About Me

​Hi I'm Avi. And yes I'm absolutely passionate about the human voice! Let me tell you a bit about me. Why I so love doing what I do. 

 

I grew up in Singapore raised by Singapore-Indian parents. Yeah, just ordinary kid with a simple lifestyle. I never had much luxury. And like most kids of Asian descent, I was quiet, obedient (well.. sometimes), shy & introverted. I hated to speak because I honestly had nothing  much to say. My beautiful mother always told me to keep silent, and my amazing dad always reminded me to walk away from conflict. You know... that "you get to fight another day" argument every parent tells their child. Unfortunately, that day just never came because I kept walking away!

 

My childhood was certainly not perfect. I experienced racism, bullying, loneliness, addictions, academic failure, belittling by friends and family, being told I can't excel because I'm just not good enough or don't have the "capacity" for achievement. And it's harder when it comes from your own extended family. Now imagine experiencing all that for say about 25 to 30 years. Over and over. Depression and addiction spiralling you downward every time you try to keep your head above the water.

 

You see, the point of me saying all this is not to get sympathy. I say this because when you experience such psychological trauma for that long, although your body and mind might keep strong, there's a part of you gets suppressed, choked, and just withers away: 

 

your voice!

 

All this torment squashes that rich resonant voice into a shrivelled and tensed squeak. My voice had packed up and left my body long ago.  It was dead. I was dead! My voice was buried in my chest somewhere. I was monotonous, mumbled, rumbled, had poor pronunciation, poor articulation, and extremely poor vocal habits. My lips never moved, I spoke quickly and was unintelligible, my jaw was stiff and misaligned, my posture was an absolute mess. I never realised all this till one day I decided to get into voice over because I thought why not! In fact, colleague once said I sounded like that cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle so that was good enough to think I could make living out of it. What started off as a side hustle, eventually turned into a life changing journey of discovery and recovery! 

 

I began voice lessons under an expert voice and dialect coach in Melbourne. He had me do some weird exercises and for the first time I heard my actual resonant rich true-bass voice! I felt free! My voice was released. My mind was free. I remember walking through Chadstone mall feeling centered, focused, and in sync with the world around me. And most interestingly, people looked at me differently. The casher responded to me differently. I loved it. It's as though I was communicating for the first time.  As a Registered Nurse and manager, my communication with patients and colleagues improved dramatically. My de-escalation skills improved. Using my voice, I could speak with empathy, command, and yet at the same time maintain a sense of vulnerability. 

 

It's all in the voice. And your mind follow's your vocal freedom! As you think, so your voice follows; and vice versa. A tensed voice is a blocked mind!  

 

I've spent the past 5 years reading loads of books and articles, attending lessons, watched hundreds of hours of voice content and discovered new ways to improve and free the voice. I'm the proud inventor of the VoIXStraw™ designed to help improve the voice and aid in reading. It is this knowledge, experience, and passion I bring to your table. I want to see you or your child achieve the greatest. I want to hear that shy, quiet, introverted voice come alive and speak truth against injustice. You are brilliant! You have so much to give to society. But the world will never know who you are; it'll never know the real you until you actually open your mouth, and speak... with freedom!

 

Allow me to help you or your child do that!