Interview Series: Diana.
Meet Diana Holguin.
It was 1994 when I first met Diana. We both arrived to our girl's boarding school, as strangers and enjoyed high school learning in our social media free bubble. After high school, we were able to stay connected digitally with the boom of social media. I was delighted when Diana began her food blogging website – “Bogotá Eats and Drinks” now called “The Wayward Fork” when at the time blogging was a novel idea. I was seeing her getting a taste of the World.
I had to resist wanting to call this article "Finding her Voice". The title would've been a nod to Diana finding success as a voice over actor thriving in New York City and an easy summarization of her journey to find what she wanted to do in life but as I listened to her speak about how she got to where she is now, it was clear that it was her heart that had the leading role...
Before our interview, I asked Diana to send me a synopsis of what she's been up to since we graduated high school. You know just a casual rundown of how in her journey through uncertainty she obtained studied cookery at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in London, worked under the famous Chef Michelle Bernstein, studied the restaurant business in Australia, moved to Colombia and started a food blog that garnered the attention of Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern and the late Anthony Bourdain. Continued her journey of discovery in Brasil and finally made a return to the U.S. to integrate all she had learned into what now is a life of loving her work and life in New York City with her dog, Nina, and her husband.
"But first, we eat..."
Diana started off studying film her freshman year in college, in Los Angeles, but felt out of place. After revealing to family that she wasn't happy with her studies, she went back to the drawing board...or cutting board?
Saki: What made you decide to go to culinary school?
Diana: I had been cooking all my life with my grandmother. Food was a huge thing for my whole family so culinary school came up. I also had been considering becoming a masseuse but then my Dad was like 'I don't want you touching strangers" - so Culinary school it was!
In actuality the choice to attend cooking school was not just a frivolous decision but one more ingrained and connected to the hearth.
Diana: Our family moved back and forth between Bogotá and Miami a lot. Little did I know how much the time I spent on and off in Colombia with La Vieja (how grandmother was called) would shape me and how the time I spent in her garden and orchard, in her living room, and in her kitchen would come back to me repeatedly over the years and influence my life and way of being.
The Queen's land before Queensland...
And so, Diana traveled to London to fine tune her love of food at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu chef school. With this diploma de cuisine she worked her way up into working under the famous Chef Michelle Bernstein at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami...with a year of blood, sweat and actual tears (straight outta the chef's rite of passage playbook) under her belt Diana continued her studies getting a Bachelor's in Restaurant Management and Master's in Gastronomy but not in your typical place...but in the place of a young Diana's dreams...
Saki: How did you end up getting your B.A. and M.A. in Australia?
Diana: I remember when I was 12, I saw an ad for Australia on TV where you had to call or write in to get a catalogue about Australia and I did that. And at 12, I got this catalogue in the mail and I was just obsessed with Australia.
Coincidentally, choosing to attend Le Cordon Bleu would link Diana to her childhood dream country as the courses she took there were applicable to college degree programs only in Australia. And so, young Diana's obsession became reality.
After three years in Australia, Diana obtained her Master's then moved back to Miami to write her dissertation on Contemporary Latin American Cuisine.
History of the word "Restaurant"
The word restaurant come from the Latin word "restaurare" which means "to restore or renew". This word was associated with the restorative broths of a successful French business owner and from his food establishments serving restorative soups the word "restaurant" : food that restores, was born.
And many times, Diana renewed herself. A mixture of a love reconnection and expired lease, found her, in what she thought would be a temporary stay, in Colombia. When the original love connection fumbled his chance and a new love blossomed, Colombia became the place that gave rise to Diana's voice.
Saki: What did you do while living in Colombia for almost 6 years?
Diana: I worked as a translator, taught English, started a food blog that led to putting together food tours and took people out on Food Tours.
Started in 2008, Diana wrote about everything food from local Colombian cuisine, recipes, foodie events, tourism, excursions, street food, and the art of stealing restaurant menus - you'll have to check it out!
What was meant to be a blog for family and friends turned out to be the first English food blog in Colombia and gained the attention of Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmerman and the late Anthony Bourdain. The blog is still online today!
Finding her voice…!
In our conversation, Diana used the word "serendipitous" to describe how she ended up in Australia. Interestingly enough, what also was serendipitous was how voice over acting came into her life. Could that have been an example of the mysticism: "What you seek is seeking you"?
Saki: You began voice over as a hobby in Colombia. How did that become a hobby?
Diana: A friend had a small production company and was producing a video for a non-profit. He had someone lined up to do the voiceover in English but it fell through so he was just looking for anybody who spoke fluent English. He asked me If I would do it. I had never done anything like it before but I told him, I'll do it. So went to the studio and the minute I stepped into the recording booth, it just felt so good. It was so quiet, sort of that deadened, acoustic treated space and it was just very cool. And when I came out, everyone was super happy and they're like you should do stuff for Nat Geo!
And just like that, for the few years in Colombia, Diana began getting booked for small voice over acting gigs but as a hobby. It wasn't until later on, that she explored what was really possible in the voice over acting world.
Where does it hurt?
"You just need to deal with your stuff." - wise Danish doctor
The end of a relationship is tough. You find yourself in a fog thinking to yourself 'what just happened?'. When the relationship that anchored Diana to Colombia ended, she found herself uncomfortably untethered, in Brazil, and with a literal pain in her neck.
