A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Vanessa James

From Netflix and CW Network to PGA Tour and Amazon, Vanessa’s voice has been a trusted presence. She’s even the voice heard in New York City’s yellow cabs on 103.5 KTU and recently joined Reach TV Network as the co-host of Business Traveler, a show aired globally in airports and lounges. Her journey into voiceover was anything but typical. Starting as a radio receptionist with a childhood stutter, Vanessa’s journey required tremendous resilience. 

Her story aligns with those of figures like Usher and Steve Harvey, both of whom she’s interviewed, who faced similar speech challenges. After two decades in corporate radio, she launched her own company to pursue storytelling on her terms, all while paving the way for diverse voices in the industry.

In an industry where only 42% of voiceover roles are held by women and only 17.3% by people of color, Vanessa is shifting the narrative. She’s passionate about financial literacy in marginalized communities, and her connection to her Caribbean heritage runs deep. Her writings on Carnival and the diaspora’s cultural impact highlight her dedication to authentic representation.

In a recent interview with Her Agenda, Vanessa shared insights into her career journey, her company’s mission, and her commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices. Vanessa James isn’t just a voice – she’s a visionary, leading with purpose and creating a lasting impact in media.

Her Agenda: First, I would love to start off with your backstory and how you got into the world of storytelling and media

Vanessa James: I started off in radio and that was a way to just connect with millions of people in various markets. And I fell in love with being able to lift lines from a piece of paper and make a story out of it. So radio is where I got my launch in storytelling and media.

That transitioned to editorial work at my local paper in Miami, where I am now. And then that kind of springboarded back into radio, into voiceover, and then into launching my own media company after really wanting to reconnect with my Caribbean roots and tell a lot of those Caribbean stories and highlight Caribbean entrepreneurs and culture and carnival. So for me, VJ Media really is a mixed bag of media where I use all of my strengths, starting with voiceover and storytelling to really kind of lend light to my story and others.

Her Agenda: What do you think were some of the most valuable things that you learned in some of those early stages when you were working in radio? Vanessa James: Oh, wow, so many, right? I think valuable for me, especially as a woman of color in radio and as one of the first female program directors for the market in Tallahassee, I really learned early that gumption is really important, especially when you work for yourself or when you’re working for a corporation or for another entity. Gumption is very important in understanding yourself, and understanding what it is that you want your legacy to be.

I think also being really good negotiators and leaning on mentors if you’re not a good negotiator, that’s one of the things I feel like, if I looked back, I would do differently. As women, we want to do so much.  And we [sometimes say]  like, ‘Oh, I can do all the jobs.’ And that definitely was my story in terms of taking on multiple roles just to kind of show that I could stack up to the fellas who are doing one job for the same money and not negotiating.

For me, being a better negotiator has monetary and non-monetary aspects. Maybe that’s stocks, maybe that’s bonus structures, or something else. So, learning how to be a good negotiator would be my number one goal.

Her Agenda: I think that’s so valuable because sometimes in this media landscape, there’s no playbook. And I like how you said, sometimes as women, we feel like we have to do or we want to do everything.

Vanessa James: We wanna do it all, right? And we overcompensate sometimes. 

Her Agenda: How have you learned to say no or this doesn’t serve me? 

Vanessa James: After taking a step back—and the step back was forced, it was a layoff in 2010—it was the best situation for me because it allowed me to take some time to recalibrate. It was really checking in with myself and saying, okay, here comes the next chapter.

What do I want this next decade of my life to be like, to feel like? What do I enjoy? And that’s when I knew that I wanted to start my own company. I did that in 2010. VJ Media will be celebrating her sweet 15 next year. I can’t believe that I’m saying that. But it’s just tapping into self a simple as that sounds, really understanding, well, what is important to me? What do I want the legacy of my business to be? How do I want it to feel to others? How do I want to engage and connect and collaborate with others? And I learned early, that competition’s not where it’s at, collaboration is where it’s at. And once I learned how to navigate that and infiltrate that into my business, brand collaborations, and collaborations with other women, and other founders, it became really easy, and it became a space where I knew this was my sweet spot. This is what I want to do more of. It’s really understanding and tapping into self about what you want your legacy, your business, and your personal brand to be.

Her Agenda: How have you been able to keep the momentum after all this time?

Vanessa James:Understanding what your goals are and staying steadfast to what they are.  And having multifaceted goals. So that can be monetary, that can be legacy, that can be exposure, that can be collaboration, whatever that is. Having an understanding of what that is from the forefront and checking in with them, checking in with yourself, checking in with your mentor, whoever’s guiding you often.

I also think it’s really important to understand, as you’re navigating the world, that some months, some years may not be profitable, but why? Well, when you come back, and you check in with your why, it definitely helps to fuel you and keep you going. I know that has been a source of inspiration for me. This is why I’m doing this.

How can I tap into that for continued momentum and continued success? So again, it’s self-checks, but it’s really structural self-checks too, checking in with yourself. Also, if I could say, as we’re navigating this new world, I think it’s important to make sure you’re saving and keeping some [cushion] on the side for moments where you feel like, okay, I haven’t made any money, but I have been really good about saving my coins for things that are coming up. Investing back into yourself is really important.

Her Agenda: Do you have something that you are most proud of in terms of your voiceover career? 

Vanessa James: Okay, so in terms of VO, I have a couple. It was really awesome to be able to serve as the narrator forAda Twist, Scientist. It was founded and executive produced by Michelle and Barack Obama.

