We recently had the chance to connect with Joan Baker & Rudy Gaskins and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joan & Rudy, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
What I’m most proud of building, that nobody really sees, is the culture of integrity and genuine care that lives underneath everything we do at SOVAS. People see the awards, the glamour, and the events, but what they don’t see are the thousands of moments of mentorship, compassion, and courage that keep this community together.
What people also don’t see is the incredible amount of work it takes to bring these moments to life. Every year, it grows bigger in scope and value. We reach out to more sponsors, host countless Zoom meetings across time zones, send introductions, follow up on every detail, and create original content with my partner to make each experience meaningful. We also receive daily requests from actors who need guidance or support, and we do our best to meet those needs.
All of this is juggled while I try to take care of myself. That means finding time to exercise, meditate, get proper sleep, and carve out a few hours each week to refuel. It’s not always easy, but it’s necessary to stay grounded and keep the heart of the work alive.
Every time someone finds their voice, lands their first opportunity, or feels seen for the first time, that’s what I’m most proud of. It’s the invisible work that gives everything else its meaning.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Joan Baker, co-founder of the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, known as SOVAS. I’ve spent my career championing the art and integrity of voice acting and helping to elevate an entire industry that, for so long, lived behind the scenes. My passion is to create opportunities where talent, diversity, and excellence can thrive together, not just on the mic, but in the way we build community.
SOVAS is more than an organization. It’s a movement that celebrates the power of the human voice to inspire, teach, and connect people across every culture. Through our signature events, That’s Voiceover! Career Expo and the Voice Arts® Awards, we give voice actors, producers, and creators a global stage to be recognized, educated, and empowered.
What makes our work special is that it is deeply human. We are not just producing shows; we are changing perceptions, opening doors, creating opportunities to get real VO jobs, A scholarship without borders, celebrating and including all cultures, and building bridges between artistry and Industry professionals who facilitate or hire talent for work. Every class, every panel, every award represents a story of someone finding their voice and being seen for the first time.
Right now, we are focused on expanding international partnerships and creating more multilingual programming, because the VO industry has no borders. It’s an exciting time to be part of this community, and I’m proud to help shape a platform where creative voices from all over the world can rise and be heard.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
In the early years, I was hungry to be seen and heard, both on stage and behind the mic, but no one saw a polished version of me back then. I was overlooked, ignored, and not seen as viable competition. This is how the world viewed me from the start.
It began in San Francisco, where I first fell in love with performance. I joined the union as a child actor at 12 years old, working on a popular kids’ television show. From there, I studied dance and acting, taking every opportunity I could find to stay connected to my craft and keep my dreams alive.
When I moved to New York, I faced a whole new level of challenge. The competition was fierce, and opportunities felt out of reach. I was told over and over, I wasn’t the right look, the right sound, or the right type. I faced rejection after rejection, but I refused to stop showing up.
Over time, I realized that I had developed a pattern of apologizing for other people’s discomfort with me. I often played small to make others feel at ease because I wasn’t easily defined, and I paid the price for that. It took years to understand that their inability to categorize me was not my burden to carry. My strength was in my individuality, not in my ability to fit in.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
I grew up in a mixed-race family. My mother was Black, and my father was white. I was the oldest of four, with three younger brothers, and we lived in an all-white San Francisco suburb called Marin County. It was during the civil rights era. It was as chaotic and outrageous as it is today, though today feels even more blatant and tangled.
We were the first Black family to move into the community, and my brothers and I learned about racism through daily experiences of being ostracized by neighbors, classmates, and even teachers. From a young age, I developed a strong ambition to become a leader in the entertainment industry and a humanitarian. I dreamed about meeting every person on earth. Even when I realized that wasn’t possible, I never stopped dreaming. I simply learned to keep pursuing my goals in the face of being ignored, dismissed, and made to feel invisible.
I still carry the emotional and psychological scars of that time, but I’ve made healing a lifelong practice through self-awareness, mindfulness, and compassion. What once felt like pain has become purpose, guiding me to open doors for others to dream, to be seen, and to belong. The past never truly disappears; it finds new ways to echo through the present. The difference now is me. I choose how to rise, how to respond, and how to move through the world with strength, clarity, and the same unshakable hope I held as a child.
