Hello Vokelites! My name is Margaret, and like Steph, I am a fellow newbie to the VOKLE team as well. I was born and raised in the Bay Area in Northern California. I just moved to Southern California a few months ago and have fallen in love with its perpetual sunshine (I’m ignoring the last few days) and quirky variety of food trucks.

I was admitted to the University of the Pacific in Stockton as a Pre-Pharmacy major, but graduated in International Affairs & Commerce with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in Japanese. A big jump, I know (my parents were ecstatic). Last year, I came back from a 10-month stint studying abroad in Osaka, Japan, during which I ate my way through Asia. And if you can’t tell already, I love food. I am a pop culture junkie who loves traveling, fashion, and Googling images of Ryan Gosling. I also draw comics poorly.

I am very excited to be a part of this team and will do my utmost to not bring VOKLE crumbling down to ruins. To be honest, there is nothing I can say about VOKLE that Steph hasn’t already said so eloquently (nor will I attempt to at risk of shameful embarrassment). So I will just end it on this note: I am elated to be on board. Please excuse my poor attempts at humor.

Greetings and salutations, good folks and friends of the VOKLE community! My name is Steph, but many people call me Slo — short for Stephanie Lo – and I just recently joined the team at VOKLE. I’m a born and bred Southern Californian with an impenetrable love for summer, sunshine, barbecues, and obnoxious fluorescent colors (see image above).

I was fortunate enough to spend four years in New York City as a student at NYU, where I studied Marketing and Management, dabbled within the realms of Entertainment, Media, & Technology, and ate way too much (or not enough?) chicken and rice from a Halal cart on 53rd and 6th. Some of my hobbies include: going to shows, eating, getting swept up in spontaneous adventures, rhythmic hand-clapping, and fist pumping. I’d like to say that I don’t do all of those at the same time, but that would be a lie.

I’m psyched to embark on my journey here at VOKLE, and look forward to doing whatever I can to help the company continue to push the boundaries of interaction and innovation. It’s hard to put into my own words exactly what it is about VOKLE that is so inspirational to me, but I know it has something to do with the following line from this most recent VOKLE spot, which was inspired by Larry Lessig’s 2007 TED Talk on the “laws that choke creativity.”

“Digital technology is the opportunity for the revival of [lost] vocal cords — culture where people produce for the love of what they’re doing, and not for the money.”

If digital technology is the opportunity for uninhibited communication, then I’m positive VOKLE is the right vehicle to navigate that opportunity, and I’m happy to be along for the ride.

While perusing the web, Shant stumbled across one of our Staff Picks on Kickstarter.com. Tour Chats has been one of our most regular broadcasters, and remains the premier haven for fans of cycling. And they need your help!

“Cycling fans usually can’t go down to the corner pub and find bike races on the TV and the camaraderie of fellow fans like other sports fans can,” explained Pamela Wood Browne, Creative Director of Tour Chats, so “we enjoy creating venues online for cycling fans to hangout and enjoy cheering on and getting to know their favorite champions.”

The Tour Chats live series has featured a number of cycling greats, and has been steadily building an audience. All shows are carefully recorded and edited into video podcasts which they share with fans for free.

“We’re committed to providing opportunities for fans to get to know and interact with their favorite bike racers and other cycling personalities, as well as, to connect with the worldwide cycling fan base - both of which the Vokle platform is perfectly suited for!” Pamela explained “While cycling fans may not have many chances to hang out with other fans in their local town—every week we can get together online!”

Tour chats has been producing their weekly video podcasts without funding for the last four months. Production costs are rising, and and it will take time for Tour Chats to attract corporate funding. Until then, they still want to be able to produce the t-shirts and other paraphernalia. “ If we raise more than our minimum goal of $3,000, we’ll put more funds towards production and marketing of the show,” explained Pamela. To donate or read more about the cause, see their Kickstarter page.

