PANAcon Speakers

Jesse Bickford

Jesse Bickford is the senior audiobook producer for Blackstone Publishing, and has been with the company since 2008. As a lifelong lover of storytelling, a hoarder of books, and with a background in stage management, the world of audiobooks is the perfect home for this self-proclaimed “Book Dragon.” Finding just the right voice for an author’s world is the type of magic she loves to dip her toes into. Jesse also moonlights as a narration coach under her company, Book Dragon Coaching, and enjoys working with narrators of all skill levels. When not audiobooking, Jesse can be found playing with her menagerie of pets, exploring the offerings of southern Oregon with her family, or just cozied up on the couch with a book in one hand, and a glass of something delicious in the other.

Ruthie Bowles

Ruthie Bowles is an audiobook narrator, Army Veteran, and the founder of No Market for That Book, an audio publishing house dedicated to the diverse, the transgressive, and the “unmarketable.” With a background in brand strategy, social psychology, and business ethics, Ruthie is a mission-driven entrepreneur reshaping the indie audio landscape through wide royalty share models and strategic rights acquisition. As a multi-racial Black, bisexual, Muslim woman, she champions storytelling as a vehicle for safe exploration and harm reduction. When she isn’t in the booth or consulting on DEI and business strategy, she’s likely hiking the trails of Central Maryland or playing her guitar.

Ron Butler

Ron Butler is a southern California-based performer with more than a hundred film, theater, and television credits—including his standout role as a series regular on True Jackson, VP—and is an IFP Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.
He won the 2026 Audie Award, (the audiobook industry’s version of the Oscars) for his performance of “Baldwin: A Love Story” by author Nicholas Boggs. In addition to over a dozen Audie nominations, he has won two dozen AudioFile Magazine Earphones Awards. With more than 400 audiobook titles to his name, his work spans every major genre, and his performances frequently appear on annual “Best Of” lists: In 2025 “Baldwin” was selected one of the best biographies of the year by both Audible and Audiofile Magazine.
Butler grew up singing onstage alongside his father, legendary Bahamian Calypso artist Ronnie Butler (Sr.) He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City and an established narration performance coach, serving as co-administrator of the Narrator.Life community.

A certified life coach, Butler blends artistry, presence, and personal transformation in his work with clients. He is currently at work on his first fiction novel.

Andrea Emmes

Award-winning author and narrator with 400+ titles narrated, Andrea has been a professional actor for over 25yrs, performing on stage, TV/film, video games, commercials & audiobooks. She has a degree in Game Art and Design and was a game designer for Disney Interactive. She has coached and designed websites for fellow narrators for 8yrs and focuses on making her client’s websites castable for publishers and authors alike.

Dominique Franceschi

Dominique Franceschi (or just Dom) is a Colombian born, LA based creative. As a curious, playful and multilingual narrator, Dominique loves bringing Latine, Fantasy and YA stories to life. Throughout her journey as an ECE teacher, a Performing Arts graduate, a tutor and an immigrant; Dominique discovered her excitement towards breaking the stereotypes for South Americans and Spanish speakers in performance based industries. When not in the booth, she enjoys playing RPG video games (currently Genshin Impact), eating arequipe, cozy reading, volunteering for PANA and the APA, and taking nature photos that she some day hopes to paint. While she continues to hone in on her craft, and as a self defined “human in progress”, Dominique is excited to continue growing (both as a performer and as a human being).

Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert is a Grammy-finalist voice actor, an Odyssey Award-winning director, Booklist Audiobook Narrator of the Year, 16-time finalist of The Audie Award and three-time winner, including for Best Female Narrator, and the writer and producer of multiple international award-winning podcasts. As the Founder/CEO of Talkbox Productions, an international consultancy and content development studio, she serves leaders who are ready to step into their highest power and potential by amplifying their voice and message in service to the world. Recipient of the esteemed Media Innovator Award for Public Performance Coach of the Year, Tavia is a highly sought-after expert in guiding mission-driven messengers through audiobooks and podcasts. She is the writer and host of the critically-acclaimed podcast Stories of Impact, about the art and science of human flourishing, three-time winner of the AWA Award for Podcast of the Year (twice in Science and once for Social Impact).

Dion Graham

Dion Graham is a highly acclaimed American actor and award-winning audiobook narrator, renowned as an AudioFile Golden Voice and Audible Narrator Hall of Fame inductee. Known for his rich, versatile voice, he has narrated over 280 audiobooks across genres, including works by Dave Eggers and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and is famous for narrating A&E’s The First 48.  Dion has won 11 Audie Awards, over 70 Earphones Awards, the Odyssey Award, and numerous Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards.

