Episode 209: Undeniable Aura

Heart healer. People connector. Community builder. 

Those are just a few of the ways that Aurelia would describe herself as she’s journeyed through life. Her love for teaching others and the desire to push them beyond their limits extends beyond her dance team and any coaching she can offer. 

Aurelia is no stranger to the world of entrepreneurship, but will be the first to tell you that it is up to you to take control of what you want for your life. 

So from the Bronx, NY to Los Angeles, CA - how has her impact been felt worldwide?

Tune in to episode 209 as Aurelia recalls the development of her dance team to what it is today, recalls her pursuit into the voiceover industry and much more! 

For more information about Aurelia Michael:

Instagram: @aureliamichael ; @ourvoiceondemand

Website: aureliamichael.com ; ourvoiceondemand.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I never want my obituary to look like my resume. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, but rather who I'm serving. Aurelia dropped a gem on us today. And furthermore, from the East Coast, Bronx, New York to the West Coast, Los Angeles, California, the impact is continuously felt worldwide. Running a dance team, a voiceover coach, a life coach, someone who doesn't even really like to define themselves with labels because she knows her purpose. She stepped into it, she knows her passions, and ultimately she wants people to be able to do the thing, to speak that truth unapologetically, to be undeniable every single day. I hope you get as much value and as much insight and as much motivation that I did from this episode because she lit a fire under me, called me out all in the same breath. So without further ado, enjoy episode 209. What's going on, everybody?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Welcome back to another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamar Turner. Look, we're we're in for a good one today, y'all. Definitely a lot of high energy, a lot of things going on. We may even have a guest or two popping in to keep us some company during this interview. Man, I gotta give a big shout out to my cousin again. I know for my people who have kind of been tapping in with me for a while, depending on how long you've been with the podcast journey, you would know you would hear me kind of talk about my cousin DJ and how he's been able to connect me with a lot of like-minded individuals. Um, shout out to Ted, shout out to Matt, shout out to um Alex. I could really just go on, but nonetheless, my cousin is very resourceful, and today's interview will be no different, man. She is amazing, she's very well versed. I've been following the content for quite some time now, and to just see everything that she's doing, to see that the resource that she's even being for other people who may want to even follow in her footsteps and kind of get into the industries and get involved the way that she is, just the same too. And just the woman that she is, a lot of the hats that she wears, we'll get into all of that today. But before I let her pretty much just take over and let her do everything that she's doing, I have to first ask her. But I'm gonna ask her really to do two things because I want y'all to be able to say it in comparison to when I say it and y'all just gonna know how to take it. We're gonna go today. So, can you please pronounce your name for the people, how you pronounce it for me the very, very, very first time that we talked?

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Yes, hola.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

My name is Aurelia Michael Homegren. If you're feeling spicy or Aurelia is fine or aura, but yes, it's Aurelia.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

We're gonna do aura because I like the aura, but y'all heard the R is rolling off.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

So if the R is not in your ministry, they'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Most definitely. But how are you doing today? How's everything on your end?

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Today I feel really blessed. Um, Monday is my favorite day of the week. I know most people it's Fridays, but to me, Monday is an opportunity for newness uh to reset from however the weekend went or the week went. And when it was the other day was the first of the month, was also a Monday, was also the official second half of the year. Um, I can't help but feel blessed. I'm feeling good today. I've got my plus one here, sis Pepper. He just felt like he needed to be on the mommy today, so he'll just be hanging out with us.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I love that. Uh yeah, you may be the first person who I've heard say that as far as their favorite day of the week. So we love uh we love unique because you know, some people depending on who you ask, I got into a big debate uh some years about when the week starts. Some people argue that it starts on Sunday, some people argue that it starts on Monday. So I think it just kind of I think it really just depends. For me, I was more of that Monday starter, but I guess if we want to be specific and look at the calendars and things like that, cool Sunday, but that's the day to rest. So for me, I'm not starting the week on a rest day, but that's neither here nor there. We're not some of that listening too. But no, I I definitely do love that. Big shout out to Pepper. We're definitely gonna we're very happy to have him for this interview today. But all right, so look, I know that we are going to have quite a network of people tapping. I know people from your side, I know people from my side, but we're gonna have some new people along the way. So, probably people who know nothing about us, but somehow, some way came across this episode. Just to do our due diligence, just to make sure that everybody is on the same page, on the same playing field, just do two things for me. Can you one just tell me a little bit about yourself, and then can you two just tell me what brings you on the Down the Business Podcast today?

