Eryn Andrews is a rocket scientist. Literally. The photo above with her flying in zero-gravity prompted you to click on this story. It’s a great example of how, to this day, we regard the status of the aerospace engineer at the top of the status list in society. Afterall, who do You know that works in space travel? Who do you know that knows anyone who works in space travel? Right! The occupation is rare. It requires substantial knowledge of physics, mathematics, propulsion, chemistry, and engineering.
In fact, in 2022, there were only 13,664 people who worked in aerospace engineering, and only 26.1 percent were women. Those are the latest figures for a very small professional community. And the barrier to entry is just as difficult. Not everyone who wants to work in the aerospace industry gets to. It’s a true badge of honor to get to be involved. “You have to have a sharp mind and work well under pressure,” Eryn comments.
Eryn with fellow astronauts.
So, it’s true. Eryn is, in fact, one of those women in aerospace engineering who currently works at NASA. So, with a mind like that, what prompted Eryn to become the person she envisioned? “It’s simple,” says Eryn, “Watching my first shuttle launch cemented the moment I wanted to become an astronaut.”
Raised in a military family, both Eryn’s father and mother were United States Air Force officers. She was born in the Philippines because her family was stationed there. And this is normal for career military personnel to be stationed all over the world. Eryn was brought up to be a superlative from day one. There was a lot of parental emphasis on excellence, and Eryn took her parents’ ideology to heart.
Eryn’s parents
So, armed with a full scholarship under the ROTC program, Eryn attended Colorado State University in mechanical engineering. Academically, things went fine. However, as part of her obligation to the program, students are required to go through summer Field Training (think Boot Camp), which is highly physical. And that’s when adversity struck. “It was the first failure in my life,” says Eryn. “I washed out after three weeks.” Eryn’s talking about washing out of the program that summer because she could not overcome the physical demands expected of her. “It was traumatizing to fail,” says Eryn. Her father’s response was consoling. Still, to Eryn, she took it hard.
Her solution was to transfer to the University of Nevada and switch majors from mechanical engineering to environmental engineering. “I just didn’t feel mechanical engineering was where I belonged,” Eryn tells me. So, in 2008, Eryn went straight to NASA after graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno. During her developing career, Eryn pursued a long-distance master’s degree in space studies from the University of North Dakota. She graduated in 2018. “I took classes at night and on the weekends.” With this graduation, Eryn’s college career was complete.
Inside the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Eryn’s job was to train astronauts how to use their spacesuits. The suit is complex and serves as the life support system. She found herself working alongside astronauts, preparing them for spacewalks onboard the International Space Station. She had arrived.
But there were problems at home with her college boyfriend, whom she had married years earlier. “Things started to go downhill in 2016, and we divorced in 2019,” says Eryn, “because divorce is a slow death; It withers and dies for years.” However, although now alone and a single mom, “I was instantly happier once divorced.”
Eryn with her ex-husband.
Professional life continued at NASA, but in 2022, “I was interested in finding something else to add to my life professionally that would earn me some extra money.” Her solution? “I literally Googled “Side Hustles for Single moms.” What caught her attention was voice acting. “And unlike so many people who hear their voice and don’t like it, I actually liked my voice and thought it sounded good,” says Eryn. “And none of this would have occurred had I not gotten divorced, so yeah, it was the divorce that led me to this industry.”
Eryn in the sound booth.
Eryn locked on to a voice coach and began training herself, watching YouTube videos. “And the first month using Fiver, I made a thousand bucks.” And that was her first month. “I’m not an artistic person, but this voiceover world scratched an itch that made me feel good.” For the following months, “I was averaging $1500 a month, as I worked full time at NASA.” And this story doesn’t always go so well for everybody. It takes longer, and it takes money going out and not coming in, “so I have no idea why things went so well because it’s exactly the opposite for so many.” That was followed by successful bookings on Voices 1,2,3.
“I’ve never felt “normal,” always just different,” says Eryn. “just not elite or special.” Then, about a year ago, Eryn was diagnosed with ADHD and suddenly realized, “I was like “Ah, that explains a lot.” Eryn says. “My ADHD gives me a super learning ability. I hyperfocus on something that I’m interested in, and I get really good at it, really fast.” https://www.risingstarvo.com
Eryn creating voiceovers in the studio.
Notable about all of Eryn’s voice work is promo imaging. This is the category where you hear the station’s voice announcing upcoming shows or station identification when you watch television. It’s one of the highest prestige rankings in voiceover. Motion picture movie trailers rank at the top. Video games rank highly as well.
Eryn’s unique young and vibrant sound has also been able to cross into other areas of voice acting. Here’s Eryn’s commercial voice demo.
And now Eryn has her eyes on animation. She hasn’t done any animation voice yet, but it’s on her horizon. And with a full home studio, Eryn is ready and equipped to enter practically any field of voiceover that she wants.
Eryn believes in a simple philosophy. “I read somewhere that it’s “better to be lucky than good,” says Eryn and “I like that.”
And true to form, Eryn’s life continues a full-throttle upward trajectory. Just like the great John Glenn is quoted, “Its mission first.” Translation? Focus on your goals. Set aside all things that don’t matter and fly the spaceship as planned with mission control in support. Her immediate success in the voiceover business is not typical. But then, neither is rocket science.
