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Nicky Mondellini got into acting at the age of 11. She then had a very successful run in the Telenovela “Maria Mercedes” as the character Mistica, based on Jessica Rabbit, from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. Nicky landed in the United States in 2006 and has grown a multi-cultural voice business into an incredible venture. Nicky has a plan and is very good about executing that plan from all aspects of the voice-over business. Hear how she does it, along with some fun stories from the stage and television.
When Nicky chose voice acting as a new opportunity, she was already in great shape having come from a successful acting career. Today, so many voice actors get into the voice-over business with a voice but without the skills to become what our business requires; the ability to “act” the script. Beyond the day to day auditions and sessions, Nicky is also well versed in teaching others how to become great. Nicky loves projects that talk about history, medicine, and social activism. She says she is blessed to be able to work in the three languages she grew up with, English, Spanish and Italian. Nicky has a great story to tell.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Ray Schilens:
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Ray Schilens:
We’re going to have a conversation today with Nicky Mondellini. We know Nicky for a long time. She was actually here in Houston for several years. But she’s from so many different places around the world, it’s kind of mind blowing, but it’s fun to have you back, Nicky, here. Nicky was born to a British mom, Joan Hammond. That sounds like a stage name, doesn’t it? Joan Hammond.
Nicky Mondellini:
Right. I know. It does. Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
But here’s the better one. The Italian father, Mario Mondellini.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
They moved to Mexico City, with her family, when her father was transferred by his employer. She has two sisters. That’s nice to know as well. So, really, Nicky, from early childhood, you were introduced to the arts of acting and dancing, by your mom, who is a professional choreographer. So, that means that’s a connection for the ballet. So that got things started here.
Ray Schilens:
But listen, Nicky has done so many things. She’s won the Voice Arts Award for best Spanish language narrator in 2017. She began her acting career at 11 years old in the musical, Gypsy. And continued her career in Telenovelas, I got to say that right.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yep. Telenovelas.
Ray Schilens:
I’ll just call them soap operas, okay?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yep.
Ray Schilens:
With the Mexican network, Televisa. Spanish classical theater and movies and so much more. So, a ballerina. You speak Spanish, English, Italian, French, and German. You really?
Nicky Mondellini:
I do. I mean, I would say my main languages are the first three. And then afterwards, after high school, I spent a year in Italy, trying to get closer to my Italian roots, and perfect my Italian accent. And my Italian accent speaking Italian I should say.
Nicky Mondellini:
And then I just wanted to learn French and German, so I did that for a year or so. Those are not as strong as my other three languages. But yeah, I mean I love languages. I would learn a new language every year if I could. It’s beautiful.
Ray Schilens:
I’ll tell you one thing. I speak English and that’s all I speak. I wish so that I spoke another language. When you grow up North, around the Great Lakes, you learn French. In the Houston market, you learn Spanish. But you’ve been a little bit of a everywhere.
Ray Schilens:
Also says you meditate daily. Did you meditate today already? Or are we meditating right now?
Nicky Mondellini:
I actually did meditate today early.
Ray Schilens:
You did?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes. Yes, I try to do that. It just helps me just focus for the rest of the day. It’s like reconnecting, and just like hitting the reset button in the morning.
Ray Schilens:
That’s a great idea. That’s a great, you have a special place that you meditate or just anywhere?
Nicky Mondellini:
I have a couple of places depending on what my husband’s doing. He also meditates. So we just alternate. And sometimes I do it in my bedroom, sometimes in the living room, and one of my cats will come and sit on my lap for a while, and yep. That’s, and I put a little music on. I like to meditate to music. Sometimes I do it silently.
Ray Schilens:
What kind of music do you meditate too?