SPEAKER_03 4:32

All right, a little bit about myself. So I'm originally from the Bronx, New York, but I'm like a valley girl now, and I live in LA in the valley. Um, I went to University of Maryland, Maryland, College Park. I double-majored in dance and business management, went to New York to pursue dance, came to LA to pursue dance, went to New York to do Broadway, came back to do some more theater, uh, and now I'm heading back to New York to do some more theater. Um, but I'm really big on uh not being categorized by labels because there are a lot of things that I do or that I've done that I don't necessarily do currently. So I always say I'm a heart healer, I'm a people connector, I'm a firecracker on the second, third, and fourth of July. I'm a warm cocoa on December 25th. Like I am a community builder, and I just hope that with every person that hears my voice or is in front of me and we get to connect, that you walk away better than when we first met.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Amazing. Shout out to the BX too, man. We got some people tapping up.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Come on all day, every day. You know what's up.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Shout out to the BX, man. I I love but no, to hear that and to know that, you know, I've I've spoken to a lot of people on the podcast who wear multiple hats, and to know sometimes and to hear their bios and their interests, and to sometimes I can't even remember everything that they went through and you know, just everything that they're involved in. And as you said, even things that may they may have done years ago or previously, that's not necessarily today, but still a part of who they are as a person. So to hear all of that, to hear what's encompassed under such an aura, no pun intended, is is really just amazing. And I'm very just, you know, to hear the the back and forth. I know from coast to coast, that's not the easiest thing to do, especially for what you're pursuing and what you really want to do. So I really want to take it back some. I really want to take it back before we got into the double major and before we got into the school, before we left the Bronx and everything like that. Where did the interest peak when it came to dance? Was that something that you grew up around? Was that something that family was involved in? How did that really work for you?

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Well, I'm technically really the only artist in my family. My family's full of teachers, lawyers, doctors, all the things. And my parents put me in everything. I'm an only child. So cheerleading, gymnastics, ice skating. And then we started at the dance theater of Harlem. And I did that all the way from when I was like three to about 18. Then when I got to college, I started a dance team called Dynamic, which started in October 2004. So we are now heading into our 20th year. Um, but I think my love for dance always just came from my love for music. When I used to hit SkateKey in the Bronx with my dad and be like, that's my gym. And I'll be getting on the dent. Like, I always, it's the music that's always driven me. So that was one of the things that I felt most passionate about. And then when I got to college, honestly, I was a dance major, but it was modern dance and I haven't done it since. But what it did teach me was the discipline that comes behind when you're being stretched, because it wasn't something I wanted to do. I honestly didn't feel like my body was created to do that movement, but I just needed to graduate. So, in doing that, I met an incredible teacher in my senior year who really pushed me and was like, you can apply some of these things to your future, even if you don't do this dance style directly. So no one in my family ever did it, but my parents who are retired teachers supported me and have supported me 150% since day one.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I love that. We got a uh we got a fellow member of Omega Sci5, my chapter brother. He actually popped on, he just said skate key was lit. So shout out to the New Yorkers.

SPEAKER_04 8:13

Come on, you're already now, especially before it moved.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

The first spot was the best. The second spot was cool, then it became more of a dance party. But the first spot was it.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Perhaps I'm aging myself. I don't know what y'all are talking about.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

And shout out to the briss.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

That's cool. Shout out to um, shout out to all of the New Yorkers here. But no, to hear that, you know, that's uh that's a story, and a lot of times that's how things can go from just not necessarily, I guess, blocking towards something or wanting to do something, but it as a turn, you know, I don't know really what it means to be the only child, but I know that that means that uh in speaking to only children and knowing only children, I know that your parents will involve you in every single thing that they can until we figure something out, or just to not have you feel like you're sitting around. And even it's a social thing. You just do things you see everybody every day. But an only child, you know, it can be different. Just coming home, you literally are doing everything. Sometimes it feels like by yourself amongst your friends, of course, and other family members, but I'm saying that every day, that just in-the-house type interaction. So I get that and I love that now. With I and I feel like too, even for what you wanted to do, New York even may have had some influence on that too, because as you spoke to Broadway and as you spoke to just everything that goes on in there from the shows to just performances, to just I don't know how many of my people have taken even some public transportation or subway or something like that, or saw the videos, and really just you can get a performance there for a couple of dollars.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Oh, yeah, I got friends that still hit on the train. Oh somebody, so I love that now.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

So, but a big kudos to 20 years. 20 years having a dance group is no small feat whatsoever. So, big big snaps to that. My little brother was actually born in 2004. So, to hear that and now to make that.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

I know my child is 20 years old, it's kind of crazy because I didn't even want to start it, and my friends made me, and it was the best decision that I didn't want to make.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

So, now, and and that's something that I too I want to kind of take a deeper dive into, too. Now, so with with people kind of coming to you, with your friends kind of even knowing you, knowing your interests, knowing more so your passions, and obviously I would assume that they would want you to do something like this because they know that whether it's something that you're a gung-ho about, whatever you put your name on, whatever you put your stamp on, you're gonna put that best foot forward nine times out of ten. So, with really building the foundation for dynamic, with really getting things off the ground and running, what was really your mindset? Because, like you said, this wasn't something that you were just happy-go lucky about, it wasn't something that you were just jumping for joy about. So, what was that really making that transition to get things started?

