Voiceover At Any Age with Laura Doman

VO BOSS

The BOSS Anne Ganguzza sits down with the dynamic Laura Doman, discussing her creative journey from high-tech sales to on-camera/voiceover actor. Her story is a testament to the power of following your passion, no matter your stage of life. The BOSSES explore the evolving landscape of on-camera and voiceover work, highlighting the growing demand for diverse and older talent. They discuss strategies for combating ageism, including the use of humor and embracing one's unique qualities. The BOSSES reflect on the dynamics of working with younger teams and the importance of authenticity in creating memorable roles. The conversation also touches on empowering women in the voiceover industry and how past professional experiences can complement new ventures.

00:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey guys, Anne Ganguzza here. Imagine a voiceover journey where every step is filled with discovery and growth. That's the path I want to work on with you, through nurturing coaching and creative demo production. Let's unveil the true potential of your voice together. It's not just about the destination, it's about the gorgeous journey getting there. Are you ready to take the first step? Connect with me at anganguzacom.

00:32 - Intro (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

00:50 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am very excited to have with me in the studio a special guest on-camera actor, video communications coach, speaker and author, Laura Doman. Laura's voiceover and on-camera credits include commercials and industrials for AAA, home Depot, the United Way, equifax and Bobo's Oat Bars, as well as many more, and lead and supporting roles in films, tv web series and new media. Laura, I am so excited. Thanks so much for joining us on the show today. Oh, thank you, anne. It's such a delight to be here, yay. Well, let's start off for the bosses who are not familiar with you Tell us a little bit about your journey into acting, because I know you've been in acting forever and voiceover and, yeah, how it all started?

01:40 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, I guess I would just say I am in my second childhood andA having the time of my life. I am definitely in that third stage of life, but acting is something I've always loved. I was the little kid putting on plays in the neighborhood all through school. I did the morning announcements in high school.

01:56 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Oh, of course you did. I can totally hear that yeah.

02:00 - Laura Doman (Co-host) And I had a lot of fun. I even trained other kids how to do it, because the school found it was one way to get the kids to finally quiet down in homeroom and listen. Well, I ended up going into a corporate career, but I ended up in high-tech sales, where my favorite thing was surprise, surprise presentations, being able to go to conferences, be a speaker, anything where I could just do a little razzle-dazzle in front of people. After I did that for a number of years, though, I took a straight turn off to the right and became a stay-at-home mom, something I never envisioned, but that gave me a chance to take a look at what do I really want to do with my life? And once my kids got old enough, I decided hey, you know, we're not getting any younger. When I'm on my deathbed I don't want to have any regrets. And when I was in my corporate job, I would sneak out of some of those sales calls.

02:53 And I did do on-camera commercials. I did some film roles, I did some TV commercials. I did a little bit of everything, and I said you know what? I'm going to dive into it, what the heck? And so I did, and I started first on camera. And just for anybody who's wondering if you're too old to get started, that was, oh, I was in my mid to hear it, but she is. She was in the musical theater and she was begging Mom. I really want to do film and TV and all I could think of, as the responsible parent, was school let's think about this. And I thought, well, she may not get into any agency. Somebody picked her up and then they were looking for older actors, so I dusted off my materials. I did that. I ran into a friend who told me you can get some real voiceover training. I found the Atlanta VoiceOver Studio, which is incredible, and then I had both of those going and that's where my acting career just sort of took off.

03:56 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wow, so did you find that you were getting on-camera roles first and then voiceover, or were they both kind of coming at the same time?

04:05 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, definitely the on-camera. And I had enough hubris to think well, I had experience, I had training way back when I could just do it and I booked a bunch. All of a sudden I realized I don't know enough and I went back for training and then I started getting a request for voiceover, especially anything with the teleprompter. Now, in my personal opinion, the teleprompter is the love child between on-camera and voiceover.

04:29 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Sure is yes, that's a great analogy that is a great analogy.

04:33 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I love it. It is the best of both worlds. First of all, you're on camera, but you don't have to memorize a darn thing. I know.

04:41 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) That's such a relief. I mean because when I was in school I was in plays and I just remember, oh God, memorizing those lines was just so. I mean I loved it, but it was so tedious and I'm like teleprompter now. This is pretty cool. I don't have to memorize anymore.

04:56 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Especially the older you get. Yeah, it's hard. Now, one thing I did find by memorizing a lot of lines not so much monologues but big scenes was that the brain cells started waking up, and it's a muscle. The more I did it, the better I got at it. So if you want to stay young, Memorize yes.

05:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, I like that you mentioned this, and actually one of the reasons why I really did want to have like a conversation with you today was you talked about you've evolved over the years and your second childhood, and talking about voiceover and on camera. I'd like to talk to you about your thoughts on ageism because, being a woman of a certain age, I have experienced a certain amount of ageism in my careers over the years and I think we should have a discussion. Let's talk about that. How has ageism affected you in the on-camera world and or in voiceover?

05:51 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, it's kind of interesting because we all have a mental age of what we look like and it's usually, in my case, 15, 20 years younger than I really am. But you have to go with how you look. Now, with voice, it's how does your voice print sound Right and you could be many decades younger. But on camera usually you play within about 10 years of your real age. So it could be a bit of a wake-up call first of all, to come to terms with it. Yeah, you could take great care of yourself, but they also cast people a little bit younger. So I have been doing things for AARP and Medicare and retirement communities. Now that I'm getting into that age it's not that unusual. But they never know what they really want. Oftentimes they want people who really look old and in the on-camera world they're not necessarily looking for pretty model types For a long time. They're looking for what they call real people. Yeah, anybody off the street. Thank goodness it turned to that, didn't it.

06:47 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I mean, would you say like reality TV kind of, at least started the evolution of maybe having real people on television. I mean, even though real TV I mean that could be a whole nother podcast, if it's really real TV but in terms of not everybody on television has to be attractive and young.

07:02 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Oh, yeah, you know what? I noticed this when I compare it before reality TV to now. Back in the late 80s, early 90s, when I was sneaking out doing all this stuff, I was told that I was too get this exotic for the Atlanta market, where I live. I should go to Miami or New York. Why? Because I look Middle Eastern, I look Hispanic, I look New Yorkish and I have dark hair. And whenever they would ask me to play a businesswoman, they just said you're not quite right, I am a businesswoman. Oh, no, no, no, those are pert little cute blondes with little pageboy haircuts. It's completely reversed. The people that they're looking for are of multiple ethnicities, mixed ethnicity, and they don't want model types. And I think reality TV did play a big role because people want to identify and they want real stories.

07:54 So I do believe that's part of it. As far as the ageism is concerned, I definitely was seeing that in the corporate world and my friends who are still in it are having a horrible time, but I haven't found it so much on camera Now. Partly it's because they do need older roles and thank goodness they are finally running some really good juicy ones. You know, I just did a web series where I was playing an evil, murderous stepmother. I love it. Usually I play sweet mothers and grandmas.

08:24 They had a stunt coordinator who was showing me how to slap, punch, hit, take a knife, stab. I normally don't get those kind of roles and they're realizing older people have some interesting things going on. But sometimes they're going to be worried and I had a series on camera a little well, I stick it on YouTube now called Actors Over 50. There are some casting directors wondering can you memorize? Can?

08:47 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) you handle all this.

08:50 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Are you going to be able to physically handle any of the movements we require? Do you have the stamina?

08:56 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wow, and those are things that I wouldn't have even thought. I mean, my next question was going to be what strategies do you have for combating ageism? And those thoughts about yeah, can you, do you have the stamina?

09:07 - Laura Doman (Co-host) You know what? You just probably announced who you are and I have found that when you're older, you care a lot less what people think and you can have a lot more fun. Older, you care a lot less what people think and you can have a lot more fun. And I've been using humor and everything so I make light of it so I could be like the snarky grandma I can be the person who has something funny to say. Sometimes, when you have a very young group of people you're working with, you are going to be sidelined because you're not their generation and you're older and you're ignored. But there are many others who want to hear what you have to say and they love it when you say something they didn't expect out of you.

09:41 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, I love that, and so in voiceover, do you have any instances where you might have been looked over because of I don't know your age? Or was it something that wasn't really relevant, because we're behind the mic and we're theoretically not seen?

10:00 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I haven't found that so much, mostly because they're dealing with a voice. I did do a directed session for a group in Milan, italy, and they were looking for a younger voice. This was a few years back and I think they did a double take. When they saw that I'm not in my 20s, they were fine with it Again. They only wanted the finished product. I don't find it so much, except that when I'm dealing with a very young group of people, sometimes they just aren't comfortable with you. They don't know how to relate to you. I try to warm it up by being friendly and professional, but I also realize okay, that's where they are in their lifetimes. They're just not comfortable with people over a certain age. I remind them too much of their mothers, grandmothers that nasty old aunt.

10:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I don't know, I don't have a nasty aunt, but I got it. So then would you say that opportunities for, let's say, bosses just starting out that might be older, like are there ample opportunities both on?