Nicky Mondellini:
I like, I find different things on YouTube. One of of the nice meditation music videos that I found is a Wayne Dyer and he’s also written-
Ray Schilens:
Dr. Wayne Dyer. Yes. Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes. Dr. Wayne Dyer. I love his videos and everything that he was about. I mean, I still have to read his books, but I’ve heard a lot of it, and seen a lot of his videos. And so one of them is about meditating, and it has beautiful sounds. And it’s like in two sessions, so you can break it down. And you know it’s 20 minutes so you don’t have to keep looking at the clock, saying, “Oh, I have to go. I have to go.” No. If you know you have 20 minutes to spend meditating, you know that track is 20 minutes long, and it’s very subdued. It’s kind of like spiritual angelic voices.
Ray Schilens:
Wow.
Nicky Mondellini:
But I turn the volume down a lot, three little lines on the iPad. I don’t want it to be like too overpowering. But it just helps me get into that deep meditative, relaxed state.
Ray Schilens:
You, let’s take you back to eight years old. Okay? Just a couple of years ago. Auditioning for the lead role in a dance recital at the studio where you took ballet.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yup.
Ray Schilens:
What was that like to do that audition for the first time?
Nicky Mondellini:
I loved it. I know all of my classmates were going to audition. And it was a little bit nerve wracking because every one of those recitals that we used to do was like a special story, like a special production. And I loved, I mean, ever since I can remember, I think the first one that I did was when I was three or four years old. And I loved getting into costume. My mom applying the makeup, and hair done, and everything, and waiting in the wings to go in, and all that. So I’ve always loved that feeling.
Nicky Mondellini:
And so for me it was a big deal to audition for that lead role in that recital. And then they also had, they brought in a coach, an acting coach, because it required of course acting and all that. I mean, not speaking, but all the expressions and everything had to be very real and make it like, it was really a major production for a dance recital that was only shown two or three times. That’s it.
Ray Schilens:
Okay.
Nicky Mondellini:
But I felt wonderful when they selected me to play that role. Wow. I mean, I really loved it. Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
That’s pretty cool. Let’s fast forward, just a couple of years after that. So how does Who Framed Roger Rabbit fold into a career on the Televisa in Mexico City for your character, Maria Mercedes? I think that’s a really, [Mr. Pimstein 00:06:24]. Is that the producer of the show?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah, correct.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah. So he auditioned you and you did the audition.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
And it was kind of a weird audition as I recall. And you push through that but, but then he says, “I want you to be who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit.”
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
I guess that’s who you were, right?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean the, it’s actually, let me just do a little clarification. The name of the Telenovela was Maria Mercedes and my character’s name was Mistica.
Ray Schilens:
Mistica. Okay.
Nicky Mondellini:
And he just had this idea. He was, as you say, kind of like a very special, weird person in some senses.
Ray Schilens:
Those are some of the best producers though. Don’t you think?
Nicky Mondellini:
I know. I mean he had a special set idea and he wanted to create this character from Jessica Rabbit. So he made me watch, he put the video in, a couple of scenes when she was walking on stage and doing her song. And moving her shoulders and all the sultry, sexy magnificence of Jessica Rabbit. And he wanted to translate that into the villain, the femme fatale, all of the Telenovela. Right?
Ray Schilens:
Mistica.
Nicky Mondellini:
And so some of my physical appearance helped out because I’m 5’10”, and I’ve been a dancer so I know how to move my body in special ways, and I was not afraid to go for it. And that audition, as you say, was a bit weird because he made me kiss the guy that I was doing the scene with, and we were in an office, and in the middle of the production company there, and that office had glass windows all around so everybody could see. And there I was just going at it with this guy. It felt weird, but at the same time I’m like, “Okay, I’m remembering my method training. Just go for it. Think about pattern, and everything it entails, and how this character can be.” So it was fun and weird, but it got me the part.
Ray Schilens:
Back in the day of of the the television show Dragnet, Joe Friday and his assistant, Harry Morgan, had one outfit. They wore gray suits. They wore gray suits all the time so that they could shoot the scenes out of sequence, and it didn’t matter what they looked like. They were always wearing gray suits, white shirts, black ties. Right.
Nicky Mondellini:
Got it.