SPEAKER_03 10:40

I don't know if I realized it then, but I've definitely been called to be a leader. Um it's just in my nature, even if I'm not trying to lead, if I'm in a group, people tend to flock to me. Um, not like, oh, not like pull it, you know, toot my own horn or anything, but there's just an assurance that my parents instilled in me from day one that like I can literally do anything that I want. And that was part of getting my Broadway debut, was like none of the credentials and the resume said I should have been on Broadway, but I believed I could. And so it was already written. Um, so starting then in 2004, we were on a dance team already that was kind of fizzling out, and I just wasn't interested in replicating or continuing the foundation that they had built. And so being really big in leadership, I was an RA at the time as well. I was starting to pledge Delta, like leadership to me, service, all of those things in combination. The nine of us literally just sat uh in the gym area, like over smoothies. And I was like, okay, I'm I'm willing to do this, but I need to know, you know, who are my other players, who's gonna help out, how are we gonna start this? But I definitely didn't expect it to make it 20 years. I definitely didn't expect it to make it out of the pandemic, but for it to still be going and to now enter its 20 year and just to see how it's evolved. We didn't have social, we just got Facebook when I was a sophomore. So to see now how they're utilizing social media and just seeing the growth of it, um, I knew at that time that I was meant to be a leader and I probably wasn't gonna follow anybody else starting the group. So it made sense at the time.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

And I'm I'm kind of glad that you even answered that the way that you did, because it kind of segues into my next few thoughts too, about thinking about what was going on really in 2004 in so many different aspects of life from a digital aspect of life. Like you said, social media and just what was really prevalent back then from a just a lifestyle from a financial side of things. Even as you said, we've made it through a pandemic at this point. And I've watched a lot of as someone who started their business during the pandemic, I've watched a lot of people and I've had a lot of conversations that have gone multiple ways that have gone. People have come into business during the pandemic, have flourished away, people have gone out of business, people have contemplated business and not really knowing what to do. People have maybe had to take a take a 180 with their pivot on purpose. Yeah, people create different businesses because their main or their nine to five just wasn't really cutting it, or they weren't the essential worker per se. So, what were some really eye-opening experiences or eye-opening moments for you over these 20 years? You know, from like you said, just not even not necessarily recognizing your calling in the beginning, because I think that's a beautiful thing too. I think a lot of times we just immerse ourselves into things, or we know what we're passionate about, we know what we love to do, or even like you said, what we were called to do by others, which is also a calling on our life, whether we realize it or not. So, what were some eye-opening things over these 20 years that really showed you, hey, I'm not new to this, I'm true to this. This is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