10:55 - Laura Doman (Co-host) camera and inover for their age. Yes, there are tons. Now the one nice thing about let me talk about on camera first, think of it as a bit of a funnel. You got a lot of young people at the top of the funnel. They're teens and they're 20s. But as you work through it, as people get older, a lot of people, especially the women, drop off. A lot of those who start young often will drop off when they have families or when they get to 35, 40. They don't want to be seen on camera or they just find there are fewer roles.

11:24 But for those of us who've started later on and who don't feel like we need to be the lead and we're not going to ever be the ingenue, let's scoop up and take advantage of the vacuum and if we have a unique type and we can bring our real selves which is something you learn and train in voiceover they love it because they're not necessarily casting for a very specific type. Sometimes. They are Most often like with voiceover. They want to know what do you have to bring to the table? We want to see the authentic. You Just like in voiceover, they want to know what do you have to bring to the table. We want to see the authentic.

11:57 You Just like in voiceover, just like you've always told me and countless others, don't worry about what you think they want. Bring yourself, because then they could be delightfully surprised. And there are some really great roles. There are going to be smaller ones. For the most part we are going to be supporting characters, but we can be memorable and you'd be surprised by how many times you can be called back in because of that particular memorable role. So think quality I love it Not necessarily quantity.

12:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So then, over the years, you've done just a wonderful job of evolving and growing and actually reinventing yourself right, and I think that's definitely a wonderful trait of a boss. So talk about what were some of those challenges, when you were starting to reinvent yourself, that you faced, because it's not easy to do.

12:49 - Laura Doman (Co-host) It's not easy to do, especially if you're older and you're used to being somewhat successful in a previous career. All of a sudden, you're starting at ground zero. That's where you want to adopt a Zen mind, the beginner's mind, because when I was starting out in voiceover, I was already in my late 50s and I looked at people like Ann Ganguza and I went, oh my gosh, how can I possibly compete with Ann? And then I would do the same thing in the on-camera world. I'm way behind. I only have so many years. What do I do? That is where you just clear off all that junk. It's your journey.

13:24 You are a unique person and, yes, it probably will take a long time to build up momentum and when you're older, you can lean into things, though that other people have a hard time doing. Your life experience for one. If you come from another industry, like the corporate world, I can bring the voice of experience and authority and knowledge. You want tech terminology. I'm going to give you tech terminology which other people may not be able to do or be comfortable with, so you just have to be willing to pay your dues.

13:54 Start off, be humble, listen to people that are younger than you that could be your kids and follow your own journey. Personally, I don't want to leave any regrets on the table and I don't know how long my run is, but I am going to make the most of the time I have and I am scooping up and repackaging everything I've ever learned in my life, including that corporate job, and I'm finding it extremely useful. For example, while I do my acting on camera and in voiceover, I am also bringing everything I've learned now as a service coaching, consulting to business people who want to get better on camera themselves, like for videos, zoom presentations, interviews, online appearances. If you're older, you've got that. I'm scooping up my business know-how with the entertainment, giving them the best tips, talking their language and sticking it out there.

14:46 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wonderful. So how do you juggle it all? Because you're doing voiceover, you're doing on-camera, you're doing coaching. How do you juggle all of these? And I say that as a person who has multiple I call it multiple divisions of my business myself and I know how hard it is to manage VO boss, vo peeps and ganguza coaching and ganguza demo production. So talk to us about how you do the juggling act successfully, because sometimes people can say, oh, you're stretched too thin and you're not going to do anything. Wonderfully well, yeah.

15:19 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I'm told sometimes I'm very busy, but first of all I do stay up late when everything is quiet.

15:25 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I can get things done. I work seven and a half days a week. Yeah, no.

15:27 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Yeah, the other thing is my husband is retired. A lot of women find this he's underfoot, so I have to throw him out of my office more times than I can count. So you got to have a backbone. But mostly it's a matter of prioritization what's most important, what are those top things you have to do? And when you're juggling things, I look to see how they are integrated and support one another. When I go after opportunities, my favorites are the ones that require both on-camera experience and voiceover, and occasionally I found one that includes all three, because there's a teleprompter thrown in and sometimes they're looking for somebody who could do it all. So I try to find those opportunities. Sometimes it's voiceover for film or TV. I was just at Tyler Perry Studios. Talk about cool For voiceover.

16:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I saw that. I saw your post on Facebook. Very cool, very cool.