Ray Schilens:
But your character had one outfit that must’ve been fun for wardrobe, huh? I mean that’s basically it.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah. I would say it was two different ones. Only because when I was riding the motorcycle, it was a pink pant suit with pink gloves, pink knee high boots, pink helmet, pink cellphone, pink motorcycle.
Ray Schilens:
Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
And I would have an Afghan dog ride in the sidecar. So almost like pink Batgirl. That’s what the producer was going for.
Ray Schilens:
I love it.
Nicky Mondellini:
So I guess it was a mixture between pink Batgirl and Jessica Rabbit.
Ray Schilens:
So, in the garage today, where you live, do you have that pink motorcycle still?
Nicky Mondellini:
No.
Ray Schilens:
No. Did you actually ride the motorcycle too?
Nicky Mondellini:
I did. I did a couple of times. Not for the long haul, for going down that one of Mexico’s main avenues, which is called Reforma. It’s one of, it’s a beautiful avenue, flanked by trees, and monuments, and all that. But no, they had a double, which was a guy. He was wearing a wig. And he got whistles, and calls, and everything, while he was riding down.
Ray Schilens:
But of course he did. Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
He was pretty skinny too. But no, the other outfit that you’re talking about, which is the one that people mostly know me for, in that novella, was a black sequins dress.
Ray Schilens:
Okay.
Nicky Mondellini:
And the split, right to the side of my hip, right there. But I was wearing that dress the first time we had a scene for me riding that motorcycle.
Ray Schilens:
That didn’t work.
Nicky Mondellini:
And of course it didn’t because then everything was out there in the open. So no, couldn’t have that. So they said, “No, no, no. Let’s design this outfit for the motorcycle.” But then they realized, “Uh oh, there is a sequence blip there.” I mean, you’re out of sequence there because, I would say continuity, just it was, it went to heck because we had already done the scenes in the set, inside, all the interiors. And so it was like, “Okay, how are we going to justify her being changed? Does she have a little backpack with her? A little bag or something, where she just changes her clothes or whatever?” And then they thought, “You know what? No, that’s going to be very difficult to do every single time.” When we do the scene when she’s riding and then she’s going in, “Nope, okay, we’re just going to do this. When she steps off the bike, the motorcycle, she’s already in her black dress.” And people were like, “What? What the heck is that?” And so people just had to take it.
Ray Schilens:
Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
That was it. And so that fact, and the fact that she was always wearing the same dress every day, scene after scene.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Got people talking as well. By the way, the producer loved it. He loved all the controversy surrounding this character.
Ray Schilens:
Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
Not only because of the way she walked, because I was always moving my shoulders, always in very sexy poses. Right?
Ray Schilens:
Right.
Nicky Mondellini:
Not only because of that, and the pink dress, and the motorcycle thing. So that it was, people were fascinated, but at the same time they had a lot of questions. So they wrote them and they sent the letters. And the producer was reading them, and he showed them to me, and he says, “Look, people are angry because you’re wearing the dress every single day. So what are we going to do about this?”” And then we discussed and I said, “Well, I remember when I was little, and I was watching the Flintstones. And Wilma had a scene where she was choosing her outfit and all of the outfits and her closet were the same, the exact same.”
Ray Schilens:
That’s right. That’s right.
Nicky Mondellini:
So I said, “Why don’t we do something like that? Let’s just have a scene where she’s talking to her aunt.” Because her aunt was always with her, not her mother, but her aunt. She lived with her aunt. And she was in a scene discussing things, and just, like nothing, I’m discussing things with her. I open the closet on one side and all of the dresses are the same. And I’m like, “I don’t know.” And so I go to the other side of the closet, open it up, and then we got like 20 more just the same. And I take one, and sort of put it against me. I’m like, “Yeah, I think I want this one today.”
Ray Schilens:
Yes.
Nicky Mondellini:
And it’s the exact same dress every single day. So it was funny, but-
Ray Schilens:
So it was a drama type series, but it was also a kind of a comedy, wasn’t it?
