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Part of my job requires me to speak in public. A few years ago whilst presenting to a large group, I lost my voice. I felt it actually strain and snap. Of course, what I had done was over used it and not supported it properly. After that experience I was introduced to the extraordinary talents of Rae Ellen Bodie.
Rae Ellen trains performers, singers, speakers, and actors how to properly use their voices. It would seem that knowing how to use one's voice would be natural and simple, it certainly did to me until I lost the use of it, but that is actually not the case. I liken what Rae Ellen does to that of any coach. She trains technique, refines skill and then strengthens the muscle so that almost impossible feats seem to be executed with ease and grace. Just like a coach trains a runner or a gymnast, Rae Ellen trains people to use all the aspects of their voice including breath, muscles, articulation, speed, and, of course, full body control. Her very special talent, however, is showing how voice and presentation invoke emotion. She has a unique ability to help any speaker connect emotionally with their topic and convey that passion through the spoken word. Without what she taught me I would never have been able to work and speak in the capacity I do.
An actor and director in her own right, she certainly has both practical and academic knowledge of the use of voice. Many people have asked me how I can make personal appearances and speak for hours upon hours without having a strained voice. It's thanks to the training of Rae Ellen. I consider her an integral part of the Daniel Thompson Beauty team. I feel as if I am in some very special company having been trained by Rae Ellen. Privately she has coached Rachel McAdams, Scott Speedman, Rossif Sutherland and Diego Klattenhoff and she is the on set coach for shows like Lucky 7 (ABC), Reign (CBS), and Beauty & the Beast (CBS).
Recently I asked Rae Ellen to tell me her definition of beauty:
"I coach a lot of female actors who really struggle (particularly in film and TV) to embrace what their specific, true beauty is. They starve themselves because an unthinking agent or casting director has suggested they "drop a few pounds"; they get their teeth done, spend thousands of dollars on plastic surgery, etc. I've seen 60 year-old women at work on TV sets who hate what they see in the mirror; who resent the young women around them for their beauty, even as those same young women have internal lists of all the ways in which they themselves are wanting. It's a vicious, heart-breaking cycle that I too find myself swept up in from time to time.