Diana: It was was tough. It's definitely one of those things where you think just leaving and going to a new place does not solve whatever the problems that are going on. My first two months in Brazil, I had this pain in my neck that was so painful that I thought I had some kind of brain tumor. I ended up going to this English speaking Danish doctor that tended to executives and families in Brazil. And he didn't examine or touch me or anything. He just talked to me and asked me what was going on in my life. I told him, 'I've recently had a big break-up, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't have a real job - I was doing random freelance jobs' and he said 'It's not physical. It's psychological, emotional and you just need to deal with your stuff.' Then he asked if I had ever meditated or done yoga and suggested that I try doing them again. And I did, the pain went away and everything was much better.
Saki: How did you make friends in Rio?
Diana: I met a great group of friends in Rio. I had been part of this group of food bloggers that contributed to this larger network. I reached out to the British guy who was blogging from Brasil and based in Rio. We hung out and he had all these random friends from all over the World that he met through his food blogging -and people that wanted to do stuff. So, we'd go eat a local places and it was just a really eclectic group of people. They became my core group of friends for the rest of my time in Rio.
In Diana's words, I moved to Rio to "figure out what the hell I was doing". We can feel so lost when the future is a question mark yet unwittingly have the insight that helps others more than we can help ourself. That blogger with the blog in Rio? He was inspired by Diana's experience with food tours in Colombia and she helped him scout out places, get them mapped and set up his very first food tours. Today, that same food tour business is a very popular tour operator in Rio.
After time to regroup in Brazil, Diana returned the US where she continued to figure out what was what. She worked retail and continued to freelance. Around that time, a voice over client sent her a microphone to do a recording for a language app.
Saki: When that client sent you the microphone, what were your thoughts about that type of work? Was it still just a hobby/side gig to you?
Diana: I was really grateful that I could do that still because it felt better than translating and felt better than teaching English. Working in the bookstore was cool but I didn't think it was going to be a forever job. So, I was really happy to have some kind of voiceover and still be connected to it. My hope was that somehow in someplace, it would continue.
Saki: What made you become serious about Voice Over acting?
Diana: I was browsing the Boston Center for Adult Education where they had inexpensive classes like cooking and crafts. Then one day, I saw they had Voice Over 101. And I was like ' Oh, that's cool.' because I wanted to find out more and what else there was to it. The lady that taught the course was (is- she's still around!) really good but no one knows about her because she's not on any social media. She was a great initial resource. I took the 101 class with her then also signed up for private coaching lessons with her.
The lessons were everything from basic acting technique, applying them to voice over and different genres. Then eventually we got into writing scripts for demos. She went with me to studio to direct me on recording my demos and I still use one of the demos that I did with her! I actually emailed her a while back and told her what was happening with my voice over and to thank her for being the first person to teach me so much. She was really excited!
As she should be because Diana's took those lessons and became the first Spanish speaker of the Calm meditation app. Read that again! So, she found her thing..."I was always trying to find the thing, what's the thing?! What am I doing?"
Besides voice over acting, Diana also has dabbled in character acting starring in a leading role in the independent film, "A Particular Minute". Voice over acting is what she prefers. Diana has been the voice for Delta Airlines, Vista Print, NY State Department of Health and CVS. She has gotten to a level of voice over acting success where she can use her powers for good.
Saki: Tell me about how the collective Voice Over for the Planet came about.
Diana: My most recent work venture is a collective called Voiceover for the Planet. We're a group of professional VOs who want to work with organizations and companies that do things that in some way help the planet. We are also all members of 1% for the Planet through which we commit to donating 1% of our revenue to environmental partners.
1% for the Planet is an organization that was started by the founder of the clothing line Patagonia, Yvon Choinard. On their site it says "1% for the Planet is a global network with thousands of businesses and environmental organizations working together to support people and the planet."
Diana: Last year, I was wondering if I could join it. I was already donating a lot of money to different organizations so I looked into it and even as a sole proprietor I could join, so I joined. I attended their Global Summit in the Fall of last year. By then I had already decided to be more selective about the auditions I do and the jobs that I take and to not work for companies selling junk. I wanted to align the work that I do with my values
Diana got to talking to a new voice over friend about how she joined 1% for the Planet. This friend fell totally in love with the organization and ideated to Diana how voice over actors could form a collective that could join 1% and help market themselves. Taking action on the idea, she formed the group, adding Diana as one of the founding members. As of now (April 2024), there are 8 members. They are growing, they have tons of marketing and social media planned for Earth Month and Day! To me, it sounds like the beginning of an awesome Actors Union and a great example of how we can use of buying/spending power to create changes we want to see in our World.
Appropriately so, the organization's that Diana supports through her Voice Over for the Planet work are related to food. She supports environmental partners that "focus mainly on food issues (how our food choices impact the environment, as well as making food available to those in need during and after climate related disasters), empowering relationships between the land and people to heal the planet and advance social justice, and advocacy and policy leadership for carbon removal solutions."
Take Away...🥡
I guess what I would want anyone, especially younger folks to know, is that it can take a long time to figure your shit out...I feel like kids still feel like they need to know everything by the time they go to college. I felt a lot of shame around it and embarrassment for getting help from family...[and] felt like I was doing something wrong because I wasn't doing the things you were "supposed to be doing."
"Some of the above but also just appreciating the journey, looking back and being able to see how all the random things I did and traveling got me to where I am and who I am now. Sometimes I look back and think, shit, what if I had stuck it out at USC and gotten a "proper" 4-year degree? What would my life look like now? Maybe not nearly as interesting haha who knows... I try not to dwell on it.” - Diana
and with that piece of advice, I say, ¡Buen Provecho! Make the most of where you are now. - Saki
Writer/Editor: Saki
Visual Editing: Saki
Images: Diana Holguin