Nicky Mondellini:
It was. I, I’m going to say it’s a farce. It’s a melodramatic farce. That’s what it is. And it’s still being shown today. It’s the reruns on Mexican, on Hispanic television, I think. I don’t know which of the, I think it’s channel 50 or whatever, wherever. I mean it might change from state to state. But yes, it’s still showing.
Ray Schilens:
So there’s a restaurant, here in the Sugar Land area, you walk in, it’s a Mexican restaurant. A good Mexican restaurant, as a matter of fact. And there’s a picture of Nicky, an autographed picture of Nicky, hanging on the wall. So you went into the restaurant, they go, “You. I know who you are.”
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah. They did recognize me.
Ray Schilens:
And that happens, not only here in the United States, but around the world as well. Huh?
Nicky Mondellini:
It happened to me, well it’s happened to me in different places in Mexico, but in different places that I’ve been here. And then on Facebook, I’ve gotten messages from people in other countries that have seen the novellas there. Because it’s been dubbed in a lot of different languages. Russian, Portuguese, Polish, Czech. I mean, in Thailand, my sister went there one time, and she was in in the middle of this little town up in the hills, and she went to a local market. And so they asked her where she was from, and she said, “Mexico.” And the lady said, “Oh, Mexico. Marimar.” Marimar is another one of the novellas that I did.
Ray Schilens:
Okay.
Nicky Mondellini:
So small world, they show them in the little towns in Thailand, in the mountains of Thailand.
Ray Schilens:
Holy cow. You had a lot of fun doing that, didn’t you?
Nicky Mondellini:
I did.
Ray Schilens:
Yes.
Nicky Mondellini:
I did. I did.
Ray Schilens:
So then you come to America.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
United States, to Houston specifically. And you settle down with your husband Al, right?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yep.
Ray Schilens:
And now you’re doing voiceover work, but you’re also doing some coaching, as far as acting and such like that. Aren’t you doing that too?
Nicky Mondellini:
Not anymore. I did a few sessions where I just put together some workshops for bilingual actors, because I thought it was very important. And this I was discussing with with my agent. And then she said, “Well, there’s a lot of things that people, that are in the Hispanic market, they should be aware of.”
Nicky Mondellini:
And they need to practice acting in Spanish a lot more. It’s one thing to act in English. You do have a few differences. I mean there’s body language, and there’s the emphasis, and then just how do you relate to other people. And there’s a lot of little nuances that are pertaining to each language. And I noticed it when I came to the States. Because I was used to doing everything in Spanish, although I’ve spoken English since I was a little girl, since I was a baby.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
But it’s different. I hadn’t really done any work in English. And I mean also the way you relate, and the language, about talking about the scripts and… For example, I didn’t know they were called sides until I moved here, and started going to class, and they’d like, “Okay, let me see your sides.” And I was “Okay.” So of course I stand in profile.
Ray Schilens:
Sure, sure, sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
Until I find out. And I’m like, “Oh, that’s what you mean?” And then I figured out why they’re called sides, because they’re written on one side of the script instead of both sides of the script-
Ray Schilens:
Oh, that’s interesting.
Nicky Mondellini:
… on the page.
Ray Schilens:
I thought a side was either green beans and/or fried okra.
Nicky Mondellini:
There you go. That’s another type of side. Yes.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah. It is. So this is fun. So you’re here in Houston and you’re very successful in your voice acting. You do a variety of things. And I think the fact that you are very bilingual is a big key to that. Because you can do, well, five times as many things as other people can because you can speak several languages. So you did voice acting in Mexico as well too. How was that over there?
Nicky Mondellini:
I didn’t do as much as I did here, but for a few months I was the station voice for one of the main stations in Mexico, which was channel two. So I would announce the breakdown of the shows. Just the list of the shows that were going to go on every night.
Nicky Mondellini:
I did a couple of commercials and I narrated a couple of industrial videos. But of course I never had my own studio, so I would always go to the studios there, that they had in Televisa to do that, all that voiceover work. So I wouldn’t say that I was really too much into voiceover until I came to the US.
