We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Richardson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stephanie, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Growing up, my mother was the ultimate example of self-confidence. She taught me that being afraid to fail is never a reason not to try, and thanks to her I developed a great confidence in myself and willingness to try new things. However, that can be a bit of a fault going into something new–You don’t realize how much you don’t know. Shortly after I began narrating I quickly realized I had a lot more to learn and wasn’t quite as talented as I thought. Luckily I had some good coaches and friends who pointed me in the right direction and I began learning. After about a year of narrating I took a masterclass with P.J. Ochlan. The class format was you would share a fun fact about yourself, then read for a couple of minutes, then P.J. and a publisher he had with him would give you feedback. I started with the fun fact that before I started narrating I had never said a swear word, then I began to read. Half way through my read, P.J. stopped me and said, “You sound like you are putting on an act, like you are doing a voiceover for a commercial, I want to hear you, the real you. I want to hear the Stephanie that is afraid of saying a bad word, start again.” So I took a deep breath and imagined I was just talking to my kids, as I was reading that It was my words–me. I got caught up in reading when he stopped me and said. “Stop. You’re hired.” that comment and class changed my career completely. It reminded me to be confident, be me! The world has enough of everyone else, it needs you.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hello! My name is Stephanie Richardson I am a professional audiobook narrator. I grew up in the mountains in Utah, 2nd oldest of nine children. I had one of those crazy but fantastical childhoods exploring the mountains, raising chickens and racoons, picking blackberries, and one of my favorite things was every night I’d pile 4 or 5 kids on my bed and read out loud to them stories like Chronicles of Narnia—which sort of started my dream of narrating audiobooks.
I went college in Utah, studied musical theater and history, had the opportunity to study abroad in England where I picked up some pretty fair British accents. Came back and met my husband there at school. After graduation we moved to Toledo Oh where he attended medical school for a few years and discovered he wasn’t meant to be a doctor, so we moved back to Utah and worked for a few years when he decided he wanted to go to law school. At the time we had 4 young children and I figured I better start looking for a job if he was going back to school and it was in that process of searching in 2019 when one of my children came up and asked me to read them a story. And suddenly it was like a bolt of lightning “stories! You love reading stories!” So I googled “How to become an audiobook narrator” and just jumped in, and I happened to see someone post on facebook something about narrating, so I asked them about it and they said, “oh, come to this lunch with these other Utah narrators” where I met some rockstars narrators like Nancy Peterson, Cindy Kay, BJ Harrison, and they pointed me in the right direction of “coach with Sean Pratt” and “take these Deyan masterclasses etc.,” and got me really facing the right direction in my audiobook career.
Fast forward 5 years I’ve narrated about 120 books; my husband did successfully finish law school and we moved to Southern California last year with our now 6 children and I’m discovering I love it here—mostly because everything grows, and you can grow year-round! I have an absolute obsession with fruit trees and vegetable gardening, and I have a goal be able to harvest year-round, so I just planted way too many trees in my tiny yard. And I love learning things so narrating any informational non-fiction, especially about parenting or gardening is my bread and butter, I love it. I also have a desire to bring good and light into the world, so I love reading uplifting, wholesome children’s and middle grade that would bring that sort of fantastic magical childhood I had to today’s children, as well as instill and teach good values. I also have a degree in history so I enjoy a good historical fiction. You can listen to me on audible or find my samples and contact me through my website stephanienarrates.com.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
If I had three major lessons I’ve learned on my journey for anyone starting a new adventure, or career, or pursuing their dreams. It would be this:
1. It’s going to be a lot of work. To everyone else you’re job seems easy, cool, fun–and in a lot of ways it is, sometimes I pinch myself. But it’s work. The trick is to continue working when it’s hard and be prepared to put a lot of work in to it.
2. I am a big believer that no knowledge is wasted knowledge. Gain all the skills you can, don’t be afraid to invest in classes, coaching, researching etc. Sometimes it’s hard to spend money on that stuff, but it is so worth it. I can’t tell you how many more opportunities I’ve been given I wouldn’t otherwise have had without the knowledge I invested in gaining.
3. One of my favorite coaches who has truly shaped my career always says, “commit, don’t comment.” In today’s day and age it’s too easy to be too afraid to step up, be yourself, go all in to something. Don’t be afraid to commit to something, to put your whole heart into everything you do.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
Being one of 9 children, you’d think my parents wouldn’t have had time for me, but they instilled an incredible confidence in me, took the time to teach me, inspire me, and set an incredible example of entrepreneurship and hard work, and always supported me. I’m not really sure how they were such incredible parents, they were like another species. Above all, I always knew I was loved and that gave me the confidence to pursue all my dreams.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stephanienarrates.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanienarrates/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephanienarrates
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanienarrates/
