Finding your Voice in Creative Work

Season 1; Episode 9- Finding your Voice: Why Pivoting is CRUCIAL in Your Creative Work

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Finding your voice Intro:

Welcome to Beyond the Template, the more than “just talk” podcast.

This week, we will consider the power of voice and how calling out into the world might change everything. And we’re taking inspiration from the incomparable Eartha Kitt, a woman who never stopped speaking truth, no matter the cost.

Hello everyone!  It’s Caroline, AKA C-Line, Leeny, C. Amelie, Amelie, and sometimes just C. It’s been a transformative couple of weeks since we all last connected!  If you missed it, instead of creating a new podcast episode, I wrote, performed, edited, and posted a new song. You can find a link to this in the podcast’s description this week.

I had not once shared my voice as a singular note until this year.  With that, over the months, anxiety has started to bend itself into exhilarated joy.  But I am still always shocked to receive the exuberance and positive support from people I respect… those who trailblaze to create the lives they dream of and those who create art and inspiration for the world.  These individuals have not wavered in their support, and yet I can’t help but keep an eye on others who I have claimed for decades, but who have consistently remained silent during this year of putting myself out in the open in a very vulnerable way (even when I ask for their support directly).  And this is to be expected, dear creatives.  When you really start to focus on your art, and begin to express yourself fully, it will not be for everyone.  And that’s okay.  It will land with those who are either where you aspire to be, or those who aspire alongside you.

I believe the idea of “voice” can serve yourself, and your community as both a literal call to others and your authentic and personal truth. In a world rife with voices, many who would serve themselves by sharing a voice meant to instill fear, anger, confusion, and hatred… we must counter by sharing our own.  I have now lent mine to training and development, social media and this podcast, but as I pursue building a community, that all feels like it’s still not enough.  Since we last checked in, I began to consider how trusting your own voice allows for others to do the same, inspires others to use their own, and therefore community is created simply through a ripple effect.  Acting through courage to do the hard thing is more powerful than any attempt at forcing people together.

Sounds like another pivot, doesn’t it?  You would be correct.  And again… it’s because of YOUR feedback.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  That, and the feedback I get from asking AI to synthesize my brain’s single run-on sentence monologue into succinct breakthroughs.  I do enjoy musing over its findings.

We are presently in the design phase of the creative process, beginning with establishing objectives.  Last we checked in, I shared that I had proposed to Creative Mornings a new kind of “Field Trip”… knowing I might be rejected.  I heard nothing back, which is just fine.  If I have learned anything this year, it’s that even when you are offering something useful, helpful, impactful, beneficial, and exemplary to the world… it may still reject you and slap your hand away.  That’s why I am rapidly pivoting throughout this journey. 

In learning design, the OG design approach is called ADDIE… which is what this first season is meant to follow, if only to breakdown each step in a way that is not overwhelming… but in the real world, no one actually can use this model anymore… instead they typically jump into rapid prototyping, with one pivot after another.  As with any new venture, we must build the plane as we are flying it.  You, my lovely listeners, are observing this in real time… which is the best way for me to give solid examples of how the creative process works… so you all can give yourselves grace, patience, and empathy as you work towards your own creative goals.

As I continue to move forward, even with having to retrace my steps, side step, and even taking detours… this week I am looking back on my objectives again… but this time, I am simply going to focus on the creative work of sharing my voice with you… because I believe the community building, or ultimate end result, is inevitable if I can do this well.

Do I wish that you, my audience, remember something specific, gain deeper understanding, take a specific action, be able to analyze an idea, make judgements on a topic, or be inspired to create something of your own through this podcast, and my social content?  Absolutely.  I have been drilling into that since day one.  The world is insane.  Creatives need to rise now more than ever. 

Do I wish that you, my audience, be willing participants in providing your attention, actively respond or react as participants, accept or reject my work, or shift your perspective?  Of course.  This is why I keep asking for feedback.  And why I have been trying to get my listeners to be as active as possible.  Because listening is great, but sharing your thoughts, takeaways, participating in polls, or commenting?  That’s the sweet spot.

So my work is connected with cognitive and affective objectives.  It’s obvious.  That along with my ultimate vision.  You already know I hope to support and inspire creative and innovative people to get going already!  And that by just having my content in common, community can begin to be built.

