Testimonials
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Michele did the voicing of the audio description for our films Pavarotti: Genius is Forever and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week. Because of Michele, I have become educated in accessible media, and she is also educating and encouraging other filmmakers to have audio description in their post-production for cinematic and video releases, and thus making their work more inclusive. Moreover, it gives the films a wider audience which in turn opens them up to a wider marketplace and a greater potential to earn more revenues. The added benefit for us is great! Michele’s audio description has indeed made these films inclusive for all. Thank you Michele Spitz, Woman of Her Word!
Jeanne Elfant Festa
Co-Executive Producer
Pavarotti: Genius is Forever
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years
It was a pleasure to work with Michele Spitz on the exhibition The Senses: Design Beyond Vision at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (April 13–October 28, 2018). In order to make our exhibition accessible to all visitors, the museum sought to incorporate open video description in the designated theater area and audio described exhibition tablets. We also created a comprehensive narrated audio gallery guide. This award-winning digital app is coordinated with braille numbers in the gallery. Michele's wonderful voice and expert knowledge of accessible communication practices guided us throughout our process. Her voice is an elegant beacon unifying our exhibition for the public. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is grateful for the generous support and expertise of Woman of Her Word.
Ellen Lupton
Senior Curator, Contemporary Design
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Working with Michele was amazing. My film, Lives Well Lived, deals with aging and, therefore, it was especially important to me to have the film be accessible to everyone. I had figured out captioning but had no idea about audio description. I am so thankful to Michele for educating me and for providing the audio description for the film. The audio description of the film has added another dimension and has made it possible for everyone to enjoy the film. I am forever grateful to Michele for all that she is doing to educate people about the need for audio description. She is truly a pleasure to work with and I hope to continue our work together in future projects.
Sky Bergman
Director
Lives Well Lived
Michele Spitz voiced the audio descriptions for the documentary film, Dealt of which I am the subject. Beginning to lose my sight at age nine, for over fifty years I have listened to thousands of talking books with hundreds of different professional readers, and I must say Michele has a voice and a way that beautifully fills in the visual scenes. Her voice is calm, articulate and she does not over-power the scene, yet holds you close and intimate like warm whispers from your mother or wife. Michele turns a film where (for years) a blind person could only hear into a full sensory and 'visual' experience!
Richard Turner
Card Mechanic
Michele did a fantastic job on our film, Dealt. Her enthusiasm for audio descriptions is second to none and vibrantly shines through in her excellent work. Michele's attention to detail and joyful attitude made for a wonderful experience, and I look forward to working with her again on my next project!
Luke Korem
Producer/Director
Dealt
It was a wonderful experience working with Michele Spitz on the audio description for my documentary feature, How Sweet the Sound - The Blind Boys of Alabama, the first film about this legendary gospel group. Michele’s clear, direct, nuanced and sensitive audio description is a terrific addition to this ten-years in the making project, and her commitment to making film available to blind and visually impaired audiences is unparalleled. One of the most compelling moments in this process came when two members of the Blind Boys of Alabama attended the closing night screening of the film at the ReelAbilities New York Disability Film Festival and were able to actually listen to the audio description using headsets with a very enthusiastic live audience, experiencing the film as they would not have otherwise. Now the Blind Boys of Alabama will have this gift of the audio description track permanently as part of their personal film collections!
Leslie McCleave
Producer/Director
How Sweet the Sound - The Blind Boys of Alabama
I have 25 years as a professional audio engineer/producer, and of all the professionals I have encountered, Michele Spitz consistently exceeds all expectations in her commitment to perform excellent voiceover for projects that have a positive impact on society. Her passion for making a difference through her work is infectious. Always generous, kind, flexible, and solution oriented, she is an asset to any production. The natural timber of her voice brings an inviting tone to the listener and credibility to the subject matter. Michele’s work does not end when she leaves the booth, as she commonly devotes her personal time to finding ways to ensure a project’s success via networking and creative problem solving to increase exposure and more opportunities for producers. Michele is a unique commodity; she continues to make media, the arts, and information accessible for people with disabilities through her work.
Rick Boggs
Producer, Audio Engineer, Disability Rights Advocate
Audio Eyes
It was a huge pleasure working with Michele on Looking at the Stars. She not
only is an incredible voiceover artist with a soothing voice, but she is also very passionate and cares deeply about every project that she works on. Meeting
her was probably one of the best things that happened to our film. Our film
about the only ballet school for the Blind in the world offered many challenges, such as the need to capture and describe the energy and the beauty of dance, and Michele was able to shine and express this through her voice. Because of her commitment, professionalism, and her talent, our audio description
became a more poetic and artistic journey for the various audiences we are hoping to inspire.
Alexandre Peralta
Director/Producer
Looking at the Stars
Listening to Michele's audio description for our film, Perfectly Normal for Me was an "ear opening" way of "seeing" our work anew. Having screened the film hundreds of times in the editing process, we were newly moved by the power of Michele’s lovely voice, pitched perfectly to what was happening onscreen. Combine this with her evocative descriptions so beautifully woven into the film, as she seamlessly blends and enhances the storytelling and – well, we saw everything in a new light. The real gift is not the gift Michele gave to us of the audio description, but rather the gift she has been given - her beautiful voice and the spirit it expresses. We will listen again and again and never make another film without Michele’s audio description. We are delighted that we can now reach a whole new audience.
