A Vocal Embrace - 1st Episode

The speaker, Connie Gouray, introduces herself and talks about technical difficulties she's been experiencing. She mentions recording on Audacity and her laptop camera. She discusses her main focus, which is building up her project called A Vocal Embrace. She mentions having a Patreon account and talks about the different tiers of support. She mentions her interest in becoming a voiceover artist and references her audition for the role of Anastasia. She also discusses her love for singing and her admiration for divas like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion. She mentions her interest in cooking and her Instagram account focused on healthified versions of recipes. She also briefly mentions her degree in Complementary Alternative Medicine and her job as a health benefits advisor. She expresses her excitement and goals for her project and asks for support and engagement from viewers. She mentions the need to rest her voice due to illness and ends the video with her tagline, "Th Greetings and Salutations. Greetings and Salutations. My name is Connie Gouray and you are watching A Vocal Embrace. So I've been having some technical difficulties here and it's okay. It is okay. We are recording on Audacity and I also have my laptop camera recording me A Vocal Embrace on Easter Sunday and we are doing our best not to freak out because there's just high anxiety. Shout out to Mel Brooks. I still need to watch it but I'm a big fan. I've seen other, I've seen other bodies, other projects from your body of work. I'm gonna get this. I'm gonna get the words out. I'm feeling under the weather so I can't sing right now. It's, you know, it's breaking my heart but I'm thinking I could do a Spotify podcast. I can go in so many directions but my main focus is building up my shmool A Vocal Embrace. You see, for those who are just listening, I have a backdrop blanket with my logo and for those of you who want to support A Vocal Embrace, I have a Patreon account. So it's a four-tier Patreon account. There's Sopranos, Alto, Tenor, and Bass, Bass, Bass. All about that bass and, you know, I'm trying to get it focused on those who support singers, actors, voiceover actors. I'm gonna dip my toe in, hello, Vocal Embrace is working towards being a voiceover artist. I shouldn't say it that way. I should say, I am a voiceover artist. I just haven't gotten a contract yet. You understand? Because if you're following me on shmool, I, I, I'm doing, I'm doing the princess wave right now because I'm Anastasia from A Vocal Embrace. No, no, no. I am Anastasia from, from Anastasia, right? The animated film, 1997. Or, I'm not the actual one, but when I auditioned, I was the, I was the, I was, my submission crowned me Anastasia because of that last recording. It's pretty good. I'm actually going to feature it in the comments below and you tell me. I'd love to hear what you have to say. I actually, actually do want mostly positive feedback. I can't wait to start singing on this microphone. If you're just listening, I am, I am doing like gestures of, of praise for my microphone. Yes. And we'll do separate videos on the brand name equipment. I did it all along the way, but it's too early for me to give the feedback because I'm not an expert on this, but I was going off of the other YouTubers who were giving me insight of what they would have done or what is budget friendly and the best laptop for the content I'm getting ready to produce. I am producing right now. I just haven't posted anything yet. Like legit. I've arrived. I'm here. Please subscribe. Do the thumbs up. Not only do it, click it on this video and support me on Patreon and Instagram, TikTok, maybe Spotify. I do have a vocal embrace on Spotify. Just my playlist. I haven't posted. I, I'm really thinking that that can happen. Wow. You see how I'm just brainstorming right now. This is great. So I do want to, I want to share, I want to get serious for a second and say that for the dearly departed, my deceased karaoke partner, 1998, December 21st, 1998, may you rest in peace. I'm not going to name names right now, but he meant a lot to me. It gave me a lot of encouragement when he was so young and my life would have been different had he lived. I'm not saying I'm glad he died, but I was so young myself. I was 18. So I'm dating myself. You guys, if you guys do the math, you know how old I am now. Hello. But anyway, I also want to, want to give and pay my respects to my dearly departed sibling, my only sibling from the same Mr. and Mrs. So, Hey, big sis. And in fact, I'm pointing to the ribbon that we all wore at her funeral in at her funeral in Mira Mesa, California in June of 2021. That was, that's hard to say. There's a lot of feelings. I'm feeling like I'm, I'm happy for the fact that I'm, I'm taking the time to, to acknowledge that I didn't do this by myself. There were folks along the way, some that are still living, some that have gone before, you know, Whitney, Whitney Houston, not that I know her personally, but she, she was one of my main divas that made me think I could do this too. Shout out to the women of color. So we got my top three. Okay. Cause I can name a lot, but we're going to start with Whitney, Mariah, Mariah Carey. Hey girl. I know her. I cannot wait to record my, my best Whitney