The gaps that I am JUST starting to fill have to do with the type of content though.  No one has cared about the learning design.  At all (hahah).  It’s hilarious.  And I get it, it is boring.  It’s my career path this year.  I understand fully (hahah).  What have you liked?  The singing and storytelling.  Not even the good news!  It’s the performance aspects I can offer.  I got my first over 1,000 view win on a YouTube short last week (taken from Instagram) regarding the adventures of selling my home, moving abroad, and then driving across the US.  I got the most positive feedback from singing, and interestingly (my newest Epiphone) the over-the-top maniacal laugh I added at the end of my latest song.  And, I have been told that the Expander of the Week stories are something you look forward to.  You all crave entertainment.  And I get it.   I hear you.  So, guess what?  More of that is coming.  Be ready.  I am about to unleash my true self.

When I chatted with AI this week about the future of voiceover artistry, here’s what they (who named themselves Sol) had to say:

“By 2030, AI will dominate functional voiceovers (like phone menus or ad reads).
But artistic, emotionally rich, identity-driven voices will command premium value.
Studios, indie creators, and production houses will license recognizable human voices (like yours) for authenticity.

The market for AI voice-over is growing rapidly—some forecasts suggest that from around $5.4 billion in 2024 it could reach ~$36 billion by 2032.

More content creators, brands, and platforms are using AI voices because they’re fast, scalable, multilingual, and cost-effective.

At the same time, many voice talent and creative professionals are pushing back. There’s a growing recognition that human voices bring subtlety, nuance, authenticity and emotional depth that AI still struggles to replicate.

Some niches are more exposed to AI-replacement (e.g., explainer videos, simple corporate narration, basic e-learning voice overs) while high-emotion, brand-voice, character, live interaction or deeply personal storytelling remain more resistant.

Over the next ten years, I (Sol) expect(s):

Many of the simpler voice-over tasks will be increasingly handled by AI (corporate narration, generic explainer videos, multilingual versions, bulk content).

Human voice talent will shift toward roles where the voice is deeply tied to identity, brand, emotion, character, or performance.

The value of a “distinctive human voice” will increase in premium contexts—brands and projects that want authenticity, trust, emotional resonance.

Voice-over professionals who adapt—by expanding into storytelling, character work, live performance, or owning their voice/brand—will thrive.

Those who rely solely on “script reading” may find more competition and downward pressure on rates unless they differentiate.”

This was all unsurprising, fascinating, and exciting to me.  Before I was focused on offering this as a service as part of my instructional design work.  But here, I see that AI is inevitable in nearly all aspects of learning design in the future.  I want to prepare.  So, I’m going to start really playing. But! You should know, I will press you for more feedback again.  Likes and shares are great.  But I want to see comments, messages, texts, DMs to hear your authentic reactions to what I am doing.  Boo me.  That’s cool too.  Any feedback helps me ensure that you have been given the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding and share your insights.  And I can also gauge whether you have been impacted in the way I envision.

Starting today:

• I am still adding good news, but you’ll have to find those links in the description or my blog.  They will be listed along with the Expander of the Week resources.  By the way I include cool videos, books, articles, etc. here. I hope you are checking these out!
• I am still going to give homework each week!  But, I am no longer going to include a downloadable in the blog.  You can find the full transcript in the blog that has everything for you there, if you can’t catch how to progress with me and take notes.
• I am going to use this podcast as a creative playground.  Expander of the Week stories will remain… but I might be doing them in a voice or accent.  I haven’t decided yet (hahah).
• The storytelling is going to be central to this podcast.  I will still be telling my own stories, the stories of others, and think I may start doing dramatic readings here and there.  Guess what?  I want your suggestions. 
• I am starting to shift from Instagram to YouTube.  Instagram is against community building in its very design.  YouTube allows for subscribers, just like this podcast.  I will still post on Instagram, but YouTube will have more content on it from now on.

Sounds like I am finally finding my voice, doesn’t it?  And it’s all because of you, my listeners and supporters.  I had planned to begin talking about how to scaffold this week, but I think I will do this next time.  I am going to take a couple of classes on Udemy and start script writing… scaffolding is important there.  I’m excited.  Thank the freaking universe.

Now, I want to explore what happens when a woman finds her voice and refuses to let the world take it away. To do that, let’s step back in time to meet our Expander of the Week: Eartha Kitt.

Eartha Kitt’s story begins not on a stage, but in the red clay of South Carolina (that’s where I’m from!), a place still stitched with the cruel remnants of Jim Crow laws and poverty (facts). She was born in 1927 to a Black Cherokee mother and a white father whose identity was kept secret. She was raised in a world that refused to see her as belonging anywhere. Her very existence was rebellion.

