Jess Gibbard on helping the trans community find its true voice

Posted on March 12, 2024 in Vital Victoria Podcast

Victoria’s Jess Gibbard has been passionately working to help trans and non-binary people find their true voices, be it from her private home studio or through charitable initiatives.

After transitioning, herself, she learned there’s a large gap in B.C. and all over the world for affordable, gender-affirming voice training. Often, voice coaches are expensive, unavailable or, in certain parts of the world, non-existent.

On this episode of the Vital Victoria Podcast, Jess tells host Lucky Budd the story of finding her own voice and her passion for helping others do the same, on top of her studies to become a speech pathologist. She talks about the necessity for affordable and accessible voice lessons in a time when more people than ever are discovering who they truly are.

Vital Signs Issue Area:

This episode relates to the issue area of ‘Belonging and Engagement’, which was given a grade of ‘B-’ in Greater Victoria’s 2023 Vital Signs report (see page 12). This issue is connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.

Episode 22 Guest:

Jess Gibbard has spent most of her life in Greater Victoria and has been giving affordable trans voice lessons for almost three years to help fill a gap in accessible trans voice therapy. She has helped many different clients in Victoria and all over the world explore masculinization, feminization, and androgenization, to find the voice that best fits who they are. 

Aside from voice coaching, Jess is currently studying to become a registered Speech Language Pathologist and is involved in charitable work. She is a musician in her spare time. 

Episode 22 Resources: