Currently the voice of Mazda and NASCAR, Kabir Singh ’08 is also the voice that callers hear when contacting T-Mobile’s customer service. Football fans heard him a few years back as the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs during their Super Bowl run.

“I’ve worked with Nike, and I did Nintendo Switch when it first came out,” says Singh, a voice actor, street poet, and spoken-word artist. His work in the sound booth and on camera began more than 10 years ago when he realized his job in the law department of a health-care company was not where he wanted to be professionally.

“I picked up a book to see how you can make money using your voice as a poet,” says Singh. “One of the things in the book was voice acting. I fell in love with it and started taking classes.”

He built a studio in his home, and it took two years of classwork before he got his first voice-over gig. “It was a little $100 job,” he says, but he literally cried with joy and validation. “It made me feel like I could do it.”

As more jobs came in, Singh was able to work full time doing work he loves. He’s a one-man shop, and among the secrets to his success is the care he takes with clients. “I make sure my service is on point. I make sure I have humility. I make sure that when I do a job, I say how grateful I am. Then, when the job is over, I leave a review for the client on LinkedIn,” he says.

“I used to depend on my agents only. But, over time, I brought them business. That’s how you foster relationships: You put money in other people’s pockets, and the game gets better. And, if not money, give them opportunities.”

Singh is very clear that being a poet informs his voice work. “Voice acting is a stem of poetry for me,” he says. “In voice over, especially in the world of AI, everything can sound like a robot. I like to bring my humanity to everything. I put my heart and soul into it."

“If I can’t do that, then I’m playing a silly man’s game.”