Kris Keppeler: Narrator, Actor, Voice Actor, and Writer: After discovering her singing voice in Jr. High Choir, she’s never quit using her voice to amuse and instigate. She’s impersonated a cat, a prince, a princess, a witch, a dragon,
Kris Keppeler is a narrator, actor, voice actor, and writer. After discovering her singing voice in Jr. High Choir, she’s never quit using her voice to amuse and instigate. She’s impersonated a cat, a prince, a princess, a witch, a dragon, and a president with her voice and narrated/produced over 50 audiobooks. She narrates and produces an award-winning weekly storytelling podcast about life and befuddlement. She’s crafted blogs and articles using humor and valuable information to delight readers. Visit her IMDB page for stage and screen credits.
I split up my college years, spending two years at a junior college first. An overachiever, I burned out of school. So, I got a job doing research for a forest service lab. I liked it.
My parents pushed me to finish college. Since I liked science I considered Pharmacology and Physics. My dad suggested I study Medical Technology as I liked working in the forest service lab.
I did complete the Medical Technology studies and earned a B.A. in Allied Health, even though I disliked it. Only you can decide what course is best for you, not your parents. I learned that the hard way.
I worked a short time in a small hospital in the medical lab, a truly horrible experience. I switched to working for large testing labs, settling into work-life as a microbiologist. Still unhappy, I took a career course at the local community college.
This course changed my life. My personality and aptitude tests matched me with a profession I’d never heard of, Procurement. As luck would have it, the medical lab I worked for needed to hire a new buyer and they wanted to train a Medical Technologist to do the job.
Very few of the techs applied and I won the job. From my first day on the job, it was love. The community college course got it right, I was made to be a buyer/purchasing agent/procurement professional.
I also loved singing and sang in choir all the way through college. I got bored with the choir in my early twenties and quit. By my mid 30’s, I longed to sing again.
Singing lessons and a chance to audition for a local Gilbert & Sullivan production moved me into a theatrical performance. After being a fairy in the chorus of Iolanthe, I was hooked. I decided I wanted to move to the front of the stage and began acting lessons.
By this time, I moved into procurement management as a supervisor and manager. I loved the job and the employees I served but didn’t love executive management and their treatment of procurement. I also loved performing and found my way into film and voice acting.
After being laid off for the 4th time from a purchasing job, I decided to launch a business, KK Aria Enterprises. As a singer, I especially loved voice acting. I concentrated on voice acting, settling on audiobooks, and e-learning as my niche.
I’ve always liked to write so I tried my hand at blogging. Pushing myself, I expanded into longer articles and got my work published on Medium.com. I continue to expand my writing, working on web content and specialty articles for ad agencies.
My advice is not to choose a career based on what you think you may like or what friends or parents think you will be good at. Just a “good voice” will not get you far in the voice over business, acting, business, and technical skills are necessary. Find a class that matches you with careers based on your personality and other factors.
Don’t put your faith in one personality test like Myers-Briggs, it did not peg me correctly. Take several of them and understand the results may change as you mature. Interview people who have a job you think you might like. You need to understand the job in detail and what they like and don’t like about it.
Running a business is difficult. If you want to be an entrepreneur, take courses on how to set up a business. I did so I passed setting up my business with flying colors. Hire a CPA to do your taxes if you have your own business, otherwise, you’ll end up sending too much or too little to the IRS.
It’s most important to find a job or career you love. You may grow out of that job or career so don’t be afraid to open your own business or move on to another fulfilling career. I’ve moved into consulting with authors who want to self-narrate their book.
Also read: How I became a freelancer writer and blogger