Well, I know that in even in high school, uh, when I was on the cheer team, I think that's really where the leadership started because I was really shy in eighth, ninth grade. I had gone through um a pretty traumatic, well, a pretty traumatic experience for me at the time where um my first boyfriend had got hit by a car trying to cross a highway in co-op city. It's a pretty well-known um thing that happened in October of '99. And so I was literally going into high school starting, and I got into a very depressive state. I joined the cheerleading team. Uh, people were not very nice. I was very quiet, very meek. And by the time I finished, we had created a role for me called junior coach. What was above the captain? And through those years, I think that's where my leadership skills started to show since my parents were also teachers. I love teaching to this day. I that is the most important thing to me. I am a coach. It doesn't matter what arena, it all comes back to me loving to teach people and to help people and to help them push past their limits. And so through my dance team, you can just see people that maybe wouldn't have had a chance on another team, people that never would have thought of doing dance, people who this was their only home. They had nowhere else to go to, you know, after school, they would come straight to us. And so to see people's mind, body, spirits evolve over those years, we made it really important that the alumni continue to come back. And so even when I went to New York and then went to LA and then went to New York and went to, and like I go, you know, back and forth depending on the season I'm in. I recognize how much I love connecting people and I love helping people. And my business too, one of my businesses, Voice on Demand, also started in June of 2020 during the pandemic. And it has grown in ways that I couldn't even imagine meeting people who aren't even interested in voiceover, but just want to empower their voice and be able to speak their truth and not, you know, regardless of consequence, being unconditionally confident has shown that all along I was made to be a leader. And sometimes being a leader often means you're not in the spotlight and becoming comfortable in that, and that I can bring people to a place where they can then stand on my shoulders and tell me how beautiful the view is, as opposed to it being about me, me, me, that no, I am the vessel. So it's a pretty awesome life to live. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Humble, humble, humble. I love I and I also do think that some of the best leaders really leave from behind the scenes or are not always that person that you see at the forefront because that person at the forefront needed someone to get to that forefront or to put everything together, or you need those produce. It wasn't until I really got into broadcasting and journalism and media and everything that I realized how important producers were. And while we see the talent, while we see everybody at face value, how do you think they got that camera angle? How do you know when they know the queue to start speaking? How do you know that they know that their tie wasn't straight or something like that? There's so many things that go into that element of people being behind the scenes that they definitely need their credit just the same. But you you tease it a little bit, and we won't get into the to the voiceover too because I'm very, very interested in that, both personally, but also just because I've had people put that out there, I've had people do things like that. We've even kind of I've even saw recently like some of the I love when they kind of release movies, but they'll also show you kind of like behind the scenes with the characters and kind of showing you them like in the room doing all the I think it's like the first level, how these people just evoke emotion sometimes from just reading a script. That's so cool. But with with with with gathering dynamic, with putting everything together, I could imagine that the foundation that you laid, what you really started, what you really came into business as is much different than kind of what it looks like maybe 20 years ago. While the foundation may still be there, the principles and everything are succinct and everything, you know, you have to change with over time. We're still operating the way we were in 2004 over 24, we we'd be in pretty big trouble here. So would you say that when it comes to the marketing, when it comes to really getting the word out there of what the dynamic dance group does of what you guys are doing, where you guys are, even when you're looking for other people or joining? Because I don't really know, I guess, necessarily how the process works for joining a dance group. So I guess that's what I'm saying in layman's terms. What does it look like for when people are discovering who you guys are at dance group, maybe see you perform, come across social media or anything like that? How do you guys truly market to the people that are out there? Especially thinking about you guys are 20 years in, you're not just kind of like newly described.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Yeah. So originally in the 2004s, in the early 2000s, most dance teams only had people from your school. So we didn't really need to promote outside of like our fair that we had at the beginning of the year, or we put some flyers up in the dorms. But right around 2010, maybe there was a team. Oh, this is all in the DMV, is a team that started allowing people from outside the school, people that weren't even in school. And once people saw how much of a powerhouse they were, everybody kind of started to pull that in. So now, so obviously they're still in Maryland and I'm here, but from what I see and what I've been talking about, talking to sometimes with the president, um, they still do the same things. They, except they're doing now the TikTok reels and uh they're doing little skits to like send out to people and they're doing free classes to get people from the community to come in. They go to outside classes and meet people there. So I think it's very similar. It's just now there's certain trends that we didn't have then. Like we didn't make a video to promote because there was nowhere to put that video. So um, although I'm not as involved now because I'm here, um, I do get a chance to watch and see that a lot of our foundation is still there. But of course, like anything, you have to evolve over the times.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Most definitely, most definitely. And I got I could only imagine how cool it was watching the the public reaction to it or sense or realizing, like, you know, oh, other, oh, they who is that? Or, you know, you're seeing flyers all around getting into that, and to now see kind of what has grown to and what it's become. That's cool. But I also asked that question just to as you said, you know, what it was back then, it was pretty simple. Everybody who was there, word of mouth, everything like that, it was it was pretty simple. But now we've kind of gone to a place where you've allowed outsiders, you've done different things, and it really just goes to show how it's evolving with performance, with creative. I even think about my my alma mater, per se, East Carolina, and where now they do something with our step show where we can bring alumni back to participate with the actual undergrad. I think that's like the coolest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Even the video now of like nobody recorded my coming show. I can't find video anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

But now when during the pandemic, they had some of the lines like recording videos, like full-fledged productions, and then now some like everyone's posting, and I was like, I can't say that I'd have preferred that, but it'd been nice to have a video or two, you know, from 2004 or something.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

I think about two people, I think about if TikTok was around during that age and kind of what things would have looked like, or how it would have been, you know, we were thinking about everybody back then.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

I remember we thought we were like we're still on my space, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Right. And we were looking at like the America's Got Talent, America's Best Dance Crew, we were looking at things like that, you know. I mean that you got serves and the stop the yards and yeah, so I could imagine what it really would have been like to see that happen. So you mentioned the pandemic as well, but you also mentioned another venture coming as a result of that. So with the voiceovers and everything of the sort, like that. So to hear that, and now correct me if I'm wrong in saying this, to hear that this business was something that you got started during the pandemic. Why? I'm gonna just simplify why, you know, because I think about you know, that could start a business is already hard as is, but starting a business during the pandemic arguably had to be one of the most difficult things ever, especially if you know your depending on how your social media presence was, depending on how you were socially, depending on your marketing, depending on what you knew about that. Granted, everybody was on social media more. There was an increased presence, increased. Traffic, but if you didn't know how to navigate that or if you didn't fit in this algorithm per se, it may all be kind of falling on deaf ears. So for you with thinking about your passion of helping, your passion of just wanting to be a resource and funnel that knowledge onto others, how would this now turn into a business and why during the pandemic?

