone who. And we talk a lot about this in the voiceover industry, about the fact that many creatives are introverts. They’re not extroverts.
Amy Vaughan:
Extroverts 100%.
Christy Harst:
Right. They don’t. They don’t. They Much. And let’s be even deeper. I’m in a padded room talking to myself most days. Right? Yeah. Like, I’m, I’m a… right now. I thought I was looking good, but this darn lighting. I gotta get my lighting right. But my point is that I think tiny, tiny incremental steps is what it takes. I had a call before this with a door builder, and I know that she is. She’s got great ideas. She can really make an impact with the stuff that she’s passionate about. But she’s a little, you know, shy.
Christy Harst:
She does. She’s a little shy. And so to answer your question, I think it’s important that those. If you are a little shy, look for an accountability partner. Look for somebody who’s going to hold your feet to the fire and help you, push you to say. Like I did when I called Brandon and he’s like, just, you know, so just do it. Just do it, you know? And I think also, too, to have validation, to have someone else even more than one person, to validate and say, no, this really is helpful. You got something here. Yes. Let’s schedule the post. Let’s press it together. I’ll show up, I’ll comment, I’ll share all of that. I think it gives people confidence.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, Yeah, I would agree. One of my good friends, Lucretia, always says, has all of the confidence of a mediocre White man named Chad.
Christy Harst:
Okay, Chad. Chad gets way too much for being mediocre.
Amy Vaughan:
They do. And they. Like somebody posted in the chat, like, they just do it anyways, you know? And we were at an event for Together Digital, doing our ask and give exchange. And, you know, I politely asked the gentleman to hold their comments or questions until the end, let the women speak first. And they were absolutely fine to do that because they are great guys. And at the end, one of the other pieces of advice that stuck with all of us was he was like, ask for the no. Just ask for the no. Like what? Don’t just go and ask for it, because the worst you can get is a no.
Christy Harst:
Oh, I see. Okay. You know, Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
I was like, all right. Okay. And so sometimes I think we just get so caught up in the analysis, paralysis and perfectionism, that it’s like, we don’t. We don’t. We don’t learn by doing it right the first time. We learn by falling on our face and getting back up. Like, you have to fail to learn. Right? You have to do it scared to learn, to be brave. It’s just the only way it’s ever going to work.
Christy Harst:
And I will say that when I look back now, if I didn’t have that window where, oh, Women’s History Month is in two and a half weeks, it’s a perfect time to launch. I got to do it. I got to do it. I’ll miss an opportunity. If that didn’t happen, I probably would have overthought it to the point where I never would have done it.
Amy Vaughan:
Right. Such a good opportunity. Don’t let it go by. Don’t sabotage yourself. Right? Like, yeah, don’t sabotage yourself. All right, let’s see. You’ve mentioned using storytelling alongside data to drive change, which obviously, super important, right? We’re hardwired for stories, and that’s what we love about people, is their stories. How do you combine these two elements effectively when advocating for equality?
Christy Harst:
So the data and the storytelling. For example, when I told you that Big Ten story, your jaw dropped.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
You’ll never forget that Big Ten story. I was.
Amy Vaughan:
I’m gonna flip a table.
Christy Harst:
And then when I share data points, like, I have volunteers across the United States who help me collect data at major sporting events, broadcast, podcast, and so last year, the Super Bowl. In fact, I’m gonna quiz you. You probably already know because we’ve talked. But if you. If you already know it, then tell me. But last year’s Super bowl, the 2025 Super bowl broadcast, what percentage of ads were voiced by men. Do you think it was A, 60%, B, 78%, C, 85% or D, none of the above.
Amy Vaughan:
I want to say I feel like 78, but I could be wrong. It was a while after we spoke.
Christy Harst:
It’s 85.
Amy Vaughan:
85. I knew it. I see. I second guessed myself. 75.
Christy Harst:
85 of all the ads in the super bowl were voiced by men. And those are male dominated genres that choose to spend millions in ad spend for that. Yet. Yet. The latest stat was 47 of the fan base of the NFL are female as women.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. We’re showing up to the games, we’re wearing the gear.