Elizabeth Hemmerdinger
Producer
Catherine Tambini
Director
Perfectly Normal for Me
Michele Spitz is one of the most dynamic, creative, and generous people I have ever met; she is truly a force of nature. Michele approached Guide Dogs for the Blind with an offer we couldn’t refuse, donated voicing of our materials. She began with lending her unique talents to voice our donor recognition display for our newly constructed Student Residence. She then produced the first-ever audio version of our Puppy Raising Training Manual, and continues to record our quarterly audio newsletters for our blind clients since 2014. Her talent for the work is genuine,
her voice is clear and precise while remaining warm and welcoming. It is truly
rare to encounter a person who is so dedicated to a goal that they offer their services without being solicited, Michele is one of these rare women, a real
Woman of Her Word.
Theresa Stern
Vice President of Outreach and Alumni Services
Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB)
As a producer and distributor of independent theatrical content, I seek to bring the fullest experience possible to audiences and my filmmaker clients. In keeping with that commitment, I am so proud and honored to have been blessed to have an ongoing creative relationship with Michele Spitz of Woman of Her Word. In the
past three years, Michele and her magnificent heart and voice have made a
global impact by providing powerful imagery to those who benefit from the artistry
of audio description.
Marc Bovee
Founder
VetFlicks
For the last three years, Michele Spitz has been a generous supporter of
Superfest International Disability Film Festival in San Francisco. We insist
on having all of our films audio described and captioned, but for many
filmmakers this would not have been possible had it not been for her
support and talent as a voice actor. Michele’s volunteer role as an award announcer, as well as her annual sponsorship to support our additional
access costs and filmmaker’s travel, have been instrumental to our festival’s success. She brings the highest standards to every project and gives audio description the respect it deserves.
Emily Smith Beitiks, PhD
Associate Director
Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability
ReelAbilities Disability Film Festival New York has had the pleasure of working with Michele Spitz. She is a gifted audio describer who has described a number of outstanding films that have been screened at our festival. Michele selectively sponsors and voices opening and/or closing night films annually. Michele’s work is enabling a growing number of visually impaired and blind individuals to fully enjoy the experience of movie going.
Anita Altman
Co-Founder
ReelAbilities Film Festival
Working with Michele of Woman of Her Word was not only simple and easy, but a genuine pleasure. I met Michele at a screening of my film Becoming Bulletproof, a film about disabled actors making a movie. Michele Spitz truly illuminated us to the world of audio description and the importance of making this film accessible to all communities. At the time, we had no idea what audio description was. I can honestly say, if it wasn’t for her, we would never have had the film audio described. She guided us through the process of getting audio description made for my film. I have recommended her to many of my filmmaking peers and would be lucky to work with her again.
Theodore James
Producer
Becoming Bulletproof
Michele Spitz is not just a highly talented and committed voiceover artist, but an extraordinarily generous and lovely human being to boot. She educated me about audio description and was utterly true to the spirit of my film in her work without any direction or input from me. She just gets it! I never thought I would enjoy listening to my film being described through voiceover. Michele’s voice made me feel the
spirit of my own film in a whole new way. I look forward to collaborating with her
in the future.
Shonali Bose
Director
Margarita With A Straw
Woman of Her Word made a huge contribution to our film Do You Dream in Color. Michele Spitz generously stepped in when we most needed support and enabled our film to be fully accessible to blind and deaf audiences prior to our hitting the festival circuit. She was personally very invested in the highest quality of description for the film. Our audiences have been incredibly happy with the description experience provided by Woman of Her Word. Michele is also incredibly dedicated to the expansion of services and equality for individuals who are blind. She is a much needed voice; a very important advocate for accessibility in film and media.
Abigail Fuller
Director
Do You Dream In Color?
Michele Spitz’s audio description for my film The Case of the Three Sided Dream was invaluable. Not only did her work make my film accessible to a wider audience, it also heightened my awareness of the millions of people with disabilities and the value in serving them. Michele is a high-energy and proactive person. Her work both woke me up and opened doors for me to wake up others about the subject
of my film.
Adam Kahan
Producer/Director
The Case of the Three Sided Dream
Michele Spitz led the production of the audio description for my feature-length documentary, Terminal Device. I found that her knowledge of the process, experience and generous professionalism were invaluable and perhaps most importantly, that the warm, neutral timbre of her voice fits extraordinarily well with the film. Michele was instrumental in creating an excellent audio description for a film that frankly was very challenging to so describe. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her for audio description work of any sort, and I look forward to working with Michele again in the future.
Ross Turnbull
Producer/Director
Terminal Device
Michele Spitz has recorded an amazing Descriptive Audio track for my new feature documentary, Hearing is Believing, about the astonishingly talented young musician and composer Rachel Flowers. Rachel being blind since birth, it is particularly important to have a quality descriptive track for this movie. Michele has provided one that will make experiencing the movie a visceral experience for blind and vision-impaired audiences. Thanks, Michele, for all that you do.
Lorenzo DeStefano
Producer
Hearing is Believing
It was a great experience working with Michele on our documentary States of Grace. Although I’ve been making documentaries for over 30 years, I was completely unfamiliar with audio description and she guided us through the process with great professionalism and enthusiasm. The quality of her voiceover is second to none and I was surprised to experience my own film in an entirely new way that was quite beautiful and moving.
Mark Lipman
Writer/Producer
States of Grace