Career Changer Showcase: Jesse Vilinsky
Welcome to the Career Changer Showcase where we chat with professionals who accomplished the often talked about and often feared career change. Read on to hear their tips & experience!
Meet Jesse Vilinsky
Voice Actress & CEO Jesse Vilinsky VO
Jesse is an award winning voice actress and narrator of over 150 audiobooks, films, and television shows. She is highly sought after for her depth and nuance she brings to voicing youthful characters, as well as her diverse accent expertise. She has worked for all the major studios, as well as Big 5 publishers, and has built a professional recording studio in her Echo Park home.
What was your initial career/trajectory?
I initially wanted to be an on camera actress. I just wanted to work wherever others hire me! I was a bit stagnant and floundering initially - until I found voiceover.
What’s your new career/trajectory?
When I discovered my range and ability vocally to create different characters, as well as my ability to match other people's voices, doors started to open more for me. As that continued, I was no longer content just waiting for someone to hire me. I realized that the only person wholly in charge of my career was me, and so I decided to stop waiting, and start hustling. Now I run my business and drum up new business all the time, and am no longer waiting for someone else to change it for me.
How did you discover that you wanted to do something else?
When I initially pursued on camera acting, it wasn't making me happy, and it wasn't creatively or artistically fulfilling (based on the opportunities that had been available to me). But since I had said I wanted to do it, I was stubbornly trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. The moment I came to the realization that voice acting was where I wanted to be, it all just clicked.
What was your process for making the change?
I dove into it as much as possible. I took the things from the business side of on camera acting that I knew didn't work and did the opposite. And then, I made a list of all the people I knew who were successful and I reached out to them for advice. Then I took a lot of classes, and did a ton of research and then applied what I had learned.
What were your biggest lessons learned?
Don't be afraid to sell yourself, and be confident in what you are selling. There seems to be a societal idea that you shouldn't play yourself up too much, or else it's skeezy. And while I agree that there is a right and a wrong way of doing this, I think first having the confidence in yourself as a brand is the foundation needed to make selling yourself feel organic and welcome, rather than an intrusion on your potential clients.
What advice would you give someone looking to make a career change?
No one can make the decision but you. All the advice in the world is invaluable, but you have to sit with yourself and really take a look at what is the greatest good for the greatest number of areas in your life. When you come to that "AH-HA" moment, and feel settled with it, the change will feel as natural as breathing.
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Whether you’ve been dreaming about a career shift or you’re still figuring it out, let’s get you focused & on the right track. Check out the MRM Clarity Intensive to take the next step!
