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Narrative and Performance Coaching and Consulting

Our mission

At the heart of Distinctive Voices is a commitment to human expression and creative excellence. We help clients create and refine the story they want to tell, and then help them become better at telling it.

Who we are

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Joann Yarrow
Founder

Brad Beckman
Creative

Joann and Brad have been stirring up the entertainment industry for a few decades and continue to create opportunities, apply creative knowledge and expertise, and make things happen.

From the Board Room to the Writer’s Room, stages of all sizes, individual coaching to story development, we have collaborated with professionals all over the globe.

Brad’s experience is as a writer and director in theatre, television, and film. He’s developed projects in NYC, Texas, Kenya, Los Angeles, Switzerland, and Miami.

Joann is an international theatre director and has created a unique system to guide prominent leaders and organizations to leverage the power of authentically sharing their brand, their stories, and themselves.

Both of them have extensive experience teaching, coaching and leading teams as well as having a career in voice-over and public-speaking engagements.

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Contact us regarding tailoring our services to your needs.

Contact

What we can do for you.

A woman is sitting on the floor with a laptop on her lap, speaking in front of a small audience during a presentation or speech.

Executive Presence

Gain confidence and clarity.

Transform what’s next.

Power-up your pitch.

We partner with leaders and creatives to gain the clarity and courage that brig bold ideas to life. For years we have been inspiring entrepreneurs, coaches and executive leadership to express themselves with vocal power and authenticity providing on-site training and individual consultations.

We will show you how to captivate and hold an audience. Comfortably and confidently be your authentic self, no matter how big the audience, no matter which client, no matter the venue. We’ve been developing these techniques in front of audiences for the last 30 years, and we recognize the incredible value that a confident and clear voice brings to any industry.

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Whether it’s generating or consulting on a script, deck copy, pitch copy, an outline, run of show, or coverage, we can either build it or help you make it stronger.

As Narrative Consultants, storytelling experts with extensive experience in developing and honing material and connecting with audiences, we can start from a blank page or help refine something that already has some form. We love to collaborate, and have experience with all kinds of narratives, from corporate identity or narration, to screenplays, fiction and non-fiction.

Narrative Development

What we do.

Three people, two women and one man, sitting in a discussion. The woman on the right is smiling and possibly leading the conversation, with notebooks in front of her. The man on the left and the woman in the middle are holding papers and seem engaged in the exchange.

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We create, develop, write, produce, direct, and coach both individuals and projects for audiences.

We often work in all manner of public-speaking, theatre, film, and TV. “For audiences” encompasses a wide net. We work with ANY public-facing material to refine how it’s presented. We make you and your content more engaging, authentic, and effective.

We also have extensive experience in casting, audio-post, voice-over, and publishing. We’ve done industry-specific work and projects in both B2B and B2C sectors. That includes work in the entrepreneurship, medicine, wellness and patient care, hi-tech, education, information, as well as entertainment.

More about Us

Joann is a director and producer who specializes in story development across several platforms. Navigating between film, animation, and stage, she focuses on narrative consulting, commercial voice-over, and media production. Joann has translated this language for corporate, medical, and non-profit organizations to craft their message, elevate their presence, and reconnect their teams. She has worked globally in countries such as Denmark, England, Spain, Kenya, Peru, Ecuador, and throughout the US.
Brad is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg, translator, and the current Drama Editor for the Stone Canoe literary journal. He’s a multi-hyphenate, an NMCA-certified teacher of the Michael Chekhov acting technique, and currently teaches acting and other subjects at Syracuse University. He regularly works as a script consultant and writer-for-hire and lives in central NY.
Esther Banegas Gatica is a Honduran bilingual playwright, actress, and translator. A graduate of Teatro Prometeo, she obtained her BFA from Oral Roberts University and an MFA from the University of California, Riverside. She’s part of Playground LA, World Builders Incubator, Distinctive Voices LLC., Hindsight Productions, and Black Voice News.