Episode 52: Marnye Young

A Golden Voice

“The ineffable gift that is gold” is how a colleague and critic once described Marnye Young’s voice and talent behind the microphone. High praise for Marnye who has grown her own narration company starting from scratch in 2018 to where she sits today having recorded well over 200 audio books, employing a team of nine and picking up fans and awards along the way. She is the Audio Sorceress indeed.

But her real wizardry isn’t only her work in the recording studio. It comes from what she has learned from becoming a businesswoman and a mother (they are linked as you will hear in our conversation). She had to answer the question many of face when we step into the unknown as Marnye did when her high-risk pregnancy with twins made her pivot from a solely-focused acting career to the world of audiobooks and narration – “What if I fail?” In the midst of her angst, Marnye turned the question around for herself and asked, “What if I succeed?” What Marnye discovered along the way, is that both questions don’t get it quite right. Her journey hasn’t been a zero-sum game, it has been an exploration of life’s lessons and the interiors of her soul that have led her to the awareness that, “I realize there’s more to me. There’s just more there.”

As she honestly reveals to us, this process of growing into a business owner showed her just how much she doubted her own strengths and gifts, and at the same time afforded her the opportunity to step into her own greatness. As she eloquently and almost heartbreakingly says, “I’ve come into my own.” She had to push open the doors to make people listen to her and see all that she has to offer. And it became abundantly clear to Marnye that she has a self-contained power which is now expressed in her work, her life, and her mothering. 

She’s lived a lesson of strength and kindness that she passes on to her twin girls. Here, she embraces the calling of student and teacher for her kids. As she guides and nurtures them through their developmental challenges, they have taught her valuable lessons – we must live with compassion for all people and that there are no deficits in people, only differences. 

Marnye has literally dropped the mic on a big and unexpected life. Her parting thought? I don’t know how helpful the word success is. I want to do my thing and be the best at it I can be: Mother. Wife. Audio Sorceress.