(warm n’ fuzzy)

Mo: Earlier this year, I mentored a high school student.  I’d like to share the letter (verbatim) she sent me.

Dear Ms. Morine Mellady,

I wanted to start off by expressing my deepest gratitude to you for all of the help and dedication I have received from you during this extremely drilling and task worthy project. You have been an immense wealth of knowledge and inspiration for me, and you have also been a helpful guide on the topic I have been pursuing. When no one else believed, you still hung onto the hope that we would be able to work together, which filled me with strength and courage I needed to get to where I am currently. While you offered me hands on experience, you also provided me guidance and even issues to reflect on in order to improve my life and the lives of those around me. I want to take specific time thanking you for allowing me to come into your busy schedule and allowing me to work on a microphone in the studio at Outpost. I also extremely enjoyed meeting George and being allowed to see for myself how a radio show can come to life. Thank you for the extremely entertaining Improvisation Winter Musical that we both attended.

However, what I wish to thank you for the most is allowing me the opportunity to see first hand what a professional voice over session can be like, as you allowed me to sit in on the Esurance radio spots. You have no idea how influential my time with you has been to me, and how grateful I am to have had you as my consultant. You have been a tremendous mentor for me to look up to and I truthfully enjoyed every minute of my experience with you. I would have never been able to get through this strenuous project without your support and input. While my experience with you will soon be coming to an end, I wanted to extend an invitation to you for my QUEST testimony, where I will be allowed to show off everything I have learned and done with you during this project and see how I utilized all of this to complete a service to help my community. I just wished to extend this invitation to you, to express my gratitude.

Sincerely,

Courtney Rodenborn

Mo: Another project that is near and dear to my heart is “Gorilla in the Greenhouse.”
Think School House Rock on the green tip, circa 2008. Ralph Guggenheim (founding member of Pixar & producer of “Toy Story”) called me up about 6 months ago to audition and lo and behold, I booked it! I play the voice of 10 year old boy, “Bucket” who is the “solutionary” in the band of eco-warriors. Bucket is the drummer in the group. The songs are educational & very catchy. I like to call them earworms. The 1st episode is about the North Pacific Gyre. Gyres are where the ocean currents terminate. Our throw away society is wreaking havoc in our oceans. The ratio of plastic to plankton now is 6 to 1. Marine life mistakes the plastic for food so they feed and feed yet receive no nutrition & end up dying. Recently, we recorded the 2nd episode on energy. It’s in post production as we speak, more to ensue.

(SFX: drumroll )

Mo: Welcome to my brand  new site. It was a sheer miracle that this URL was still available but I’m taking it as an auspicious sign from the VO Gods lurking in cyberspace. For the last 4 years, I’ve had the honor to breathe life into the kick-ass, pink-haired super agent, “Erin Esurance” for the hip n’ happening on-line auto insurance company, Esurance. It’s just a moment in time but I’m enjoying the ride, wheeee!