Vanessa Alexander

Queen's English, Home Counties, French, Spanish

For many years I have worked in Communication: namely the inter-related fields of public relations and event management, journalism and editing, voice recordings and public speaking, and foreign languages. I have recorded a number of oil industry technical narratives for BP and OIS (Abbot Group), as well as TV and radio ads for two jewellery companies and a hotel chain, and also TV commercials for a Scottish whisky distillery, BMW and Bon Accord Glass. I have also recently recorded a voice over for Let's Dance Roc, a modern jive enterprise based in Marbella, Spain, as well as six short audio books in French for a London-based client and three instructional e-seminars for the American market. Other projects are currently in the pipeline. I have a 2nd Degree in French with Spanish (for overseas students) from the Sorbonne University in Paris. At school I passed the LAMDA Grade III, Senior Advanced, Junior, and Bronze medals for Acting. I also passed Spoken English, and Speech and Drama, with Guildhall School of Music and Drama, plus the University of Oxford Certificate in Oral English. In 2003 I received Distinctions for Proofreading and Editing and in 2005 Grade 4 Piano with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Originally working in public relations on staff and as a freelance within the international film industry, I built a career at the sharp end of media management and writing, a highlight of which was my PR work for Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning film 'The Last Emperor'. I then became an acknowledged freelance journalist, authoring many pieces for the international energy press, contributed to Harvard Business Review, and developed into a voice over artist in a multimedia environment for clients in retail, telecommunications, manufacturing and energy. In 1999 I moved to Spain for 10 years to seek business opportunities in the thriving tourist and construction industries on the South Coast, interpreted in Notaries' and Lawyers' offices, as well as translating interviews with Oscar nominees for a quality magazine, and focusing in particular on bespoke Spanish tuition to my 20+ client base. Immersed in the culture of Spain itself and the ex-pat community, I was able to fulfil a long-held ambition of living and working abroad. Now back in the UK for a little over 2 years, I am a Voice Over talent, a writer and editor, and continue to teach Spanish. In addition to my own small in-house studio, Yellow Shark Studios in Cheltenham offers analogue and digital recording using the IZ Radar and DTRS systems. Also based in Cheltenham is Authentic Sound Recording and there are other studios within travelling distance, for example Bristol and London. My key areas of expertise are the film industry, the oil and gas industry, and linguistics, particularly English, Spanish and French. Through my corporate work, public relation skills, journalism and teaching of languages, I have obtained diverse but complimentary and synergistic experience during my career.