singing rendition. My, or not my best, but my current, where my voice is at. It's almost as if I'm going to learn how to sing all over again because I'm under the weather right now. And the third diva, Miss Celine Dion. Oh, my heart will go on. Oh my goodness. Wow. So much, so much to say about each individual diva and how they influenced me and special videos showcasing my favorite songs from their body of work, their bodies of work. Bodies of work. Cause Whitney, Whitney and Mariah have had acting projects. I'm trying not to clear my voice and I'm trying, or I'm not trying to clear my throat and I'm trying not to cough on this recording. Cause that's nasty. My husband has this etiquette thing. We both agree with if you're in a restaurant, you're in a restaurant and somebody sneezes. Okay. Okay. That's, that's something you can't really control. If you have to blow your nose, go to the nearest restroom. Do not blow your nose at the table. Out of respect. I mean, this is even before COVID and all that. I, oh, I know we're all being safe. Right. So I got tested for COVID. I got tested for strep, negative for both, you know, so happy day for that. I just need to recover. This is day seven of the onset from this beast of an illness that I'm, I'm calling it laryngitis with laryngitis with, uh, dry cough that I'm holding in right now. It's hurt. It hurts. I mean, I actually need to end this video and, you know, let, let things go. Let it go. Oh, Adina Menzel. Ah, honorable mention. Adina Menzel. Yes. Okay. So I got a lot that I'm getting ready to produce either today or in the coming weeks. My goal right now, since I'm basically moonlighting is to produce and upload content for my Vocal Embrace social media platform. Cause shmuel gives me like 90 seconds to do a little thing and then it cuts me off and I'm, I just have a lot to say and you know, I could do a song, but it's not going to sound good today. So many songs I could sing right now, but the one that's like popping up in my head, it's from Mannequin. Forget what year that was released. Part of my youth, but then nothing, nothing's going to stop us now. Oh yeah. Yes. And it escapes me. The artist, I think it's star, I think it's star, like Starship, Starship, maybe, maybe I'll have to check that later. I love, I've, I've recorded that. I've, I've covered it a couple of times in the past six months. I love that song. That's, that's basically my theme song right now. Nothing's going to stop us. Cause I'm, I gotta do it. I gotta do it. I got the microphone, I got the microphone, the blanket. Oh my goodness. I got this from Amazon. If you're listening, I'm pointing to the blanket. I'm like, I'm so happy it's showing up gray. So, okay. This is actually purple. Okay. I've said it to my text messaging friends that I'm, I'm out to paint the world purple. So this is what I'm envisioning. If you could see this icon and put out my heart right there, right there. Boom. Like I'm beaming it out. My vocal embrace to you and you and you and you, and you, and you get to hear me and you get to hear me. I promise my voice will get better. I actually need to, I need to just not talk and drink warm liquids. Mm hmm. Not sponsored, but this is a, this is a Starbucks. This is from Starbucks. This was purchased, this was purchased two years ago. Yes. Almost two years ago. This June will be two years because I was at my sister's funeral getting ready to, you know, we were saying goodbye, paying our final respects and I don't want to get too deep with it, but yeah, this will pretty much be my sipping on, keeping me hydrated. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that felt better. Okay. But video's getting long, so I'm going to take a deep breath and I don't think I'm going to edit it. This is it. This is Connie Gowright giving you what's what, encouraging you to say it, to sing it, whatever's in your heart. Maybe not post every second of your life on social media, but the highlights of what you, what you feel is the essence of how you want to be perceived in this world. I got a lot to say and I really, I really want to harp on my, my goal to get people who look like me, women of color, women, females out there getting, getting, getting the exposure, getting the encouragement from other women of color and just being the best version you can be. If it be singing, if it be acting or just speaking on your topic, your, your main topic that you consider to be the shmi, the subject matter expert, I dabble in quite a bit. So a vocal embrace. If you want to, if you're interesting, I'm sure you're interesting. If you're interested to see how I feel myself, like in the culinary world, I do have an Instagram account that focuses on that. Mostly healthified versions of recipes. And it started with, it started with a black bean recipe, a black bean brownie recipe. And that, that spurred me going in that direction, going crunchy and whatnot. I had a dehydrator. I had, I had a coffee grinder, but used it for, for grinding up nuts and other spices, never coffee beans because I don't, I don't need caffeine. What's in here right now, for instance, let me just promote that channel right now. This is, if you've ever had beets, what, what it's powdered beet powder, or it's beets that are in a powdered form. And then I added, you know, vanilla