Ray Schilens:
We know Nicky, obviously is a friend of Radio Lounge, but through PB Talent, Pastorini-Bosby Talent. And recently you did something, which I want to find out how you feel about this, The Dark Side of the Moon. You were the narrator for that?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes.
Ray Schilens:
What was that all about? And obviously that was close to your heart. Right?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes. So the producer is [Fabricia Faustinella 00:17:32]. She’s Italian and she’s been living in Houston for a number of years. She’s also a doctor. She’s a medical doctor.
Ray Schilens:
Wow. Okay.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah, she’s a wonderful dermatologist. And I met her at the acting classes that we were taking a few years ago. And she’s just an amazing person. I mean so driven, and so talented, and so enterprising. And so she had the documentary that she was working on. We had lost touch for a little bit, but then she remembered that I also did voiceover. So she contacted me and she said, “Look, I have this-” her accent is a lot thicker in Italian. So she wanted a less thick accent. Minus, I wouldn’t say absolutely perfectly American, but of course less Italian than hers.
Ray Schilens:
Right. Right. You’re accent is like a rainbow of different accents-
Nicky Mondellini:
I guess. I guess.
Ray Schilens:
… connected to English. That’s okay. That’s good.
Nicky Mondellini:
People have a hard time placing me, and my origins, when they first meet me. But, so anyways, she sent me the demo reel for that. And I just thought it was amazing because it’s about the causes of homelessness. And she specifically went around Houston recording people, just interviewing them, homeless people, and social workers, and psychologists. And everything geared toward understanding a little bit better what makes, what causes a person to become homeless. It’s a number of reasons, but at the highest point they mention the Maslow pyramid. And, of course, mental health is right there as the most important thing.
Ray Schilens:
You would think so. Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah. Yeah, correct.
Ray Schilens:
Wow.
Nicky Mondellini:
So, I was really honored that she chose me to narrate her documentary because it’s, I think it’s a wonderful story that has to be told and a lot of people, they talk, their testimonials are, I mean, they just grab you and then you understand, “Oh my goodness, this person really didn’t have much of a choice.” I mean they have been struggling with so much. And you understand why they are the way they are, why they live in that sort of situation. And it makes you become a little bit more compassionate.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
That’s a good place to be. Mental illness, it evolves, centers around so many things that we have issues with. There’s talking about the gun violence and such like that.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
Rather than placing the blame on the guns, let’s place the blame on possibly the mental illness factor.
Nicky Mondellini:
I would think so.
Ray Schilens:
And here in the United States we really don’t address that a lot. There are other countries that do a lot better jobs of taking care of that, addressing, and not fixing, but just accommodating and making sure that people are taken care of.
Nicky Mondellini:
Absolutely.
Ray Schilens:
So that was really great that you did that. Was getting into the voiceover business an accident or was it on purpose?
Nicky Mondellini:
Well, the main reason why we moved to the US, it was because of my husband’s work and we wanted to give our kids better opportunities. So for us it was better to come to Houston. And I, of course, never wanted to stop working. I mean if I don’t work I go crazy. It’s just such an important part of me, since I was so young, that I just have to keep working, and working in the arts. And also, well I am a mother of three and I wanted to be there for my kids. So the easiest thing, no, no, I wouldn’t say the easiest, but there was more of an opportunity to work in voiceover. There are a lot of opportunities in Houston because there’s, I’ve done voiceover for the oil and gas industry, for the hotel industry.
Ray Schilens:
There’s a great market. Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes, a lot. And medical as well. I’ve also done on camera videos for certain diseases and all that, like bringing attention to certain diseases. But yeah, going into voiceover was a little bit because “Okay, here’s another door that you’re going to open into your career. And why not?” I’m definitely keeping alive everything that I’ve done with TV, and theater, and film. That is a very big part of me and I’m always going to do it. It mellowed down a little bit because of my circumstances of wanting to be near my kids, and being here, and how it was best for the family. So it was like a slight detour, but I wouldn’t say, some people in Mexico think that I have retired because they don’t see me on TV anymore.