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Well, in short form, I did it because someone who was quite a stranger kind of told me I couldn't. So I started in 2017. I was doing the Donna Summer musical on Broadway. And someone had mentioned, Oh, you have such a nice voice. You ever thought about voiceover? So I went to school while I was in New York for it. I took all the classes, and then when we closed, uh, my husband and boyfriend at the time decided to move back to LA. And I took a final class with someone, and he basically told me, like, my equipment was wrong, my demo all sounded the same. I couldn't compete with people who do it full-time if I wanted to do it part-time. And when I asked him, like, what ways can I get better? His only answer was to work with me. And so from there, I packed up all my stuff. I sold whatever I could and I left it behind. And then June 2020 was also, and I said this earlier, it was a Monday, it was the first of June. And in true Virgo fashion, I was like, we should do a challenge. Now, at this time, I had a company called Aurelia Michael Living, life coaching company. It had been around since 2011. So I still life coach, but I closed the company in terms of having affiliate coaches and all of that. But that was kind of like our last hurrah was let's do a 30-day challenge. Pick any challenge you want, and we'll do it for 30 days. Anybody can join. And so one of my friends, Candace, she's Soror, was like, I'm gonna do 30 days of auditioning. I was like, Auditioning for what? Aren't you like in government or something? And she was like, I do voiceover. I asked who her coach was. She connected me to her coach and it just took off from there. He told me, I said, you know, all I want to do is make back the money I spent. I had probably spent about $2,500 between classes and equipment. And he was like, Oh, you're gonna make that and some. And within those six months, I was able to make a high five figures. So people kept asking, How did you do it? How do you get started? And I honestly got tired of answering the question. And so I taught a class and then another class. And four years later, now we're actually having our first ever intensive called Black to School Intensive, which is open to everybody, but it's created by the culture. So it's going to be led by all BIPAC instructors. Um, and we're really excited to do that in September. That's kind of we just released that actually today. So it's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Look at the timeliness of the interview and all of that. But I yeah, we, you know, we we think about a lot of the where we derive motivation from and where we get that inspiration from, and almost what fuels our fire in a sense. And a lot of times that uh that negative can can be just that, and then some, you know, that could have set up so many people so many different ways. It could have almost forced the hand of people to feel like this is the end all be all and this is it, but whatever, you know, you exhausted resources, you knew what you brought to the table in a sense, you knew your worth, and and you knew that it wasn't going to be the easiest thing to do, but you knew that at the end of the day, if somebody thinks I can't do it, that's all the more reason to do it, in a sense. So I love to hear that, and I I love to see that. And I remember even when I believe I signed up for something, I think along the lines of emails. And so I was kind of going through what you were doing, what you offered, and what y'all were then going to play. So to see it now coming to fruition to really see everything that's going on, as I told you about my interest and just liking that of someone who has been told similar things, like, yo, do you you you want to do radio? You want to da-da-da, do this? So that was cool. And how to, you know, my first 65 episodes of the podcast were just audio. So it was cool that I kept people's attention, or at least I thought I did that long that now we're here. So it was cool to see. But now for and thinking about someone who really knows nothing about getting started within the industry when it comes to wanting to pursue something like that, when it comes to being interested in that or wanting to even hone in on those skills or improve and enhance them, do you always recommend a coach? Are there other ways to other resources that you can exhaust? You know, I feel like now we're in this big Google and YouTube university. And to give some insight to people who may be interested in doing that. And if the tips are the tricks to follow you, then then let us know.

SPEAKER_03 26:34

Well, of course, I'll plug that first. But no, uh, recently I created a program um because people were asking that same question, how do I get started? So we created a basics to bookings program. So in it's an intro class, a master class, it's a 25 plus video intro course, and then it's eight one-on-one coaching sessions. To me, no matter what way you go, that to me is kind of the direction you go in because you start with a class, you find out is this something I really want to do. Sometimes you're not sure. Do I want to do commercial? Am I actually interested in animation? So an intro class should give you a well-rounded idea of all of the things. What tends to happen when people go to Google and YouTube university is they start buying equipment and they start auditioning, but they don't know the technique. There are certain things that just require a coach. Same reason I don't do my own hair, the same reason I won't do my own nails is because I know that there's a professional out there that can either do it for me or teach me how to do it better than myself. And so I think because people are like, well, I talk every day. Of course I can do voiceover, there are a lot of other factors. And so being a life coach as well, it gives me the opportunity. It's cool to make some money, but I'm I'm here to help people change their lives. So if we're in the booth and or we're on a call and you're constantly like, oh, I just wish I was as good as you, okay, that's showing up somewhere else in your life where you're comparing to other people and usually considering yourself less than. If you get upset with yourself every time you make a mistake, there's probably some perfectionist things going on. And so with some of my clients, we even have goals that aren't related to voiceover because I know that achieving those goals or getting closer are going to help them. So I always recommend classes, courses, and coaching. Usually people go the opposite way. They start with a demo, equipment, and auditioning, and then they get a coach. And by then you've spent a lot of money, you've probably wasted a lot of time. I've had clients, 77 auditions, find out their microphone is backwards because they don't have someone else on the outside helping them see the things that you can't see. You can't be the doctor and the patient at the same time. So I always say classes, courses, and coaching. The three C's and community. Because this is a lonely sport, community most important over everything.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

The quadruple C's to success. I I love that. I I can even really relate to because I you see a lot of times that people don't try to revert back until they haven't amassed the success or haven't really gotten to where they want to be. And now they decide to tap in with the expert. You know, I think sometimes like therapy.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