16:19 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Yeah, incredible guy to work for, I mean, an amazing studio. There have been e-learning where they also want to make it into a virtual reality and their employees are supposed to learn about DEI but they don't want to preach. So I did a job a few years ago which was on camera, voiceover, teleprompter and print and they wanted to take it into the future, into a fantasy world where genetic splicing was a thing and the kids were all into it and I'm the mother of a high school senior looking at colleges going, huh, these kids are putting animal DNA. There's a cat boy and a girl dog. You're not bringing one of those home. I don't think you should be with those people. They're not really people and the whole training was to see what's the right course and either you answered correctly and the mother was open-minded or, boom, you go back and try again.

17:11 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Wow. Well, let's talk about how you market yourself for all of these things, because you're like you're finding these opportunities, but how are you finding them and how are you marketing yourself? Because I've seen now you're doing a lot of video online, which is great, and it's not about hire me, hire me. It's basically just showing a really cool aspect of your personality. So talk a little bit about your marketing strategies.

17:35 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I try to share, teach and also entertain, and by doing so I can highlight everything that I'm doing. I'll start off with the entertainment. You know those little sayings you see on cocktail napkins and towels when you go into a gift shop. I started writing all those down a few years ago and I call them my mom-isms and I go in and I act them out Five to ten second videos that are cute, funny, boom, and they're very popular on LinkedIn.

18:01 It shows what I could do on camera. It shows what I could do with voiceover, sure, and it shows a sense of humor. I also share my tips on on-camera confidence and I make everything now in short video form under 60 seconds, and again, I try to pack a lot of value into it so people will watch it from start to finish, and I share that widely. I've done the same thing for older actors, to show people, not just older actors as a service, but for anybody else who'd be looking. And then I've got a few other series in mind. But it's a matter of sharing what you know. Don't be afraid of that and let them entertain themselves while they're watching it, and that way you're memorable.

18:41 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, you know what I love. You know what I love. I love that you said LinkedIn, and I caught you on that because I like how you're directing those videos on a platform towards the audience that you are selling to. And LinkedIn, yeah, absolutely, because I was going to say what about TikTok? Well, tiktok is another story these days, but what about Instagram? What about videos on Facebook? So are you choosing platforms based upon where you feel that your market is strategically?

19:08 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, right, now I'm putting them out just about everywhere because I can. The biggest focus is on LinkedIn where ironically, my momisms are the most popular. I get the most response from that. Instagram is great for on-camera work and I have been advised to divide it into two channels One which is just showing me as funny, humorous the actor part of my life, and then another one which is showing the on-camera confidence and that's going to be all the professional content. I am heavily into YouTube.

19:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I was going to say I didn't want to neglect the YouTube platform, because I also do a lot of shorts on YouTube and Instagram as well, and LinkedIn as well.

19:46 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Yeah, I mean, I have a YouTube channel for me and one separate for momisms for the humorous. I also put them on. I have a Facebook, which is more personal, but I've started a Facebook page Because you never know where you're going to find people. I've been throwing my momisms on TikTok to see if there's an audience for that.

20:07 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) So I'm everywhere and I keep a strong calendar to keep track of everything. Sure, I was going to say, like, do you have specific days where you're recording these things and let's talk about, like, your posting strategy? Is it every day, is it once a week, and how are you tracking your progress on different channels?

20:20 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I should have brought it down because I could show you a book. It's actually one of those little free realtor books you get when somebody's trying to market their service. Yeah, and it's a big calendar because I like to be able to see at a glance how much I am doing on any particular channel. I will be putting the name in little notes here with the color of that particular social media. Blue is LinkedIn. This does not surprise me.

20:44 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Just knowing you, Laura.

20:46 - Laura Doman (Co-host) No no.

20:47 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Laura, it's probably beautiful and I would love to see that someday You're going to have to send us a photo and I'll put it on the show notes for people, because I'm sure it's wonderful, because I'm like, oh gosh, I mean I wish I could be color coordinated, or I mean I'm as organized as I can be, but I'm not quite color coordinated, organized, but yeah, You'll also see things that are crossed out because, oh my goodness, I just got so busy I didn't get to it.

21:12 - Laura Doman (Co-host) But I try to lay it out. So when I'm creating my videos, I will go ahead and schedule it that way. Anything that I could load ahead of time natively on a social media platform, I will. I do not use a scheduler.

21:24 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I was just going to ask you because Facebook has changed the rules just FYI and Instagram now, because I think they're trying to. If you're verified and you pay the subscription price, you're not getting the traction that you were before, and that is one of those things that everybody's freaking out about.

21:40 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Yeah, and one advantage of doing it on your own and I got this from Hunter Peterson and I'm happy to put a plug in for him because he helped me with the YouTube strategy is that you want to use your mobile phone to be able to put your videos natively, because if you just do it on your desktop or other, you don't have any control over the thumbnail, and that thumbnail is so important, whatever it is. So I do it on my own natively and I just schedule them out. I try to batch the videos I'm creating. I might do four or five momisms at a time, three on camera confidence.

