Some of my best ideas have been born out of hardship, including The VO Chateau. My inspiration for the powerhouse that has become such an integral part of my company came to me after I was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2019. 

My cancer story is not a story I tell often, but it is a huge part of my life. Like everyone affected by cancer, it changes you. I’ve been diagnosed twice. After my first battle with breast cancer, I made a pact with my closest friends to go to France. As a francophile, my love for everything about France and French culture made it a no-brainer. I enjoyed living and working out of two beautiful chateaus that I rented with an amazing group of friends, who also happen to be crazy-driven entrepreneurs. 

Living in France for a month fulfilled a dream I’ve had since childhood when I was living in a college town surrounded by foreign students. It also reignited my creative spark and my desire to make every person a unique universe worth knowing. For me, that’s branding. 

In the time between leaving France and being diagnosed with cancer again, my creativity flourished, and I decided to create The VO Chateau under Celia Siegel Management. I wanted it to be a space specifically for nurturing and booking talent. I could just envision the website in my head, down to the smallest details. I had a burning desire to curate a diverse and amazing group of people who each have so much to offer. 

The silver lining at the end of my first chemotherapy session for blood cancer came in the form of the first draft of The VO Chateau website. In this way, I made my hardship work for me. I turned all the bad into something tangible, something I had long dreamed about creating. Here, The VO Chateau was born. 

Living through my diagnoses has changed me in so many ways. I am grateful for what I have built, and that I get to wake up every morning and ask myself “What are we going to do with today? Who are we going to help?” As Neale Walsch, the author of Conversations With God puts it — never walk through another human being’s life without making it better for having done so.

In the end, I know we’re all here to connect with each other, and I often see these connections through the filter of branding, because branding is sharing even the parts of yourself that you may want to hide. When you share, you may never know how many people it will touch. To be an entrepreneur and a mother, and also to be sick, was difficult. But now, I see how strong these moments made me. Without these trials, the VO Chateau would have never been named!

If you’re interested in finding talent through The VO Chateau or learning more about the team of management professionals behind the operation, head over to vochateau.com. Together, we have the capacity to understand your material and lead a creative collaboration that brings your project to life through exceptional voiceover services.