Ugh!!! Did I lose my blackness as an educator?!?!

Listen, we are in the middle of a pandemic. However, this has nothing to do with the COVID-19.

I’ve been an educator for 25 $%*& years. I’m thankful for that. However, have I lost my blackness? I’m correct in my speech so I go “in” and “out” of the ‘tude in my attitude in reading copy.

I have grown to love my coach. She tells and teaches it what “it” is.

For instance, I turned in a VO audition that needed a spoken poetry feel by an African American so I submitted.

After listening to it, my coach was able to pinpoint (God, what an ear) the little things that make the talent not sound authentic.

She can tell me what is wrong; however, it’s not something that a person should think about when doing copy. Either you sound authentic or you don’t.

I’m learning that maybe I have unlearned my natural blackness in speech to the point that I can’t retrieve it naturally in copy.

BTW, I’m unable to post anything about the ad. However, I just wanted to get on this platform right after my voice-over coaching session to pinpoint my frustration.

I’m glad to know this. Learn from the best. Thank God that I can switch myself to what it’s supposed to be. In other words, I can make adjustments extremely fast now. It takes practice and training. Hmmm. I’m unsure about a lot of things though at this point. I will just have to work on it and see what happens.

I can make the copy sound natural; however, my natural sassy reads are challenging. That bites my ass big time.

Dang, did I lose my blackness as an educator?!?

Kim