You are you, always & forever

Words are powerful but you didnot need me to tell you that!

My 4yr old proves it to us, time & again.

I have ridiculous amount of professional fear! Not the kind where I think I will lose my job because I have no obvious reason to reach that conclusion, at this time. And, the career journey has been filled with accolades mixed in with some humble learnings.

The fear is mostly my overthinking on steroids so much so that the only part of my body that has any muscle definition is my brain.

Earlier this year I tried to dig deeper to find the cause of that fear.

Is it financial?

Is it embarrassment if I ever lose a job?

Is it …. I circled the drain!

Around May of this year, during a meeting, a client exclaimed “ Gosh, you have an incredible voice. We need to get you to record our demo” – I smiled and let out an “aha!” With some filler crap like “where is the million dollar check? Sign me up!”

This compliment was not new to me. In college, I had the honor to be ON AIR with Cecil Doyle of NPR station on UL campus. My voice got 2 compliments that day. I was so happy I could have worked there for min wage all my life but then I slept over it, reality set in and that 5am coffee house shift called my name.

Fast forward to August and I found myself in a sound proof room with 4 strangers and an amazing voice artist. This was a 3 hour journey and in the end one would be clear if their voice can be of a voice artist.

Turns out I am an excellent fit for commercials. My dramatics are on-point but then if you have met me then you don’t need me to tell you that!

That night as I drove home I understood the cause of my fear.

‘I am not a head of product but I work as a head of product.’

Once I said that out loud I could hear it – I am Shivani. Anything beyond that is a choice I have made.

A choice that can be made over and over and over again. As long as I am not afraid of rejection & failure.

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