It's like you knew you should instead of people don't really see therapy as something proactive, it's reactive, but it doesn't have to be. You can do these things ahead of time that way you're already set up with the tools for what's to come.

unknown 29:29

Whew.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Okay, might have just spoken to you a little bit there because I I need to go to therapy, and and slowly but surely it's been coming, just it's been different signs just coming around me that's saying I need to kind of tap into that and get into that. So I'm gonna do that for sure. But no, I think having some sort of foundation with that is important, and especially with that, you've realized that you you could probably tell somebody that that's what you're interested in or that's what you're doing. They may laugh, they may look at you crazy, they may say that there's nothing to that or there's nothing in that. It's a lonely road with just branching off to do anything on your own. But in certain industries, in certain respects, sometimes it's just that non-familiarity that people have with things that automatically just makes them shun it away or not necessarily be, I guess, gung-ho about it. So, with you, do you have? I know you said that there's the difference with commercials versus animation versus scroll like that. Do you have a particular focus or do you have a particular?

SPEAKER_03 30:26

I am a commercial girl. Prices and participation may vary, cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal. I am a commercial girl. Why? Because it is so much less time for so much more money. So a lot of people, when they first start, are like audiobooks. Why? Because they like listening to audiobooks, but recording an audiobook is a lot different than listening to an audiobook. And especially if you're working with new authors, there's a lot more headache behind it. It's not like you're going into this grand studio, you record and you leave. You got to record, you've got to be the director, you've got to be the editor. The sound has to be perfect. And sometimes they'll stop their projects and need to do like a rewrite or an edit. And now you spent two, three months when I just want to spend two to three minutes. And then with animation, some people love making characters and different sounds, but all the voices in my head sound like me: Angry Me, Happy Me, New York me, Maryland, me, LA me, but they all sound like me. So, unless the animation is looking for me, um, I'm I'm not really interested in that. So, I love doing commercial. Plus, it's the easiest route to get in. It's not the easiest to do. I actually find it one of the hardest because what I'm basically doing is teaching you to be comfortable being yourself and not being presentational and what you think they want. And so everyone's journey is a little different because some people don't realize how much they care about what other people think about what they say. So it takes some time versus those that like really know who they are and aren't afraid to, you know, get a little dirty and make some mistakes are usually the people that progress a little faster.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

And it's crazy because I would have honestly thought a little bit of the opposite as far as like the ease. Like I could imagine commercials are probably very tricky and very hard, but I would imagine like the e-books that probably would drive me crazy. I think just you know, the emotions and just what I'm wanting to sound like a certain way. And then if you have the fictitious characters that you want to just be this person that I now have to create or this personality, it's a lot of time.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Like, give me some of those hours. I don't have enough hours. I just want to do my McDonald's 30 seconds and be done.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Move that hey, look, that's that's all it is to it. I I love that a lot. But with all of the hats that you wear, have worn, are going to wear invisible that people can't even see sometimes. What is, I guess, what is next? Like, what is going on? What is happening? You know, because I know we're gonna have this interview, we're having it now, we're having some people tap in and see it, but we're gonna have some people that when this drops, they're finding about you about you for the first time. Now they're rushing to figure out, oh, what can I do for or how can I do this? Or I want to dance, or I want to see what they got going on or do whatever. So for a woman who's been coast-to-coast group here, 20 plus in, you know, voiceovers and the and the multitude of other businesses and facets that you're involved in, what can people expect moving forward? You know, as we gear up for the latter half of this year, pretty much. Yeah, I mean, you honestly, you ask me, the year is over at this point. Once July, once the summer kind of end, just it's Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then it's Christmas, and then we're in 2020.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Right, happy new year.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

We right. So, as we think about kind of this ending of the year, but also going into a new year and also just everything that you kind of have going on. What can people expect from you? Is there anything to be on the lookout for? I know you said that you even just debuted something today as we're recording this, but what can people look forward to from you?

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Absolutely. Well, I had the pleasure this year of um leading a group uh from my church. They have like grow groups, and I led a goal setting group. And so my goal was to take the seven weeks we were together to work on the seven last months of the year. So I have been planning this end of the year. This is the first time I've ever done this. I planned a month, a week, and so I know exactly what's coming up because I've been planning. So today we launched the um the Black to School Intensive. It's on September 8th. It's a five plus hour uh classes plus a panel discussion, as well as an evening meetup in some of the major cities. And then as I'm going to New York, so I go to New York August 11th to mid-November, I will be the associate choreographer for a new Broadway show called A Wonderful World about Louis Armstrong, told by the perspective of his four wives. And that opens on November 12th, and then I'll head back here to New York and I'll be finishing up redoing a workbook, which I actually have here. I did this workbook in 2015, I think. Let me see 2019. I even put myself on the cover, but I am revamping this. It's called 15 Minutes of Fame, uh, faithfully advancing myself every day. It's a 30-day workbook, 15-minute activities per day. So I've been revamping it based on the things that I've learned over these last few years. And then I'm also creating an accountability journal because I'm an accountability partner, goal setting, tracking girl. So I'll have a journal uh tracker that goes with it. And then my husband and I are going on vacation. We're going to Barbados. So look out for some pictures on at Aurelia Michael. Um, and voice on demand is still going strong. So once I get back, we'll get back into the basics of bookings program. I'll get back into coaching. Um, and you can find us at our voiceondemand.com at our voice on demand on Instagram.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