Daniel Henning

Daniel Henning is a NY Times Bestselling Narrator, a 3-time SOVAS Voice Arts Award winner (19x nominee), 3x Audie Award Finalist, & 7-time Kirkus Earphones Winner for his 350+ audiobooks including the NY Times #1 Bestselling Somewhere Beyond the Sea, the sequel to his The House in the Cerulean Sea. He founded Starshells of Madness, a small press whose first release, a lost 1930 Hollywood satire, Queer People: A Madcap Jazz Age Satire of Hollywood’s Scandalous Eccentrics recently debuted as the #1 new release in “Movie Industry” on Amazon. The California State Legislature celebrated Henning as a Pride Honoree for his work in LGBTQ Equality and nurturing the future of the Arts. As an actor his work has been seen on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV, & Comedy Central. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and American Conservatory Theatre.

Laura Horowitz

Laura Horowitz is a celebrated American voice actor and audiobook narrator whose versatile performances have made her a favorite among listeners and authors alike. Known for her prolific and engaging social media presence, Laura has built a vibrant career centered on a deep connection with her audience and a passion for the written word. Her background includes a Master’s Degree in Composition and Rhetoric alongside professional experience as a broadcast journalist for major studios like Sony and Fox.

Her impressive body of work is anchored by the narration of over 200 audiobooks, spanning popular genres such as fantasy, romance, and thrillers. Laura’s exceptional skill in character work has earned her several prestigious AudioFile Earphones Awards, as well as the distinction of winning Audible’s Best of the Year for her narration of Phantasma. In a landmark achievement for her career, she was named an inaugural winner of the PANA Narrator of Distinction Award in 2025, a testament to her technical excellence and significant contributions to the professional audiobook community.

Hillary Huber

Hillary Huber is an award-winning narrator, VO actor and audiobook coach. She was recently named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and was inducted as an inaugural member of the APA Hall of Fame as well as the Audible Hall of Fame. Hillary has narrated over 800 audiobooks spanning a wide range of genres. She is especially acclaimed for her work in gritty thrillers and emotional literary fiction like The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. Drawn to stories of redemption and emotional depth—particularly those centered on women’s resilience—Huber brings a compelling, nuanced, and instantly engaging narration style that has made her one of the industry’s most respected voices. When not narrating Hillary enjoys the beach, planning parties, baking sourdough, sipping an excellent bourbon cocktail and planning her next trip.

Lisa Cahn

Lisa Cahn is an award-winning spoken-word producer who specializes in audiobooks, many of which have earned audio publishing industry kudos, including multiple Audie Awards and Grammy nominations. Her spoken-word development company, ProseGardenProductions.com, creates audio programming in recording spaces worldwide and out of PGPs studio in New York’s Hudson Valley. The company works with a large roster of professional narrators and best-selling authors (novelists, thought leaders, and influencers in politics, journalism, technology, sports, and entertainment), to create audiobooks, podcasts, museum audio tours, and documentaries for prominent individuals and organizations worldwide.

Carly Katz

Carly is an audiobook producer at HarperCollins. She’s worked in publishing since 2017 and audiobooks since 2019. She is a passionate reader and listener, and loves connecting narrators to books, and audiobooks to audiences. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and their two cats.

Kelsey Navarro Foster

Audie and SOVAS-nominated SAG audiobook narrator Kelsey Navarro Foster brings over 350 titles of storytelling expertise and a decade of corporate management experience to the audiobook community. A romance genre specialist with 8+ years in narration, Kelsey has built an engaged social media following of 59K+ across platforms. Creator of The Creative Entrepreneur Mastermind program, she combines industry knowledge with practical business strategies to help narrators thrive in today’s digital landscape.

Jennifer Pickens

Jennifer is a full-time audiobook narrator, and a lifelong reader and storyteller living and working in Portland, Oregon. When not at the microphone or prepping a book to record, she is probably drinking tea, playing the mountain dulcimer, making a mess with pen and ink, daydreaming…or listening to an audiobook.

Sean Pratt

Sean Pratt has been a working actor for over 40 years. He was a company member at The Pearl Theatre, an Off-Broadway classical repertory theatre and has also performed at numerous regional theatres around the country. He has been an audiobook narrator for 30 years (aka – Lloyd James), recording over 1,200+ books in almost every genre and has received 12 AudioFile Magazine “Earphones” awards, 5 SOVAS nominations, and 5 “Audie” nominations from the Audio Publishers Association. His voice is “Generous, Upbeat, and Inspirational”; Making nonfiction cool, again! When he’s out of the booth, you can find Sean hanging out at his local book store, sketching paintings at The Smithsonian American Art Museum, or riding his recumbent bicycle along the Atlantic Coast. Sean is also the author of “To Be or Wanna Be – The Top Ten Differences between a Successful Actor and a Starving Artist,” an actor’s how-to book that talks about approaches and behaviors that separate a thriving actor from a starving artist. Currently, Sean coaches performers on audiobook narration technique, as well as teaching classes on and writing articles about the business of the Biz.