and a lot of other spices. It's in coconut milk. Cause I'm, I'm mostly dairy free, but yeah, I should post the recipe on the feed feed under that Instagram account culinary inspirations by Connie culinary inspirations by Connie that was spurred from my ACHS American College of Healthcare Sciences. What is my degree? It is AAS Associates in Applied Sciences, Complementary Alternative Medicine with, with spa management certification. So if this doesn't work out, I can manage a spa right now. What pays the bills is my position as a health benefits advisor. Yeah. So I got a lot of experience there, but what, what I do every day when I can, when I have the ability to, I sing and I want, oh, I want it so bad. I want it so bad. I did all this, you know, me, if you're just, if you're just listening to this, I'm just waving my arms frantically because this is a long time coming. And let's see, let's do some, I grabbed my remote for the led lights and let's do this. We are equal opportunity. Okay. We do not discriminate here at a vocal embrace. You're welcome to join. I thank you for your support. Did I mention my Patreon account? I can't remember, but this video is getting super long. Oh my goodness. My valley girl's coming out and I do need to rest my voice. I'm not kidding. And I've been holding in this cough. Like I said, ah, it's time to go. My name is Connie Gowright. If you've hung on this long, consider, please consider clicking that like subscribe and maybe, maybe even throw me, throw me some, some funds to help purchase, purchase items or licensing a trademark. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to spit it out. Oh my God. Like when you are not feeling well, and this is, I'm getting, I'm capturing it right now. Like my brain is not working properly. It costs $350 per class to get your logo, your logo, um, licensed. I'm not sure what the terminology, I have to watch some more of those videos, but I'm working with Taylor Brands. It took $300 to get the website developed. And so that's, um, that's not live yet, but it is a vocal embrace.com. So stay tuned for that. So much is on the drawing board and it's a lot to juggle, but it's so much fun. I look forward to continuing this journey. I'm still getting used to hearing my voice repeat after myself. I was thinking something was wrong, but I get it now because I'm recording on my camera and I'm recording on audacity. So if it's like, why is she so delayed? It's because I keep hearing myself and it's, it's a little confusing. Like, oh my goodness, that's the voice in my head. So I'll get better at it. And I can't wait to look back a year from now and see if I, in fact, influenced anyone to click at least one. I mean, I'll be happy with a hundred, but to monetize, you need a thousand followers and then so much airtime or so many people have to view it. It's, it's a lot. I don't think I'll do my own version of that. I can put videos, links to the, the YouTubers who broke it down pretty good to where I could understand it. And we'll see how it goes. This is the way of the world right now. Posting from home, broadcasting from home, auditioning from home. I have one acting credit to my name, to my Connie Gowright name, my stage name. And so Connie Gowright is basically my Sasha Fierce. Shout out to Beyonce. I've been name dropping like crazy. Like I know these people. I know them from how they're famous, but I don't know them personally, but maybe for the ones who are still with us. I can't wait. Did I do a shout out to Lea Salonga? All right. So I'm giving you a hint as to if you're, if you're looking at me and you're like, what is she? What is she? First of all, that is an annoying question. If, if I don't know you and you're asking me that within the first five minutes of us engaging, party foul. It's one thing if I start leaning in that direction, but I'm not going to start with, hi, my name is Connie. I'm this, this, and this. I, my parents are from this country. No, no, just let it happen organically. If I happen to mention a food that you're used, you you're familiar with and you're like, oh, does that mean you're this? Like, I know you've been at, you've been asking it in your head and you just couldn't bring yourself to, I could, I'm, I'm going off on a tangent. I need to stop. Like I said, there's a lot going on here. I don't know if I'm gonna post this. We're coming up on 25 minutes. I didn't write a script. Next time. Note to self. I, note to my future me. Oh my goodness. Please write it down. Please have, I have, you can't see it, but I have, I have a place where I can put a tablet or a notepad or something and I am running out of steam here. I'll practice my tagline right now. Thank you for joining here at a vocal embrace. I am focusing on encouraging you to say what's on your mind, to speak it articulately as opposed to what I'm doing right now and sing it. If you feel it, I might sing along with you and hopefully we can make some beautiful music together. Get on the same sheet of music. Okay, I'm just throwing things out. I'm trying new things. We'll see. We'll see how I am next time. Wish me luck. This is my debut podcast broadcast here at a vocal embrace. Connie, go right. Peace out. And my mouse isn't coming up. Hang on. Technical difficult. There it goes. All right. Take care. Ciao, ciao.