The Voice Behind Raven's Gate

Raven's Gate began with a simple question: What if storytelling could transcend traditional boundaries?

But before I could answer that question, I had to live through the problem it was trying to solve.

You have a character living in your head. Some of you have multiple characters!

Maybe they've been there for months. Maybe years. Voices that won't shut up, stories that demand to be told. You think—maybe I could write this. But then what?

You write it. Somehow, against all odds, you finish. Now you're drowning in decisions you never anticipated. Traditional publishing means years of rejection letters. Self-publishing means learning cover design, formatting, ISBNs, distribution—none of which you signed up for when the characters first whispered to you in the dark.

And let's say you figure it out. The book exists. Now what?

You're invisible. Amazon is an ocean, and you're a single drop. Social media demands you become a marketer overnight. Ads eat money without guarantees. Building a following takes years you don't have.

Want it as an audiobook? Now you're hunting for a narrator who might actually understand what you heard in your head when you wrote it. If you can afford one. If you can navigate ACX. If they don't turn your thriller into a monotone drone or your romance into a parody.

This is where most dreams die. Not from lack of talent. From the gap between "I have an idea" and "someone can actually experience this."

I knew this gap intimately.

My journey with voice began in Miami, where I went to study opera—a musical theater kid who wanted to learn to sing well and got bitten by the opera bug. Then life took an unexpected turn: I became a Counterintelligence Agent. Eventually, I found my way back to the stage—opera halls, recital venues, and as a vocalist for the US Army Bands. From Big Band swing to ceremonial music, from Top 40 to heavy metal in the rock band, from acoustic sets to the concert stage—if it required a voice, I did it. Later, I earned my Doctorate of Musical Arts from Florida State University, deepening my craft across classical and contemporary genres.

For over two decades after, I lived in the academic world—teaching voice, training performers, shaping artists at the university level. I had tenure, respect, security. But something was missing. I was teaching others to find their voice while slowly losing my own.

Then COVID hit. Five years of singing contracts vanished overnight. The stages went dark. I needed an artistic outlet—something to keep the fire alive. A friend suggested audiobook narration. This decision changed my life.

I loved bringing stories to life with my voice.

But I hated how hard it was to find stories I actually wanted to narrate.

Sure, I had some favorites—that's you, Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross (wink)—authors who gave me my first real professional narration jobs and trusted me with their worlds. But those opportunities were rare. Most of the time it was endless auditions for books that didn't move me. Authors who treated narrators like replaceable equipment. Royalty share gambles on books that would never earn out. I was a trained vocalist with decades of stage experience, reading words I wouldn't have chosen to read if someone weren't paying me.

So I started writing my own.

I loved horror and suspense—the kind that makes you check the locks before bed, that turns every shadow into a question. And those genres have so many tributaries begging exploration: psychological thrillers, supernatural horror, folk horror, cosmic dread. I wanted to narrate THOSE stories. So I wrote them.

But I also loved meditation. Dharma practice. The stillness beneath the chaos.

How do you combine horror and meditation? How does someone who teaches people to find inner peace also narrate stories designed to rob them of sleep?

My answer: Unapologetically.

Because the same breath control that powers an aria also steadies a meditation practice and brings a whispered threat to life. Because someone who understands presence can make you feel a killer in the room—or guide you to find peace in yours. Because horror and healing aren't opposites. They're both about facing what scares you.

I wrote "Stillness and Fire," a meditation book born from years of Buddhist practice, and narrated it myself. Then I narrated thrillers that kept people awake. Same voice. Same person. No apologies.

Then I discovered what AI could actually do.

Not replace creativity. Amplify it.

Suddenly I could create music videos without cameras. Build courses without classrooms. Design visual content without hiring teams. Produce at a scale that would have required six people and a budget I didn't have.

This wasn't about efficiency. It was about possibility.

An author shouldn't need a marketing team to reach readers. A meditation teacher shouldn't need a tech degree to share wisdom. A narrator shouldn't have to beg for scraps from publishers who don't value the craft.

What if there was a place where the gap between idea and execution didn't have to be a canyon?

That's how I finally answered my original question: What if storytelling could transcend traditional boundaries?

Raven's Gate was born.

Not just for me. For everyone stuck in that gap.

The author who has the story but doesn't know how to find the right narrator—or afford one. The entrepreneur who needs compelling voice content but doesn't know where to start. The meditation teacher with decades of wisdom and no idea how to structure a course or reach students beyond their local studio. The creative who sees what AI could do but doesn't know which tools to trust or how to use them without losing their soul in the process.

We bridge that gap.

We help you take the character in your head, get it onto the page, and turn it into an audiobook people can actually hear. We help you take your meditation practice and build a course that reaches people across the world. We show you how to use AI to amplify your vision—not replace it, not cheapen it, but make possible what you couldn't do alone.

And for those of you who just need content for your YouTube channel? A quality advertisement for your company? A logo, brand identity, voice-over for your product launch? We do that too.

Today, Raven's Gate spans five divisions—Press, Audio, Voice, Dharma, and Media—each serving a unique purpose but united by one mission:

To help people move from "I have an idea" to "here it is—real, alive, and reaching people."

Whether you're an author who needs your story narrated by someone who actually gives a damn. An entrepreneur who needs voice-over content that doesn't sound like every other corporate drone. A meditation teacher ready to share your practice beyond your studio. A creative who wants to explore what AI can do without losing what makes your work yours.

We've walked this path. Now we help you walk it too.

We don't just tell stories. We give them breath.

And we help you do the same.

Welcome to Raven's Gate. The gate is open. Enter.