When Eartha was still a child, her mother sent her to live with another family. But these relatives treated her as little more than labor. She worked in cotton fields, tended animals, and endured physical and emotional abuse. She found her solace in movement: running through the woods, mimicking the sounds of birds, finding rhythm in wind and rustle. In those quiet southern forests, Eartha’s voice was beginning to form.

At eight, she was sent to New York City to live with an aunt in Harlem. There amid the pulse of jazz and the soft chaos of the Harlem Renaissance, the seed of her artistry began to bloom. By her teens, Eartha had joined the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, one of the first major African American dance troupes to tour internationally. Performing took her across the globe. She traveled to London and Buenos Aires, but it was in Paris where the world first heard that voice: husky, elegant, electric.

Her accent became an instrument, her phrasing a mystery. She didn’t sound like anyone else. And THAT was the point.

Eartha Kitt became the embodiment of cosmopolitan seduction. She sang “C’est Si Bon,” and suddenly every room she entered tilted toward her. She performed at the Olympia in Paris, in nightclubs where the air smelled like champagne and cigarette smoke, and on Broadway, where she redefined glamour not as softness, but as power.

But Eartha wasn’t content to be adored. She used her fame as a platform. In the America of the 1960s, that was dangerous.

In 1968, she was invited to a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson. When asked about the Vietnam War, Eartha didn’t play nice. She told the First Lady (to her face!) that war was destroying American youth. The room fell silent. Within days, her career in the United States collapsed. She was blacklisted, labeled “difficult,” “unpatriotic,” “too political. What a badass.  Seriously, incredible.

For nearly a decade, she was exiled.  During those years she performed mainly in Europe, where audiences still adored her. But even exile couldn’t silence her. Eartha once said, “The price we pay for being ourselves is worth it.” And she lived by that.

By the late 1970s, the world had shifted enough to invite her back. She returned to Broadway, earning Tony nominations, recording albums, and later becoming beloved by a whole new generation through her unmistakable purr as Catwoman and her gleeful villainy as Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove.  Who in my generation and those which followed can ever forget the line, “PULL THE LEVER, KRONK!”

Eartha Kitt’s legacy is more than her songs or roles. It’s the way she held her ground. She was a woman of mixed race in a segregated world, a truth-teller in an industry built on illusion, and an artist who refused to soften her edges for comfort. Her life reminds us that the voice you’re born with, whether gravelly, golden, quiet, or bold is sacred. It’s not meant to fit in. It’s meant to resonate.

As Eartha Kitt once famously said, ‘I fall in love with myself, and I want someone to share it with me.’ Maybe that’s what true confidence is: falling in love with your own voice, your own message, and your own sound.

Still considering your ultimate objectives for your creative work, this week, I want you to think about where your voice feels small and where it might be trying to grow louder. What would it mean to give YOUR voice more space to resonate?

I sincerely appreciate each of you…

Here’s to all of us continuing, even when it all feels like too much.  Here’s to deciding to keep trying to put ourselves out into the world so we can connect, collaborate, and create change.  Here’s to our community of makers and shakers.

Finding your voice Outro:

Thank you for listening to Beyond the Template! You are doing great. Keep it up. Keep it creative.

My name is Caroline Amelie LeBoeuf. I have a degree in art and in counseling and also professional level certificates in educational advising and learning design & technology. Roles I have carried include illustrator, photographer, writer, traveler, mentor, instructor and most recently entrepreneur!

If you are curious to learn further about the work I offer my clients, check out cameliedesigns.com, that’s cameliedesigns.com.

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More from Caroline!

The Spooky Song (maniacal laugh at the end!)

More on “The Expander of the Week“:

Eartha Kitt Sings “I Want to Be Evil” (1953) 

Documentary: Carolina Snaps: Eartha Kitt 

Interview: An Evening with Eartha Kitt

Thursday’s Child: An Autobiography by Eartha Kitt

Smithsonian Portrait of Eartha Kitt

GOOD NEWS of the WEEK:

Lockdown drills are a fact of life in U.S. schools. What does that mean for students? 

‘Art is good for you’: how going to a gallery can boost your health 

The most challenging thing you’ve ever done – and what you learned from it 

Learning to See: How Professors Teach in Schools of Art and Design 

Students of color benefit from meditation in schools, so Atlanta is investing in mindfulness 

Get SOCIAL with me! (connect with other listeners in the BTT community)

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Until next time – keep shining for those who would otherwise remain in the dark.  Be the light!