Holding on to my dreams and goals carried me through my darkest moments. I came to understand that dreams rarely unfold exactly as we picture them. Their true purpose is to keep us moving, to remind us that even in the darkness, there is still light ahead. That faith became my saving grace.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
After years in this industry, I’ve learned that the top three lies we’re told about voiceover have nothing to do with talent and everything to do with perception.
1. The industry is fair and talent always rises to the top.
Truth:
Talent matters, but it’s not the whole story. We work in a dues-paying industry that rarely moves in a straight line. The path is non-linear, and the dots don’t always look like they connect. Many gifted artists never get seen or heard because access, visibility, and relationships still play a huge role. The industry doesn’t always operate like a meritocracy. It takes persistence, self-advocacy, and community support to break through the noise. The real key is consistency, doing the work when no one is watching and refusing to disappear when things get quiet.
2. Trolls and critics define success.
Truth:
Trolls are loud but rarely brave. They make a big presence, looking as if they are giving sound advice, but most of it comes from ego, not experience. They also hide by pretending they are not judging or trying to control, when in truth, that is exactly what they are doing. They dictate, criticize, and tear others down, yet they almost never create or take risks themselves. Their voices can be toxic, especially online, but they do not represent the truth of this industry. Real professionals do not hide behind judgment; they show up, they build, and they grow. Trolls follow fear. Artists follow purpose. Success is built in the quiet moments of courage that no critic ever sees.
3. You have to fit into a mold to be successful.
Truth:
The most powerful voices in this business are the ones that cannot be duplicated. For years, many of us were told we weren’t the right look or the right sound. I lived that story, feeling unseen because I didn’t fit an easy category. But individuality is the power. The more you own your authentic sound, your culture, your story, and your truth, the more the industry bends to make space for you.
AI can imitate tone, rhythm, and even style, but it cannot feel wonder, heartbreak, or joy. It cannot understand what it means to live a story and then speak it into the world. Art is born from consciousness and connection, and that is something only human beings can bring to the mic.
What makes you different is exactly what makes you irreplaceable. Art cannot be replaced, because it lives in emotion, in truth, and in the courage to express the human experience. That is something no machine will ever understand.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If immortality were real, what would you build?
I would build a world where the creative spirit never gets silenced, where art is treated as sacred work, and where every voice that dares to speak truth has a place to be heard. I would create institutions that teach empathy as fluently as technique, so that generations of storytellers could build careers rooted in humanity, not hierarchy.
I would build sanctuaries for dreamers, places where people can rediscover what they were born to say before the world told them to quiet down. I would want immortality not to live forever, but to keep lifting others, endlessly, until no one believes their voice is too small, too different, or too late.
If immortality were real, I wouldn’t seek perfection. I’d seek connection. Because art, at its best, already is a form of immortality. Every performance, every truth spoken aloud, is a soul refusing to disappear.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sovas.org/
- Instagram: @joanthenvoice
- Linkedin: Joan Baker
- Twitter: @joanthevoice
- Facebook: Joan Baker
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCujWRMY1CHghJTi-8-iu1eg/videos
- Other: January 9th-11th That’s Voiceover! ONlINE: schedule & tix : https://sovas.org/tvo-schedule-2026/
Image Credits
1) Joan Baker, hosting the first Voice Arts® Awards Gala in 2014 at the Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, New York. Courtesy of SOVAS.
2) Founders, President, and Vice President of the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, Rudy Gaskins and Joan Baker.
3) Certificate Of Merit and Achievement to Society Of Voice Arts And Sciences
Issued by New York State Assembly, Aug , 2019 , 2021
Company logo
The New York State Assembly recognized the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences for hosting a successful cross-cultural internship program for students in Asia.
Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition
Issued by United States of America Congress · Aug 2019Issued by United States of America Congress · Aug 2019
Associated with Society of Voice Arts and Sciences
In recognition of Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community.
In recognition of Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community.
City Council Citation Aug 2019
Associated with the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences. Recognized as an outstanding citizen of both the community and the great city of New York. Aug 2019-2021
Photo Courtsey,of SOVAS
4) That’s Voiceover’s Audition Spotlight, sponsored by CBS LA and Sennheiser Neumann, is a national competition where the winner receives a paid job with CBS and studio equipment from Neumann, along with prizes for 5 runners-up.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