Ray Schilens:
Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
But it’s not that, it’s I’ve just taken this another step. I’ve broadened my horizons, and voiceover is such an important part of my life right now. And I’ve discovered so many beautiful things that I can do in voice over. But I discovered the voiceover community as well, which is amazing. Amazing. People are so giving, and so generous, and everybody is quick to give you a tip, and guide you, and give you a lot of advice in what you should do, and what could be good for you. And every single day. I mean there’s just a wealth of information for someone to start a voiceover career the right way. There’s also the wrong way. But if you go in, tap into the community, then you can be guided into the things to do that that will help you succeed in voiceover. And see all the different genres that there are. I had no idea.
Ray Schilens:
Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
It’s amazing.
Ray Schilens:
It sure is fun to talk to someone who is so excited and so passionate about this business. Let’s go back to the acting side for just a moment.
Nicky Mondellini:
Sure.
Ray Schilens:
What is a better fit for you, stage or television?
Nicky Mondellini:
I love both. I can’t say which one I prefer or what would be a fit. I would say I’ve done more in television than I have in theater. I don’t know, that’s just the way things were going. Opportunities were opening themselves up more for me in television. And I did some modeling as well, right before I started acting. And, as a matter of fact, that that helped pay for my acting career while I was doing modeling.
Ray Schilens:
Perfect.
Nicky Mondellini:
And I did some photography, was in a few magazine covers. I did some catwalk, some fashion shows. I also enjoyed that and, but yeah, a lot of those opportunities started to open themselves up in television. I loved them. I really enjoyed them. Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
Both have benefits is what you’re saying.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes, for sure. I mean, the thing I love about theater is that you have that wonderful feedback with the audience right there. And the audience can be so different from one night to the next. It’s almost like you’re doing a different show because of the audience’s reaction.
Ray Schilens:
Ah. Yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
And some people can laugh in a different place than what you’re used to. Then that, okay, the play is written in a certain way so you know you’re saying something funny, so you expect people are going to laugh in this place or that other place. But then suddenly you get an audience that maybe doesn’t laugh at all. And then at the end you have a standing ovation. Or the other side of the coin you get laughs even when you don’t expect them.
Nicky Mondellini:
So those laughs, like I did a comedy, a contemporary comedy called Las Gallinas Matemáticas, which is roughly translated into the mathematical chickens.
Ray Schilens:
Sure.
Nicky Mondellini:
It was just a dialogue and there was a third character coming in and out. But it was a very funny show. And we had people laughing just where I never expected, a laugh there.
Ray Schilens:
Does that throw throw you off then? At that point in time?
Nicky Mondellini:
A tiny bit.
Ray Schilens:
Or are you in the zone?
Nicky Mondellini:
But no, you know what, it just kept feeding me.
Ray Schilens:
Oh, good.
Nicky Mondellini:
It just filled me up with energy to keep going. And then you end up doing your character and finding more ways into, “Oh I never thought about that being funny. But what if it is and now I do this and that.” So it sort of guides you, makes you discover other things about your character that you probably hadn’t thought of.
Ray Schilens:
Wow. What don’t we know about Nicky Mondellini? What’s something that somebody doesn’t know about?
Nicky Mondellini:
That’s someone, that I have a secret wish, that I wish if I were were to do something different, I would be a writer. I’ve written a few things that I’ve never shown anybody. I wrote a book, I would say a book. I mean it’s a story, but it was a complete story. The year I spent in Italy. I guess I was a bit lonely at times, my sisters weren’t with me. I didn’t have any of my friends. I made new friends and it was wonderful, right? But I spend a lot of time by myself.
Nicky Mondellini:
So I read a lot and I started writing a lot. I had a diary that I wrote every single day of my experiences. It was a journal and so I did a lot of writing in that sense. And then I did this story. So I want to translate some of that into a short film or-
Ray Schilens:
Oh wow.
