Meet Christy Harst | Voice Over Actor, Building Doors Creator, Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christy Harst and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christy, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is such a heavy word, right? It conjures up visions of jumping out of airplanes, snapshots from Fear Factor, and getting stuck in an elevator with your ex and his new girlfriend… or maybe wife and kids by now!

Then there are the everyday risks that feel HUGE in the moment but really aren’t that big of a deal. We just don’t know it until years later when we look back and chuckle to ourselves: “Why was I so scared?”

I’m a voice over actor and the creator of Building Doors, a global gender equity campaign that advocates for more women’s voices to be heard in the audition process for male-dominated genres like sports, tech, cars, and alcohol.

I’ve had face-to-face conversations with brands like Valvoline, the Cavs, SportsNet, and about a dozen others, asking them to include more women in their auditioning process.

But the campaign almost never happened.

The original plan was to post a handful of reels of women reading scripts originally voiced by men, to show that women CAN and SHOULD be considered for male-centric ad campaigns. I had the first post ready to go and I froze.

Thoughts started racing: “What if a casting director sees this and hates it and I get blacklisted?” “What if a brand sees us re-voicing one of their spots and gets mad?” “What if the male VO community gets upset and cancels me?”

I called up Brandon Miller, the man who helped me develop the entire campaign. I shared my apprehension, and the general sentiment of his response was something like: this really isn’t as big a deal as you think. Post it.

I took a deep breath and hit the button.

I look back on that moment often. I DID think it was a huge deal. But what I see now is that it was simply preparing me for all the riskier moments ahead. And the more I flexed that muscle, the easier it became to jump head first into situations other people might consider risky.

Since launching the campaign, I’ve booked several national broadcast spots. I’ve had the opportunity to connect with men and women around the world who also believe in gender equity, not just in VO but across male-dominated industries.

Now when I think about risk, the question I ask myself is simple: will it kill me? The answer is always no. So I go for it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
There’s a quote that has shaped the way I move through my career:

“When you start using your personality to serve the greater calling that your soul came here for, nobody can touch you. Because that is what authentic power is.”

I was born and raised in Norwalk, Ohio, a small rural farming community where everyone knows everyone and there’s not much to do but dream. My childhood was a mix of Catholic school days, volleyball knee pads, 4-H ribbons, and playing five instruments.

I went to college fully intending to become the next Barbara Walters. Spoiler: Barbara did not step aside. I majored in broadcast communications, worked at my college radio station as a DJ, News Director, and Operations Manager, and juggled four unpaid internships: classical radio, news radio, NBC Cleveland, and MTV.

It was during my classical radio internship that the station owner looked at me and said, “You have a great voice.” He handed me a script, pushed me into a booth, and told me I’d do well in voiceover.

I ignored him. Because, you know… Barbara.

After graduation I moved through nonprofit work, city government, and real estate marketing, always building community and always circling back to the mic. When I got married and started a family, voiceover shifted from a side hustle to my anchor. With a baby on the way, I needed a career I could build around my life. Voiceover gave me that freedom, and I built my home studio, Studio Bricks, to make it real.

As a former college athlete raising two bank-account-draining elite travel athletes of my own, it felt natural to focus my voiceover career on sports promo. But male-dominated sports VO is, well… male dominated. Despite top-tier training and creative outreach, I kept hitting walls.

During a live promo workshop, an agent finally said it plainly: “The door is barely cracked open for women here. Go make your own noise.”

So I did.

On March 1, 2024, I launched The Building Doors Campaign, a global collaboration of female voice actors reimagining traditionally male-voiced ads and encouraging brands to think beyond the default. Together, we’re pushing the industry toward a more inclusive, authentic sound. In 2025, the voice over industry recognized that work with the Unicorn Award for selfless contributions to the community.

The road was not easy. But every wall I hit taught me something, and every risk I took made the next one easier. What I want the world to know is that Building Doors was never just about me booking more work. It is about making sure the women coming up behind me have a door worth walking through.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Full disclosure: I don’t actually live in LA. I’m a Midwest girl, born and raised in Ohio, and I’m still working on convincing the West Coast that it needs me full time.

But I have visited, and I will tell you exactly what I did because I have zero shame about it. I went full tourist.
I attended a taping of the Ellen show at the Burbank studios.

I walked Venice Beach, did the Hollywood Walk of Fame, spotted the Hollywood sign, and yes, I absolutely got on one of those cheesy bus tours of famous people’s houses. I loved every single second of it.

Here’s my hot take: there is something genuinely joyful about seeing a city through the eyes of someone who is just completely delighted to be there. No pretense, no been-there-done-that energy. Just wide eyes and a camera roll full of things locals would never photograph.

So if my best friend came to visit me and we ended up in LA together? We would do every single one of those things again. Twice.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Two people come to mind immediately.

Brandon Miller was the first person I called when I was frustrated about not being able to access opportunities in promo. He has stuck by me for over two years, helping me not only start Building Doors but guiding how I grow it. He talked me off the ledge before I posted that very first reel, and honestly, none of this exists without that conversation. I don’t know what I would do without him.

Saundi Harrison Cooksey came into the picture early in the campaign. She reached out offering to help, and I’ll be honest, she had to hound me before I finally let her in. Best thing I ever did. She has become my right hand, a genuinely good friend, and the kind of honest confidant you can’t manufacture. She has shown me a whole new definition of what it means to truly show up for someone.

Website: https://www.christyharst.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christyharstvo/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyharst/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@christyharstvo