In this episode of Ask and Answered by Soul, Jennifer Urezzio sits with Barbara McAfee, a “midwife for voices,” to explore what it means to birth your voice—not as performance, but as a soul-led act of self-expression and liberation.
Barbara shares that her Soul has always asked her to get what’s inside out, and she believes this is true for all of us: our gifts are meant to be given before we leave this life. Often, the call to express shows up physically—tightness in the throat, churning in the belly, a sense of “birth pangs” that something needs to be voiced.
The first step, Barbara says, is simple and radical: make some noise. Beyond talking and even beyond singing, she invites people into pure sound—“woo” sound—using elemental qualities (earth, fire, water, metal, air) to access tones we don’t typically allow in daily life. Jennifer mirrors this with her own work, sharing how sound practices can create immediate transformation and how deeply evolutionary it can be to let your real voice come through.
They address a common fear: “I don’t like the sound of my voice.” Barbara reframes this with compassion and practicality—recordings distort what we hear, and we experience our own voice differently through bone and vibration than through air. The discomfort often points to something deeper: voice and identity are tightly linked.
Barbara describes the transformational journey of her clients as moving from discomfort to surprise to expansion—where discovering one’s true range can blow apart an old self-concept. The persona may present one way, while the Soul holds a depth we haven’t claimed yet. Jennifer reflects on her own experience of being miscast vocally and the profound shift that happens when you stop holding yourself back.
Learn more about Barbara at https://www.barbaramcafee.com/.
About Barbara
Barbara McAfee is a “midwife for voices” who reconnects people to their souls through sound and self-expression. She’s written two books and produced 9 recordings on her music.
The Asked and Answered by Soul podcast is dedicated to helping you understand that your Soul is the answer. To learn more about your soul’s answers and purpose, access your free guide at www.themythsofpurpose.com.
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