From English Teacher to Voice Actor: Sion Dayson's Journey to Finding Her Authentic Voice

November 8, 2019. Voice actor Sion Dayson can pinpoint the exact date her life changed forever. She was teaching English as a Foreign Language at a university in Valencia, Spain, recording scripts for her students' listening exam. When the sound engineer asked if she was a professional voice actor because she was "so good at it," something ignited inside her.

"That question lit me up," Sion recalls. "I haven't looked back since."

The Leap of Faith

For someone who admits to being an overthinker, Sion's decision to pursue voiceover was refreshingly decisive. "When it comes to those moments of spark, I leap," she explains. "That's how I ended up moving to Paris for a decade, and then to Spain."

A sound engineer's question during a voice recording at her previous job ignited a similar spark. Though she didn't even know exactly what "being a voice actor" entailed, she had an undeniable feeling that it was meant for her. 

Her background seemed to align perfectly—she loved language and creativity, enjoyed helping people, but as an introvert, she thrived working from home. Voiceover sounded like an amazing way to combine her passions for storytelling and service in a way that matched her personality and strengths.

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

True to her nature, when voiceover piqued Sion's interest, she dove in completely. "When something piques my interest, I go down the rabbit hole," she says. She consumed every piece of voiceover knowledge she could find—podcasts (including the entire library of The VO School Podcast), YouTube tutorials about the technical side, and Facebook group discussions covering every aspect of the career.

"Even though I didn't understand a lot of what was being said at first, I wasn't fazed," Sion reflects. Drawing from her experience teaching and learning two foreign languages, she knew that absorbing lots of input upfront was crucial, and eventually she would start deciphering this new world.

Perfect Timing: The Pandemic Pivot

The timing couldn't have been more serendipitous. The day Spain announced its COVID lockdown, Sion signed up for Carrie Olsen's Voiceover Success Intensive. "Finding her as my first mentor was a gamechanger," she notes.

Spain's strict confinement gave her months of uninterrupted time to delve into voiceover. While her English classes moved online, she spent every other waking hour learning—getting coaching, teaching herself sound editing, building her first studio, and studying marketing and business fundamentals.

"The pandemic was such a time of uncertainty that it also allowed the space to completely reimagine everything," Sion explains. When the semester ended, she made a bold decision to focus 100% on voiceover for as long as she could manage it.

Building the Foundation: Coaching and Community

Sion emphasizes the importance of starting coaching early. "It helped me advance much quicker than if I had been stumbling around on my own." The pandemic offered unexpected opportunities—many coaches were offering discounted rates. When she saw Lori Alan post about half-price coaching in a Facebook group, she seized the opportunity.

From there, she took a group class with Lori Alan and Susan Palyo of Voice Trax West, where she met some of her longest-running VO friends. They even continued a script-reading and support group for years after the class ended.

Her coaching journey has been extensive, working privately with Lori Alan, Kelly McGee, Marisa Dargahi, and Nic Redman, plus group coaching with Debra Sperling, Anna Garduno, Paul Liberti, John McKinney, Sarah Hollis, and Andy Roth. "Every coach has their own style," she notes. "I've picked up something from everyone; being exposed to different coaches helped me clarify which approaches worked for me."

The Business Mindset

Having been a freelance writer for years—"another uncertain, creative field"—Sion understood the importance of thinking business from day one, not just treating voiceover as a creative outlet. While she had done well with the actual writing work, she had struggled with making it a sustainable business. That experience taught her to approach voiceover differently from the start.

The Joy of Variety

Today, Sion's work spans an impressive range of projects. She's a regular narrator for Blinkist and the monthly presenter of Business Spotlight, and has worked with clients on multiple projects. Her portfolio includes everything from audio description for The Smurfs to an LG commercial, summaries of Michelle Obama and Viola Davis's books, comedic audio dramas, and materials for English-language learners.

"I never know what's going to be in my inbox each day," she says excitedly. "Working on so many different projects is enlivening. At the beginning of my VO journey I didn't even know all the different possibilities that existed within voiceover."

Recently, she had her first in-studio session, recording a mixed reality script for a major tourist site in Valencia. "I'd always recorded from my home studio previously. It was a blast to bounce off the energy of the other actor, see the thumbs up from the client and sound engineer on the other side of the glass."

The Ongoing Challenges

Like many voice actors, Sion faces the challenge of building more recurring client relationships. "Happy repeat clients are my goal," she explains. While direct marketing is the best way to make those connections, she admits she hasn't been as consistent as she'd like.

"Riding the ebbs and flows of work and constantly having to self-generate the motivation can be a challenge. But most of my working life has had this sort of unpredictability to it—I'm kind of used to it!"

Embracing Authentic Voice in the AI Era

When asked what advice she'd give her starting self, Sion's response is both timely and profound: "To value my unique voice—quirks and all."

"We don't know exactly how AI is going to affect the industry in the long-term. What we can control is being our most authentic self. My specific blend of experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and passions only exists in me. I'd tell myself to celebrate that humanness. To trust it."

Looking Forward

Today, Sion describes her voiceover business as "evolving, exciting, unpredictable, promising." Her journey from that pivotal moment in Valencia to becoming a working professional demonstrates the power of following your instincts, investing in education, and embracing what makes you uniquely you.

"Voiceover constantly offers something new. I'm excited to see what projects lie ahead," she says, embodying the same leap-first spirit that started it all on November 8, 2019.

Want to learn more about Sion's work?

Visit her at SionDayson.com. Have your own voice acting journey to share? We'd love to hear about it in the comments below.