That's what I got going on.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

And who knows, maybe I'll be in a musical next year, maybe I'll have a uh national commercial coming up, you know, all the things.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Okay. Hey, look, uh see, that's why I asked that question because you just never know what people are cooking up behind the scenes. You never know what they have going on, what they're thinking about. Faithfully advancing myself every day. I love that acronym. I'm gonna have to have that one for this one. But no, to like I said, to just hear what you're involved in, to follow the content, to see everything that's going on, to see you moving and groove and traveling and everything like that. I was gonna ask, where's the vacation? But you already said it in there too.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

We were gonna do it now, but I was like, um, then I'm going to work. It doesn't make sense. Yeah, so we'll hit two vacations, we'll hit Barbados and we'll hit Panama, and that'll take us right into the new year. That'll be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

That'll be amazing. Well, look, we from the down the business podcast side of things to you. We're obviously full-fledged supporters. We're here to help. I know that my network will be tapping in. I'll be tapping in personally because I'm trying to perfect my skills, see what I can do with this, see where I can.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

Like you got the equipment, I'm sure. Are you ready to go?

SPEAKER_01 37:02

I'm ready to get to it. So, but I will um I will say too that you know, it's always very just cool to see while people may be working on things at the forefront or may have things that they're doing in their life or that we see every day. When that screen locks, or when that interview is over, or when that phone call ends, you know, they are grinding it out or planning here or writing this down or planning for this. I'm going for that, I gotta be here and this. So the the world of business ownership, the world of entrepreneurship, man, it is just a journey, just that, but it really makes you appreciative of the process, and even it makes you appreciative hearing other people, what they kind of have going on. Absolutely to know that you're not, you know, just the only one running with a chicken with like your heads cut off sometimes. Yeah, like a million places at once. So I love that. Now, before we wrap things up, before I tell people where they can find you, where they can tap in with you, follow along, everything like that. Do you feel like there's anything that we have not touched on today? Even if there's any other words or anything that you want to leave out there for other business owners, entrepreneurs, for anybody coming across this episode, anything that you got for us?

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Well, I think for non-entrepreneurs, well, people that I won't say non-entrepreneurs, people who don't consider themselves entrepreneurs, I do encourage you over time to really think about what do you own? Because if we're not entrepreneurs, we don't really own anything. We don't really own our social media, like anything can be taken. So I encourage you to start thinking about sometimes it's the gifts you've had for so long. You're like, who would pay to do this? Who would pay to have this? Start thinking about the things that you can put out in the world that adds value. You probably are the solution to a problem that someone, if not millions of someone, are having. And then for my entrepreneurs and those that wear several hats as I do, um, never feel the pressure to say everything and feel like everything, like there's probably four or five things I didn't mention. Like I went to FIT for image consulting, but it doesn't make me any less of an image consultant because I don't say it so many times we strap labels to our forehead. And I never want my obituary to look like my resume. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing, it's about who I'm serving. And that's something I had to realize just yesterday uh when my church choir prayed over me, I was like, oh, I was making New York's trip about me. Oh, I don't want to be in New York, oh, the subways, oh, the smells, oh, the this. And they were like, wait, when did this just become about you? So when you wake up in the morning and start asking, how can I serve and who can I serve? You may find that a lot of the goals that you've been trying to reach either weren't meant to be reached in the first place, they're just stepping stones, a direction, a guidance, or you're doing them out of self-satisfaction and it's not adding value to the world. So, how are you going to wake up every morning as if you've already made it because you have this is it? Yesterday doesn't need you anymore. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. But if you wake up every morning as if this is it, that's going to change the places and spaces around you 100%.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

I think for me, it took the it took me turning a year older too. I just woke up with a new sense of just gratitude, but also just like motivation. You know, I I'm so big on, I remember every year everybody used to wait until just the first of the month to do this or knock this out or do whatever. You know, it could, you know, why not just do it tomorrow or why not?

SPEAKER_03 40:26

You know, the minute I walk up. Discipline doesn't need a date. I've been a competitive bodybuilder for four years now, and discipline never needed a date. It just starts to become a part of you. The day you start is the perfect day to start.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Thanks. And that's why I was just like, you know, it has been it's it's crazy to see just sometimes when you stop procrastinating on something or when you make that phone call or when you send that email or or do whatever needs to be done that you realize wow, it I thought it's an easy the thought of it is more fearful than the actual action. I think it's gonna be like ripping off a wax strip or something, and it's really not that bad. Yeah, I've told myself, you know, just especially when it when it crosses your mind, just to do it. Don't you know, don't procrastinate or don't I'll put it off for later. If it hit your mind at that point, it was for a reason, it was for something. So I've been being very diligent about that, but that was definitely the message that I needed to hear just the same too. So as I spoke to in the beginning, y'all, I told y'all we had one for the books. I was not a uh I was not remiss.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

I was like, Do you say that with all the getting on?

