What a way to mark International Transgender Day of Visibility. This past week, I had the honour of sitting down with Sean Henry on CBC Montreal's Daybreak to talk about gender-affirming voice work, the trans community, and what it means to help people find voices that feel like home.
It was a genuinely lovely conversation, AND they led with my feminine cough video, which made me laugh. (Tbh I wouldn't have it any other way.)
Listen to the Segment
Here's the full audio from my appearance on Daybreak
What We Talked About
Sean asked me to explain what a gender-affirming voice teacher actually does, which is always a fun question to answer on live radio.
The short version: I help transgender and gender-expansive people modify their speaking voices to create voices that bring them comfort, safety, and gender euphoria. The process looks different for everyone. Depending on a person's background—whether they're a singer, multilingual, or brand-new to voice work—it can take anywhere from three months to two years or longer.
We also talked about how voice is a learned behaviour. Most of us were brought up to imitate the vocal patterns of the people around us. But just like you can change your clothes or your hair, you can choose to change your voice. That framing resonates with many people who've been told their voices are fixed.
I mentioned that my YouTube resources are designed to be free and widely accessible because I know not everyone can afford to access paid courses. I still offer courses for people who want deeper, more structured support, but I'm committed to making more and more tools available for free.
One question Sean asked that I really loved: What's the question you get most often? The answer: "Will this change my voice permanently?" And the answer is: if you want it to, it can. If you want to maintain both voices, practice makes permanent.
Yes, We Talked About the Cough
Daybreak opened the segment with a clip from one of my videos on how to feminize your cough — which, if you haven't seen it, is actually a really practical piece of gender-affirming voice work. Coughs, sneezes, laughs: any time your voice is involved, it can be modified.
If you want to check that video out, here it is:
How to Shout, Cough, and Laugh with a Feminine Voice: A Guide for Trans Voice Training
Trans Day of Visibility
The timing of this interview meant a lot to me. Trans Day of Visibility is a day to see trans people thriving, as opposed to Trans Day of Remembrance in November, which is a day of mourning. Today is a day of celebration.
We also shared some exciting news on air: we had been running a fundraiser to support gender-affirming surgery for my collaborator, who helps me with my YouTube videos. As of that morning, we were almost fully funded. That felt like a pretty perfect way to mark the day.
Change The Gender of Your Voice (No Hormones or Surgery Required!)
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