Christy Harst:
Do you see how the equation doesn’t.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
When I pitch building doors, when I get on these calls and I evangelize building doors and I try to expand the network and expand the mission, when I have speaking opportunities in person speaking opportunities. I use a combination of data and stories. Yeah. To make a lasting impact. Because when you take a stat like that and you combine it with the big ten story, when you take the insurance story and you combine it with the equation that I got from my 400 person poll, those things are powerful and they leave a mark. So that’s when. Because I will tell you, the first year of building doors, the number one thing that people said during meetings was I had no idea. But now that you say that, I realize it. The number two thing is that they would send me a DM or an email and say, christy, I just watched a XYZ sporting event. And you’re right, I only heard two women on an entire broadcast. So people don’t realize it until it’s pointed out.
Amy Vaughan:
Exactly. And then they can’t unsee it. Right. I think I can’t see it after. Yeah. That was kind of the beginning of my journey in all of this was that I, male boss of mine, sent me to the 3% conference, which at the time was started by Kat Gordon in San Francisco. And it was all around the fact that only 3% of creative directors were women. When 83 are doing the buying, only 3% are creating the messages.
Christy Harst:
Wow. 3%.
Amy Vaughan:
3%. It’s. It’s closer to 15 to 20 now. That was in 2012 when it started, but obviously still nowhere near the 80 it ought to be. And you know, I got to see Cindy Gallop speak if you have. If you don’t follow her on LinkedIn. Yeah. Really should. And Instagram. Instagram. She’s amazing. But she used to say she’s the Michael Bay of marketing because she likes to blow up. And she was always like, if you can’t see it, you can’t be it, which is very, very true. And then also, I think, you know, another phrase that comes up often for me is like, fish don’t see water. We don’t see air.
Christy Harst:
Ohh.
Amy Vaughan:
Right, like, we swim in these waters and we don’t. We don’t recognize, we don’t see the microaggressions always, especially if they’re not directed at us. We don’t see the inequities or in opportunities or lack of opportunities because we just think that’s normal. And then once you see it, you can unsee it. So I think it is so important. I think that’s why the combination of stories and data is important, because data gets the jaws to drop. It makes it factual. But stories tug at the heart, and those are the things that stay with you. Ultimately, you might not be able to remember the exact same stat, but you’re going to remember the story for sure.
Christy Harst:
Yes.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. I love it. All right, last question before we move on to the power round. Looking ahead, what needs to happen for gender equity in voiceover in media to become the norm rather than the exception? And where do you see the biggest opportunities for change?
Christy Harst:
So if I were a brand, right. I think brands need to understand what they’re missing by not including the people who have the money, the people who control the decisions with the money, they’re missing a huge, huge opportunity. Am I trying to say everything should be voiced by a woman or everything should. No, I’m not saying that at all. What I’m saying is brands are missing out on potentially millions of dollars by not including more women. And the way that they can change that is by voice. You can start to change that by voice. Voice is a small puzzle piece to something much larger.
Christy Harst:
Right. Because when girls and. Okay, story time. Yeah. My daughter plays in two sports, golf and flag football. And she’s pretty decent at both, but she’s probably going to play golf in college. And so she’s 12 and she needed a new pair of golf shoes. My daughter likes ones with spikes. Okay, so we go to Golf Galaxy, and we go to the shoes, and luckily she wears a women’s size. So we go to Golf Galaxy, and there’s like, just rows and rows of. Of golf shoes. And a whole wall, too. I was like “Yes”. So we went there. Turns out there’s only two bays of women’s golf shoes. Yeah. There’s only like, ten on the wall. And out of all of those, which is about 40 pairs. Only one had cleats. I mean, a spike.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, my gosh.
Christy Harst:
Only one.
Amy Vaughan:
There’s your option right there.
Christy Harst:
So now let’s dig deeper. Not only did my daughter go to the Gulf Galaxy and see only one option for her, but then she can’t watch women play on tv. There are no TV broadcasts. Professional women golfers playing in their tournaments. Look at what and. And I will say, since then. So that was last year, the PGA has a new head guy and he believes in women and he has now decided that in 2026 they are going to start broadcasting the women’s majors, which is great. So now my daughter can tune in and see.
