023 - Nicole Fazio Interview

Published: Dec. 14, 2015, 8 a.m.

Hi. I’m Nicole Fazio. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest on the Old Price Dairy Farm in a home my grandfather and dad built. My favorite thing to do as a kid was go up to the mysterious silo outside the milking barn and listen to how my voice sounded when it was amplified. Living in this magical kingdom, I discovered my voice and was hooked.

A true voice over darling, I have branded just about everything! After graduating from the prestigious University of Washington’s School of Drama, I was determined to book a national commercial.

Who knew cleaning my voice teacher’s house to pay for classical voice lessons as a teen would quickly pay off! Having the good fortune of booking one of my early voice over auditions, I learned the voice over trade on the job while announcing multiple campaigns for the Hyundai Motor Company’s full fleet of cars. With access to tons of copy during frequent sessions, engineers, copyright editors, heads of the dealership, ad agency staff my career was born.

In addition to cars, beauty has been good to me. With the money from my gigs, I used those first spots to create a demo that I sent off to production companies. This is how I landed the Bare Escentuals gig opening me up to the world of Direct Response (DR). Once again, I was given the gift of learning this form of voice over while being paid to invite women to indulge in a “makeup so pure, you can sleep in it.” Voicing this beauty pioneer, opened up doors with other production companies as my signature for Bare became a prototype that provided me numerous ongoing new jobs.

A natural leader, it’s exciting that I make a living shining my light on these incredible inventions. When I was recently home in Washington teaching voice over workshops to teens and adults, I had the privilege of recording at Bad Animals recording studio in Seattle at the base of the Space Needle. After my session, the owner said, “You are the most enthusiastic person I have ever met.” The key I have found to being quality talent is to know your audience and transfer enthusiasm. If my read is not working, I change who I am talking to or why I am saying it.

It is such a dream to use my joy as a strength to get excited everyday about something!Currently, I am delighted to be the voice of Wen by Chaz Dean, a revolutionary hair care that “takes the place of shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, de-tangler and leave in conditioner all in one.”
Over the years, I have been passionate about sharing my knowledge of the industry with future voice over artists when they ask for advice. It is important to me to teach them how to record, edit and improve reads with organic techniques. I also enjoy variety that comes building demos and connecting them to industry professionals.

Tweet me @NicoleMFazio if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way or send me an email via my contact page to discuss the possibility of us working together to elevate your brand. So what can I help you with? Contact me and we’ll create something great together.

For more information about this and other episodes head over to mikelenzvoice.com.