Nicky Mondellini:
Or maybe doing something later on as a feature film? But I have several ideas that I keep writing down in different places. And I started writing a few novels, like getting some ideas, and getting to a certain aspect, and doing a little bit of research, and then not finishing it. Because I had work. Because I had kids. Because of other things that, but yeah, I mean that’s another aspect that I love. I love writing, and one of these days I’m going to take like a proper screenwriting course, and then just do it the right way, and just get it done.
Ray Schilens:
Don’t wait too long. Go ahead and do that sooner or later, won’t you?
Nicky Mondellini:
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Ray Schilens:
You know what’s really cool about Nicky? Nicky has five rules for success. Okay. And we’re going to, I’ll mention them. We’ll just talk briefly. We don’t have to go into depth on all of them.
Nicky Mondellini:
Okay.
Ray Schilens:
Get smart about business. Uh Huh.
Nicky Mondellini:
Oh yeah.
Ray Schilens:
Learn about marketing. Uh huh.
Nicky Mondellini:
Uh huh.
Ray Schilens:
Be nice. Oh yeah.
Nicky Mondellini:
Yes.
Ray Schilens:
Keep your ego in check. That’s one way I’m saying it.
Nicky Mondellini:
Oh yeah.
Ray Schilens:
And ask questions. And this relates to actually being on set or being a part of stuff like that.
Nicky Mondellini:
Oh yeah.
Ray Schilens:
These are good rules, Nicky. And obviously you live by those things, right?
Nicky Mondellini:
Yeah. And it’s things that I’ve learned. I mean, you make mistakes and you learn from your mistakes. So I try to keep my things in check. You have to keep an open mind. You have to know that even though you’ve had successes, it’s never like, “Oh, I made it.” I never think like, “Okay, I made it.” No, I’m advancing in what I like to do. But there’s a lot that I have to learn from other people, from my experiences.
Nicky Mondellini:
And from the people that watch. What does the audience want? What do they need? What do they relate to? The audience deserves a good story. They deserve good acting. They deserve the best. So whatever I can do, as part of the team, to produce that for people to see and enjoy. And maybe think about things that they could incorporate in their own lives. Or situations that might help them figure out something they’re going through in their own lives. I love that. I love being able to help people in that way.
Nicky Mondellini:
And at the same time, of course, I enjoy the arts. And I enjoy stepping into a character, and giving it my best, and becoming a part of a beautiful story.
Ray Schilens:
So there you have Nicki Mondellini. Curious, inspired, motivated, full of positivity, full of energy, but quiet because she meditates, and all that kind of good stuff. And very successful in what you do. There are just some folks that are out there, they can do anything. You can go out tomorrow and become a greeter at Walmart and you’d become the best greeter at Walmart, I think. It doesn’t really matter where you’re at, you generate that. This is fun to get to know you better.
Nicky Mondellini:
Thank you.
Ray Schilens:
And for other folks to get to know you better as well. And thanks for being here. Appreciate it.
Nicky Mondellini:
Oh, thank you so much. It’s an honor to be here in your podcast and of course, Ray and Bruce are just amazing, and they’ve helped me so much. I need to say that you guys have been amazing with me. I mean you’ve helped m
Nicky Mondellini:
e. You give me tips, you’ve given me guidance, and I love collaborating with you because I think every time we work together we create something very special.
Ray Schilens:
I love surrounding myself with people who are successful and do great things because we do feed off that. And it’s just you said, we feed off each other’s energy and everything, so that’s great. So Nicky, thanks again.
Ray Schilens:
Hey, thanks for listening to Feel the Ad Love. Visit us at radioloungeusa.com if you want to find out more about what we do every day. Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, Spotify and Google podcast via RSS, so you never miss a new podcast. And your rating on iTunes is going to help us grow too, we certainly would appreciate that. And don’t be afraid to share what you’ve heard today on social media. So until next time, come to the lounge and feel the ad love.
Ray Schilens:
Copyright 2019.
M. Bruce Abbott is the Creative Director/Partner at Radio Lounge. Bruce has over 30 years experience as a voice actor, casting and production director, as well as extensive advertising, marketing, and podcasting experience.