Christy Harst:
Right. But when you think about it, my daughter in golf cannot go purchase a Nelly Corda glove. Nellie Corda is the number one female golfer in the world. World. She cannot buy a glove. She cannot buy clubs, she cannot buy a clubhead, she cannot buy a polo. But Norman, his last name’s Norman, by the way, has been retired for like 30 some years. You can go buy his shirts with the darn shirt. Do you see what I’m saying?
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Christy Harst:
So to answer your question, to open more doors, I think brands are missing a huge opportunity in just providing things for little girls to hear and see. Yeah, that’s number one. And in voiceover, I have a great story of a talent agency that I met with that are in the uk. They’re called Foxy Tongue. And I met with them because a door builder who is signed with them called them, talked about building doors and said, you should talk to Christy. We talked and she asked me, they asked me, these two ladies asked me. They said, well, how can we do it? And I said, when they ask for only men, throw in some women. They literally did that the next day.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it.
Christy Harst:
They literally threw in three women the next day for an audition that they got. Right.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep.
Christy Harst:
So I think that there’s responsibility within the voiceover industry. If you are sitting in a position like that to do tiny things. And again, these tiny little micro steps.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christy Harst:
Is going to create a ripple.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christy Harst:
And then that’s for vo. Vo is creating the ripple. Right. Then when copywriters, producers, filmmakers. And then. Then that turns into a wave.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep, exactly.
Christy Harst:
And then those waves, after a decade or two will turn into tsunamis and then tsunamis make permanent change.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep. I love that answer so much. And you got exactly to. What I was thinking is that I think sometimes we think activism is some big, huge effort that takes so much time. And it’s, there’s. It’s micro activism. It’s speaking up, it’s showing up. And they’ll see small ways and know that, that even that matters and that counts. Love that answer. Thank you.
Christy Harst:
And I hope that. I hope so. And my, my, my hope is that as Building Doors continues. Yeah. That other industries will see what we’re doing.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep.
Christy Harst:
And say, oh, I’m an insurance. I can do what they did. Let me look at their model and do it here. Oh, I’m in automotive or I’m in tech, or I’m in this. Let me, let me copy and paste what Building Doors is doing.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Christy Harst:
That’s what I would love to see.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep. I agree. I agree. Some people have. People will come to me and be like, oh, so and so starting this group and it’s for women. And is she stealing from. Together I’m like, no, no.
Christy Harst:
Oh, my God.
Amy Vaughan:
Creating more space and more opportunities for women. And I’m never going to be in competition with another women’s organization. Never have, never will be.
Christy Harst:
That’s right.
Amy Vaughan:
Because, yeah, we’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of people will uplift and educate. So it takes all of us. All right. I’m gonna try to do a couple really quickly power on questions. And then again, you’ve been getting so much. Your people are great. So much love in the chat. It’s so good to see.
Christy Harst:
I haven’t read all of it.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, my gosh. There.
Christy Harst:
You know, I told them to come on because I wanted them to not only, you know, get a refresher on what Building Doors is, but also because I wanted them to be introduced to your community. And I know that you said it’s at the end of the year and not many, you know, people tune in, but I wanted them to kind of network with your members. So I know that there’s not a ton of your members in the chat, but if the door builders wanted to get in touch with people, how would they do that? Huh?
Amy Vaughan:
Well, they can go to the website togetherindigital.com they can connect with me on LinkedIn. I am always there if there’s a particular type of person within the industry, whether they’re creative, account, brand side, anything like that. Like, I am always happy, I love connecting with people.
Christy Harst:
Oh, yay. So that’s awesome. Thank you for that. Thank you. I really appreciate that because I feel like it’s this, your forum and your community is a great way for voice seekers to kind of introduce not only the mission of Building Doors, but themselves.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah.
Christy Harst:
And I really appreciate you opening your network to them.
Amy Vaughan:
Thank you. Yeah, no, absolutely. It’s my pleasure. Because, yeah, it makes it better and easier for me. For everyone. Yeah. This is the end of year and end of quarter, so they’re. They’re all tails on fire, hoping and praying they don’t have to work all next week. So, you know, I don’t miss it. I don’t miss it. All right, what is the most surprising brand or project that you voice that people wouldn’t have expected?
Christy Harst:
I voiced three chickens.
Amy Vaughan:
Wait, how did they sound?
Christy Harst:
I am not a character voice. Like, I don’t do animation. I create different characters for games or anything. So when a client reached out to me and said, look, we have an egg producer, an egg brand, and they’re doing this bit with three chickens.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay.
Christy Harst:
And I do all of their stuff anyway, so could you just do it? I’m like, yeah, sure. No problem. Fake it till you make it. So I got on with a coach, and I was like, let’s discuss these chickens. And one chicken was very posh, and I imagined her having, like, a. A row of pearls around her, and she was like, the snooty one. And so we created, you know, different. Was it great? No, it wasn’t my best work, I’ll tell you that. But it was fun. Also, I have a national campaign coming out soon where I am the voice of ibs, so that’s great.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s awesome. That kind of takes me back to Friends and Joey being the face of vd. Yeah, I have the voice of ibs. I feel like you need to get a T-shirt made for that. All right, finish this sentence. Building your own dorm means…
Christy Harst:
Building it big enough for everyone.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, I love it. Good answer. Good answer. Snaps for that best advice you’d give your younger self, starting out in voiceover?
Christy Harst:
Be yourself.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes, ma’am. I love that. Thank God for being older than 40. I feel like right out with all of it.
Christy Harst:
Just real quick, real quick. Did you know, I looked up. There’s a study that says that when women are in perimenopause. Yeah. In their brains, there’s a section that is all for nurturing and care in perimenopause. It’s literally switched off. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Let’s go. It’s the one thing I’m looking forward to in perimenopause. Not the insomnia, not the brain fog, not the fatigue, not the other things. But yeah. Oh, you’re getting a T-shirt. It’s happening. You might get one or two and I like, oh, yes.
Christy Harst:
We do not care about the club. Yes. Have you seen her? Oh, no. I love her.
Amy Vaughan:
She’s amazing. And I’m so happy for her because I know she just started it because she just wanted to do it. And now she’s got. She’s probably. That’s probably all she does full time. All right, last question and then we will wrap it up. Although y’ all have been a blast, we should do this again. One thing people get wrong about the Voiceover industry?
Christy Harst:
Hiring AI isn’t cheaper.
Amy Vaughan:
Thank you. Thank you. And it’s not going to be as good. I’m just going to tell you all that from a creative director standpoint, just don’t.
Christy Harst:
Correct. Hire humans.
Amy Vaughan:
Hire humans.
Christy Harst:
AI is not the answer.
Amy Vaughan:
No, not in this case. I don’t hate all I. But I think in this instance, I am 100% behind you. All right, ladies. Well, this has been a blast. Thank you so much. Chris.
Christy Harst:
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Amy Vaughan:
No, my pleasure. For sharing your voice, for sharing your experience, for creating space for. For others. You’re just like. We’re kindred spirits all over here. So I really loved having you on. And thank you to all of your door builders as well for joining us.
Christy Harst:
Yeah. Thank you, door builders. Yeah. And thank you for the offer to connect. I appreciate it.
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely. Yeah. TD members, where should they go when they’re listening to this? Because a lot of them are probably going to be listening to it over their holiday break if they get one. Where’s the best place to either reach you or learn about door builders?
Christy Harst:
So our. Our website is buildingdoorsvo.com. We are on most socials at buildingdoorsvo.com
Amy Vaughan:
Okay.
Christy Harst:
And I’m on LinkedIn as Christy Harst. Feel free to reach out. I am always, always up for a conversation.
Amy Vaughan:
Fantastic. I love it. All right, Christy. Well, thank you so much. This has been a great last episode of our third season as we’re wrapping up the year. Can’t believe that we’re also probably coming on close to 200 episodes.
Christy Harst:
Which is incredible. Wow. Congrats.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, definitely. Take a listen, look at some of our past episodes. Give us five stars. Give us a review. We’d love that if you could do that. But, yeah, until next year, everyone, we love you. Thank you for listening. And until next time, keep asking, keep giving, and keep growing.
Amy Vaughan:
Take care, everyone.
