Today we’d like to introduce you to Christi Bowen. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Christi Bowen is a professional female voice talent with over 30 years of experience in voice-over and video production.
Christi graduated from the University of Florida where she fell in love with all things broadcast production. Her voice-over career began while writing, voicing, and producing local radio spots at WRUF-FM. She was a weekend DJ but loved voicing commercials more.
After graduating, Christi worked in the commercial production department of a Viacom Cable in Nashville where, once again, she wrote, produced, and voiced many of the local TV advertising campaigns. Her course shifted to film and TV production for a number of years, including working in Hollywood on the movies Galaxy Quest and Patch Adams.
Christi worked her way up to becoming a TV producer with a Nashville, Tennessee company with a Department of Defense contract to produce TV and radio Public Service Announcements for the military overseas. While there, she won 9 Telly Awards and a Regional Emmy for her work. But voiceovers were always Christi’s true love.
Getting back into full-time voice work in 2011, Christi developed a roster of clients all over the world and on many types of projects… from commercials and corporate narrations to eLearning modules and phone systems. She specializes in eLearning and also has a passion for political and automotive advertising. Her clients include L’Oreal, Walmart, General Mills, AAA Auto Club, Quaker Oats, IKEA, Northern Trust, Philips, and many more!
Christi was the Team Lead, featured speaker, and Panel Moderator at the world’s largest voice-over conference, VO Atlanta, in 2017 and 2018, for the eLearning/Narration track. In 2019, Christi became the Virtual Conference Producer for the event – utilizing her production and coordinating skills once again. In 2020, Christi took on the Associate Producer role for the conference which was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic.
Christi has won 2 Voice Arts Awards for Political voiceover and her corporate narration work has garnered 3 The W3 Awards and 2 Tellys. She is also a Finalist for 2 Reed Awards and the winner of 2 Pollie Awards for Political voiceover.
Christi is proud to be a Founding 500 member of the World Voices Organization, a Voxy Lady, University of Florida Alumni Association Life Member, American Marketing Association – Nashville member, and Association of Talent Development Member.
One of her proudest achievements is being the Co-Founder of Tennessee Voice Over Exchange – the Meetup Group in Nashville for Voice Actors. With over 80 members, the group has been meeting monthly for over 9 years.
Christi has coached students in eLearning and the Business of VO and loves sharing her knowledge and experience to develop and encourage new talent. Between the Meetup group and her private students, Christi saw the need for training opportunities and a studio rental facility in the Nashville area. Tennessee Voice-Over Studios was born. Opening in the fall of 2021, the Studios offers classes both in-person and virtually for all levels of students in voiceover.
Tennessee Voiceover Studios’ mission is to provide quality training and guidance that allows students to use their creative gifts and build a rewarding career in voiceover. By teaching the fundamentals of acting and business, we empower students with the knowledge and skills needed to be a part of the creative voiceover and acting industry.
With the help of fellow veteran voice acting coaches and mentors, Christi launched TNVO Studios with the idea to give a more in-depth and honest look at the voiceover business and what it takes to make it a career. TNVO Studios uses the 3-Star Method (taken from the 3 stars of the Tennessee State emblem) to teach the fundamental areas that all voice actors must know – performance, business, and technical skills.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. There have been challenges but they’ve made me stronger. With a background in producing and being an organizational-minded person, some of the business hurdles haven’t been as hard but the creative challenges are what I continue to work on.
With your voice as your product, there are times when that sound is not as popular for a particular genre. I’ve adapted and found the areas of voiceover that offer continual work and are less susceptible to changing trends.
Starting the Studios has been a challenge… more than I thought it was going, to be honest. With Covid and inflation, people are not spending on classes for a side business or something they may not follow through with. We have a large population of people interested in voiceover but getting the word out about the studios and the offering has been challenging.
I was a bit overconfident in my estimations of the number of students that we could expect. However, I’ve recently readjusted the pricing and I’m offering new classes that will appeal to our ideal student. I’m hoping that smooths out the road.
As you know, we’re big fans of Tennessee Voice Over Studios LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Tennessee Voiceover Studios’ mission is to provide quality training and guidance that allows students to use their creative gifts and build a rewarding career in voiceover.
By teaching the fundamentals of acting and business, we empower students with the knowledge and skills needed to be a part of the creative voiceover and acting industry.
Tennessee Voiceover Studios was founded by veteran voice actor and coach Christi Bowen. After years of running the Meetup group for voice actors in Middle Tennessee (Tennessee Voice Over Exchange), Christi saw the need for more training opportunities in the area for the growing Nashville population.
With the help of fellow veteran voice acting coaches and mentors, Christi launched TNVO Studios with the idea to give a more in-depth and honest look at the voiceover business and what it takes to make it a career. TNVO Studios uses the 3-Star Method (taken from the 3 stars of the Tennessee State emblem) to teach the fundamental areas that all voice actors must know – performance, business, and technical skills.
Okay, that was the elevator pitch. What sets us apart in town is the number of class offerings, the variety of classes, the caliber of coaches, and the studio rental space. We are located central to most people in Middle Tennessee and we are in a building that houses several other creative companies, including an acting school.
One of our newest offerings that will really set us apart is the addition of Source Connect to the studio. We can now connect to other professional studios across the world for recording sessions. Our rates for Source Connect sessions are very competitive and we have a high ranking in search engines that is driving traffic to the site.
For producers and creatives, we offer the space to hold castings, we have a roster of talent we can recommend for their projects and we offer affordable recording studios.
For actors and voice actors, we offer a great space to learn and grow your career. For those looking to get into the business, we have a great support network of fellow talent and a safe place to learn the craft.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Wow, so many. One of them would have to be a trip to London for a long weekend to buy ballet shoes. My parents worked for Pan Am Airways and so we flew first class for free.
We saw Cats, eat heavenly meals, and went to Gamba to buy pointe shoes. I think I was 12-13 at the time. It was a lovely weekend.
Pricing:
- Classes starting at $99
- Studio Rental starts at $100/hour
- Studio Rental for Auditions starting at $30
- Studio Rental with Source Connect $175/hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tnvoiceoverstudios.com/ https://www.christibowen.com/
- Instagram: @tnvostudios, @christibowenvo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TNVOStudios, https://www.facebook.com/ChristiBowenVO
- Twitter: @christibowenvo
Image Credits
Bethany Rogers and Christi Bowen