It’s about a Black girl scientist who is navigating the world with her friends [it streams] on Netflix. I love doing campaigns for The CW Network, where I get to really flex my promo skills and do things like the WNBA, CW Sports, but also All-American Homecoming that I voiced for the last four seasons.

I loved lending my voice to the Women’s History Month campaign for Infinity Motors. It was their global campaign celebrating women entrepreneurs. So any way that I can flex my Black girl magic across the voiceover landscape, I always love that.

Her Agenda: Do you remember your first big voiceover gig that you got?

Vanessa James: Okay, so the first one, I would sa,y would have been 2012. I did a Macy’s campaign, and I got a call back from Macy’s, and they were like, we love it. And then I got to do all their radio spots here in South Florida for their holiday campaigns. 

My first big promo client on air in terms of network promo TV stuff was the CW for All American Homecoming. And I remember getting that job and it was crazy because I was running out of time and I had a doctor’s appointment.

My agent called and she was like, ‘Hey, need this in 15, can you quickly do it?’ Sure. I jumped into the studio. I’m like, ‘VJ, just read the copy, pay attention to the directions and just roll with it.’

I did two takes, no recuts and booked it. So I think sometimes for VO, [it’s about] getting out of your head and just doing what you think sounds right to you and what you would want to hear on TV.

Her Agenda: I know you said that the layoff was not something that you had intended.  Have you ever thought about voiceover before that? I know you were doing voiceover for radio, but did you ever think it could be a career?

Vanessa James: As big as it is now?  No, I always knew it could be a career, but I will be honest, I just got really seasoned in VO, in terms of outside of radio, maybe in the last seven years, since about 2018. My agent was like, listen, we want to start sending your stuff out for other work outside of radio. Radio was my bread and butter for a good 10 years on its own.

I started to go, okay, wait a minute, I can voice that AT&T spot, Macy’s,[and so forth] and then started booking more commercial work. 

Her Agenda: Oooh, and tell me about the GEMA Awards. 

Vanessa James: It’s essentially where all of the big editors and producers behind the scenes who are producing some of the biggest shows across networks come together and celebrate. So I had a chance to be the ‘Voice of God’, which is basically the big announcer in the room.

Her Agenda: Do you have a dream job voiceover gig? 

Vanessa James: I started off in broadcast at Florida State University and wanted to be the next Robin Roberts. So, I still want to do Monday night football sideline reporting one day, things like that. 

I would have to say voiceover-wise, who doesn’t want to star in an animated film like in Encanto or the next Lion King? Those are huge and very coveted roles. I definitely would love one of those. I wouldn’t mind also voicing a global campaign for an auto brand and really being the voice of the brand.

[Outside of voiceover] I still want to score. I want to do the music score and direct my own short film for Netflix or a brand like that. I’ve actually been working behind the scenes on a project that has been kind of sitting on the sidelines for a minute that I need [to do]. It keeps pulling at my heartstrings. I need to dust it off. I’m still celebrating carnivals of the world because I’m from the Caribbean and it’s very important as a part of our culture. There are a few things [I want to do], but as you can see, it’s all in the world of media and storytelling. 

Her Agenda: What would you say is the toughest part about your job?

Vanessa James: Time discipline is the toughest part of my job. Sometimes, I have an article due or a press trip, and all that has to happen while I still have a full-time VO career.

I’m constantly traveling with my gear, and I think the hardest part of the job, is not just time management, but also, checking in with yourself because it’s really easy [for] a year to go by, five years to go by, and you’re like, okay, I did all this stuff but was it fulfilling? So it’s really important for me for things to be fulfilling as well and not just monetary compensation. 

That’s where I’m at in my journey, and everybody gets to this point at a different time where it’s not just about legacy, it’s about work-life balance. [And for me, it is] very important to be able to pick up and go to the Caribbean or go to France for a week. I want to be able to do those things, so having the balance and the flexibility to be able to do that as an entrepreneur is very important for me, and finding ways that I can navigate to do that more is definitely the goal for the next few years.

Her Agenda: How do you approach a New Year or new step in your career?

Vanessa James: Every year, I do a self-check and a business self-check about every six months, but also I would have to say, I am a lover of the to-do list. I try not to overcompensate on that to-do list and have too many benchmarks to hit because it can feel very overwhelming but I do believe in the philosophy of what are the three important things I need to get done today? What are they? And then what does the week look like? And what does the month look like? And then, is that a part of my six-month and annual goal for myself and my business? That’s really how I approach things. At the end of every year, I take stock of how things went financially, and how things went in terms of the brand and the bigger goals, and then I am making recalibrations. 

Her Agenda:  What’s something encouraging that you carry through life?Vanessa James: Believe it or not, I’m a voiceover actor who has suffered from a stutter. You would never know that. I was born in Trinidad, moved to the USVI, and then came up to the US. I kind of developed an anxiety over my accent. And it really has taken a lot of time for me to break that. A lot of speech therapy to break that. My whole life, I feel like I’ve been doing things scared, speaking in front of crowds, popping a mic, and speaking on the radio. I think it’s really easy to dumb ourselves down for what society thinks is acceptable. It’s really easy to pass on things cause you’re like, I’ll never book that. I don’t know if I’m going to be good enough for that. But if it’s pulling at you it’s okay if it’s not [perfect], how about you just do it scared, see how you feel, what if you love it? Then it catches a fire inside of you that makes you say, you know what? I’m going to polish my skills, and I’m going to give it another round, another whirl, another try. So I say do things scared.

[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]