Mr. Mandia’s speech was very raw and truthful. I loved that it was about his raw experience about the beauty yet horrors of the Voice Artist Industry. He spoke about his experience with humility even if he has done incredible things.
I learned that you must grab your own opportunities. No one will help you succeed except for yourself. You need to be dedicated to what you do. You need to know how much you want to pursue this industry because there will be setbacks and sacrifices. You must be willing to sacrifice your time, money, and pride to be able to learn and evolve in this industry.
I was taught that to be a voice artist, you need to have the experience. Experience will only come from emotions and emotions can come from something big such as a divorce or something small such as a child falling. This does not mean to do lots of things but rather to empathize with your character. Acting is reacting to the situation your character is in.
I also learned that betrayal is real. There are people in the industry that would take the chance to leave you and break your image once that door opens, but there are also people that wish to support you in everything that you do. We wish to be one of the people that takes only what is enough without pushing others down. That is why we have a CVAP family that wishes to support each and everyone of us in our journey! Sharing is caring. Share without thinking about anything in return.
I also learned that the best way to learn is to get feedback from experienced people, no matter how harsh the criticism may be. You need to take comments as statements for improvement rather than statements to break your confidence.
Overall, I love the talk as it opened my mind to reality and how the program will help us through that reality. I loved that through a person’s story, we were able to get tips that can not only help us through the industry but that can be applied to as we go on in our journeys.