Paige Reisenfeld

Based in Virginia, Paige is a classically trained soprano and stage actor turned SAG-AFTRA audiobook narrator. From her professional home studio, Paige has narrated over 200 audiobooks for both publishers and independent authors. She works in all fiction genres, specializing in science fiction/fantasy, thrillers, and romance, and she also enjoys narrating literary fiction, horror, YA, and nonfiction. One of her passions within the audiobook space is indie author education on the process of audiobook production.

On the rare occasion she is not in her sound booth, she plays cooperative board games (competitive ones are not allowed in the house), gardens, lifts weights, and spends time with her six cats and partner (in real life and narration), PJ Freebourn, fueled by all things cheese and coffee.

Paul Alan Ruben

Paul Alan Ruben has produced and directed award-winning audiobooks since 1990. His programs have received two Grammy awards, and multiple Audie nominations and awards. He is also an audiobook narration teacher and coach. Paul has contributed essays that focus on performance to Audiofile Magazine. He presently contributes to Voices to Know.

Amy Rubinate

For over a decade, Amy Rubinate has been the owner of Mosaic Audio, an award-winning production company based in Los Angeles and San Francisco that has produced thousands of audiobooks for major publishers. Amy is Mosaic’s casting director, and she regularly directs pro narrators, authors and celebrities. Amy has narrated over 300 audiobooks and has been awarded multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, Booklist Editor’s Choice Media and Top Ten Historical Fiction, AudioFile Best Romance, and YALSA Amazing Audiobooks. Amy earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University, and her first two middle grade graphic novels, Annie and the Unsinkable Ship, and Kate and the City of Fire, were published by Capstone.

André Santana

André Santana is a narrator, director, coach, and chair of PANA’s board. Based in New York City, he has narrated around 250 titles for publishers of all types and is committed to making the world of audiobooks better for all narrators. André was born in Brazil, holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and biosocial studies, and has been known to love a Polaroid camera, plastic plants that never die, and stickers. His narration has been celebrated with over a dozen Earphone Awards, an Audie win, and he was Booklist Online’s Voice of Choice for 2025. He’s currently working on two tattoo sleeves: one for plants, and one for cartoons.

Celia Siegel

Celia Siegel, founder of Celia Siegel Management and the VO Château, is widely recognized for her holistic approach to talent management and for her exceptional marketing and branding skills, which attract high-end opportunities for her clients in genres including, but not limited, to promo, political, commercial, video game, animation, international, corporate and more. As a brand-builder, certified life and business coach, success strategist, and former talent agent turned manager, Celia has advanced the careers of top VO talent for more than two decades. Celia’s multi-leveled expertise and extensive knowledge of the ever-changing voiceover industry has helped thousands of voice actors successfully brand and grow their VO businesses. She is also the author of the popular branding book, Voiceover Achiever: Brand Your VO Career, Change Your Life.

AhDream Smith

AhDream is an award-winning audiobook narrator and professional actor based in New York City. She completed her actor training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her MFA in Acting. During her tenure there, she regularly performed as a resident company member of PlayMakers Repertory Company in roles ranging from Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It to Taylor in Lydia Diamond’s Stick Fly. Since expanding her acting talents into audiobooks, she has recorded over 40 titles and recently garnered her first Audiofile Earphones Award (August 2025) for her work in The Girls Who Grew Big by New York Times Best Selling author, Leila Mottley.A southern belle at heart, her warm and youthful voice brings life to various characters within the Young Adult, Fiction, and New Adult Fiction genres.

Amanda Stribling

Amanda is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning, SOVAS- and One Voice–nominated audiobook narrator based in Nashville, TN. She has narrated over 275 audiobooks, and is known for bringing warmth, humor, and authenticity to every project — whether it’s a thriller, romance, YA novel, or literary fiction.
Amanda has a large social media following and runs a podcast on Clubhouse called “Audiobook Industry Chat”.

David Swerdloff

After voicing his first audiobook in 2019, David has gone on to narrate nonfiction titles for both indie authors and major publishers. His interest in narrating nonfiction grew out of his work as a radio journalist hosting programs designed to explain American society to an international audience on the Voice of America. His long radio career also included DJ duties in major markets, including literally making Washington “woke” by hosting a popular morning show in DC.