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Well, so you know, I tell everybody I'm very excited to be. I love it. Everybody just doesn't waves, but no, to to really just as I said to see everything that was going on with DJ even connected me, just the bio that he gave me about you and everything of the sort. I I love it. Y'all, she even just threw the competitive bodybuilder in there at the end. So it just let y'all know, look, like she said, it doesn't, it's not really about what you're doing, it's not really about what's on the resume, what's what that title is, how many letters you have after your name or what are you adding value to the world?

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Right. How do you how do you want to add value?

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Yeah, I think about my high school slogan that um it was the first thing that we saw when we got there, but also the last thing, not even really the slogan, but just six words that we saw when we got there and when we left. It was enter to learn and it was leave to serve. And you know, in the moment, I never really thought about that transcending just high school. But now that I realize I think about that every day and a big um shout out to the Travis Mania Foundation. Um, he was a he was in the Marines and he was somebody who we honor at my high school, but he had a big um quote if not me, then who? And that's kind of what his foundation lives by. And that's a big just um even in life, like in so many different facets. I just think about that and just think about um, as you said, just serving and just that impact.

SPEAKER_03 42:44

Yeah, and the legacy that was part of why I got into voiceover was like, oh my god, 50, 100 years from now, my great-grandkids could be like, Oh my gosh, I could go on iSpot.tv and see great grandmas, you know, like my voice gets to literally still live on earth when I'm gone.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

And I think about that with the podcast too. You know, it's it's gonna be hundreds of episodes just sitting out here, just you know, audio, visual. So it's it's it's really cool just to think about that sometimes that marker, that digital footprint that you have or what you own. I think that was a great point that you made about ownership and just about how things can be here one day and go on the next per se. So, what are you really leaving behind? What are people gonna say about you when it's all said and done? Because ain't nobody gonna remember all these titles, who did what, who was where, how many apostrophes, you know, how what impact did you make? You know, and I think that's arguably, if not the most important, one of the most important things. So, my favorite part honestly about the interview is always a call to action. I love it, you know, how we can get on here and we can talk about a lot of different things. You can give the tips, you can give the tricks, you can lead the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink it, of course. So, before we officially exit the interview, please give us everything you have as far as people when people want to tap in with you from social media to websites to just following along the journey. Everything that you have, just give it to us.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Yeah, I'm all about simplicity. So you can find me on Instagram at Aurelia Michael, my personal website, AureliaMichael.com. You can find out about voiceover on ourvoicondemand.com and on Instagram at our voice on demand. We also have a Facebook group. Um, and when you go on voice, our voice on demand, there's a masterclass, a free masterclass called Four Ways. I made five figures in six months, and yes, without an agent. And you can download that and check it out. And you can always email us hello at ourvoicondemand.com. And I would really love to hear from you. I know sometimes people give out their info and then you never hear from them again. But my assistant Angela and I are really big. Our whole thing is based on community. My whole life is based on community. Like my friends are my family. As I said, I'm an only child. So any way that I can get people connected, any way that I can get people not just standing on business, but standing on your voice. Even if you don't want to do voiceover, you just want to be more comfortable in how you speak at events and how you speak when you're doing a presentation and how you speak to your partner, like standing on your voice. We got you.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Well, I look, I I I get a plug for the people. I bring the people on here. Y'all, I y'all listen. I'm I'm a tap in. I don't know about y'all. I done tapped in with so many people that I talked to. It's up to y'all if y'all are gonna do it or not. These people are not just on here blowing smoke or just saying what they want to say. These are real life experts in their field, these are real life people wanting to be that plug for you. Stand on that business, do the groundwork so that you don't have to, you know. But it's up to you. I won't make y'all do anything that y'all don't want to do. Um, as I said, I just I just I'm just a messenger here. So, but no, Aurelia, thank you so much, really, just for everything.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

Just for really my absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Absolutely no problem. It has definitely been a pleasure. I'm I'm very excited just to get this out here, but also very excited just to see everything that's to come, you know, to follow along the journey, to see everything that you really just have going on in life, and really just to see even what's to come, even what motivation, what inspiration will be sparked as a result of this. And obviously, as I said, you have our support 135,000 percent, whatever you need from us from our side, we are always here to help however we can. And then to everybody else, for my people tapping in on Facebook, we've been experimenting with this YouTube live thing, and it's been going cool so far. So, shout out to y'all! I'm not as grand pies as y'all think with the technology we're removing. But to everybody out there who continuously taps in, who continuously shows love to the podcast. I love y'all. I thank y'all. This has been another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamar Turner.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

Peace, y'all.