22:16 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Well, yeah, because you have to prepare. I mean, I know, for me I have video day, which is typically Thursdays and Saturdays. I've got to be camera ready and that doesn't always happen on a day-to-day basis. And that takes part of my day too. I'm like this takes a long time. The hair Well, that's a whole other conversation.

22:35 - Laura Doman (Co-host) No, it's a good conversation.

22:37 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I mean, it's definitely something that we need to talk about.

22:39 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, I'll tell you that there are oftentimes I have to just throw the whole calendar out the window because in the on-camera world, when something comes calling that has to take priority Very short turnarounds because you got to memorize and you got to get the hair all done up?

22:53 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I love this conversation about being camera ready and voiceover ready, and scheduling has always been one of those things. It's incredibly important. I live by my calendar, so you have the posting calendar, but I live by my Google calendar, so is yours just? Is it straight up on a physical calendar or oh no, no, no, you do digital as well.

23:15 - Laura Doman (Co-host) We can learn from our children. My daughter is so proud of me because I always did something on a little pocket calendar. Remember those Hallmark calendars?

23:23 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yes, I do. I used to write in them myself, yep.

23:27 - Laura Doman (Co-host) I used those ever since my grandmother bought them for me when I was little. Yes, well, my daughter just said Mom, google Calendar, you can color code it. Oh, yes, so that's what I do and I love that. But when it comes to scheduling, my Realtors calendar gets a lot of use and I could put everything there because I'm still very visual and it was very helpful because I was gone for, let's say, a month traveling and I was trying to plan everything out and I even brought that thing with me so that when I had something specific to add in, I had a lot of flexibility. Like, I'm very big into in-person networking and when I am there and I have photos, I want to be able to put them in. And I relate it to business? Sure, absolutely.

24:10 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, oh man. I'll tell you, laura, what advice would you give for bosses maybe starting out a little bit later in their careers and wanting to do on camera or voiceover what's your best tips and advice for them?

24:25 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Have fun, the only reason you should be doing something really, especially later in life. We all have freedom. Many of us might have the financial freedom from having bankrolled from previous careers or there is somebody else in the family who is still working or you've got a retirement. Do it because you love it, because that joy, that sincerity, that authenticity is going to come through.

24:49 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I love that and you know, that's just something that I didn't even think about, because when you don't have the stress or the worry of like that financial burden, where you're like I've got to feed the six kids and pay the mortgage and yeah, that really brings a lot to your plate and is, I would say, a huge advantage for those later on in life.

25:09 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Absolutely yeah that and the fact that you might as well do something you've always wanted, and you would just be very surprised by how many people don't know things. For example, when I was in the corporate world, people were amazed by anybody who shows any level of creativity. When I was working on the flip side and I was helping to organize meals for monologues, they were amazed my God, you're an actor and you're so organized.

25:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) Yeah, you're an actor who has a head for business, which is another thing that I love about you, laura, is that really? I think that it's something that, as creatives and bosses, I think it's one of the hardest things for some people to grasp hold of is that this is your business and there's a lot of business things you need to do in order to be successful, and you've proven it as you've evolved so successfully over the years.

25:59 - Laura Doman (Co-host) And you also have to be able to change with the times. When I started my corporate world back in the early 80s because I'm that old I was dial in for dollars. Now everything is done with social media and social marketing or emailing, and so you have to be willing to learn. Like I'm part of Mark Scott's Veopreneur community, I did the mastermind. I think what Paul Schmidt is doing is incredible. There's so many others. You have to be willing to be open-minded and it's one thing to be older and experienced and know something about this, but you have to be aware that you don't know a lot about that and there's still a lot to learn from younger people.

26:33 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) I think we just have to be lifelong learners. That's it. I mean, that's the educator part in me, and I love to learn. I think we should always be learning and, laura, we've definitely learned so much from this discussion today. Thank you so much. You've just shared a lot of wisdom that even I like kind of go through it myself as a woman of a certain age, but I'll tell you what you really brought it to light. And thank you so much for spending time with us today.

26:58 - Laura Doman (Co-host) Well, thank you. My pleasure and I'm delighted to be here Awesome.

27:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host) All right, I'm going to give a great big shout out to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can network like bosses like myself and Laura. Find out more at IPDTLcom. You guys have an amazing week and we'll see you next week.

27:20 - Intro (Announcement) Bye, bye-bye with your host, anne Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry-revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution, with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via IPDTL.