Another thing to get excited about: this Sunday they will be hosting an interview with Jonathan Vaughters, an amazing cyclist. They’ll also be announcing giveaways for financial backers, so don’t miss it:

Update: Our winner, Zac O’Hara was voted the God of Flows on Friday. Congrats Zac!

One of the contestants in Australia who had made it into the top 10 sent the VOKLE team an email, and I wanted to share it. Leanne’s experience is a great validation to the VOKLE team. This is posted with permission, and I’ve included her audition performance below as well as her website.

Dear Rochelle,

I am speechless! Thank you so much, I can’t even tell you how amazing this opportunity is for me, a 39 year old mostly housebound disability pensioner and mother of two!

It is only because of technology, I am able to reach out to the world from my living room to still have a chance of living my dream.

My heart is filled with so much gratitude.

And my tummy is filled with a million butterflies!

I hope my nerves from the sheer significance of this opportunity doesn’t inhibit my performance!

Goshhh. Jordan Rudess is my keyboardist idol, and dream Theater one of my, and my teen sons most favourite bands ever.

I nearly died of heart failure when i found out I made it through!

Thank you Vokle people, with all my heart and soul.

I am just so grateful to be participating!

Kindest regards,
Leanne

Watch here audition here

She also just started a site.

Virtual auditions on Saturday were flooded with vocalists from around the globe, singing their hearts out for a chance to be a part of the top ten in Last Voice Standing. After tallying votes for audition clips and deliberating, our ten finalists have been selected. Officially announcing the the voices still standing….

Who will be the last voice standing? YOU will decide! Our first singing competition begins Monday night at 6pm Pacific, be sure not to miss it and vote on your favorite singer:

Edit: The Last Voice Standing was announced, congratulations David Ramos!

VOKLE always insists that you “unmute yourself,” and this Monday one of our broadcasters is going to elevate our slogan to a new level. Meet Greg, a web-savvy tumblr afficianado who tweets about respecting women and respecting yourself:

Monday at 4pm PST (7pm EST) Greg will be hosting his first VOKLE show, and taking live questions from the audience. Broadcasting beside him will be a sign language interpreter, who will be translating audience questions live for Greg to answer. Greg is deaf, but his fans can still have a live conversation with him face to face (or thanks to his interpreter, mano a mano).

We encourage everyone to RSVP to the event, so that you’re notified a couple hours before it goes live. When it goes live, click the red “Join Event” button to submit your text and video questions, and chat with the rest of the audience. Each text and video question Greg takes will be saved as a special chapter that you can tweet out to your friends after the event is over.

No, we aren’t desperate.  But we may be a little sick.

It’s no secret that Justin Bieber is the talk of the town.  He’s got a global audience of fans that are nuts for him. He makes teenage girls faint with one flip of his bangs.  He’s got more twitter followers than Barack. And one lock of his hair goes for upwards of $40k.  Why so much love?  Because, this kid has humble roots, he’s got a set of pipes, and he does a stellar job at connecting with his fans. It’s no wonder why here at the Vokle office we’ve got a bad dose of…

Bieber fever.

So, in an effort to marry superstar singer with elegant live streaming platform, we’re introducing The Bieber Campaign.  The social media tidal wave created through ripples from none other than the fans of Justin.  So how do you join the movement? Join fans from around the world on Monday, August 15th and starting at 9AM PST, tweet at Justin Bieber asking him to host a LIVE Q/A on Vokle.  Throw a creative twist on your tweet, along with #biebervokle, and if the campaign is a success, we’ll ask several of you to work behind-the-scenes with the Biebs himself to produce the show!  With some luck and a few tweets we can bring JB to your computer screen. LIVE. Taking your text/video q’s.  :)

Let’s get the buzz going.  Right MEOW.

Vidcon this past weekend was a blast and a half! We got to meet lots of awesome youtubers and spread the word on going live to thousands of attendees. Our proudest feat was the exclusive series of over 30+ live Q&A’s hosted directly on Vidcon’s frontpage, which helped fans who couldn’t make it to the event to chat with their heroes.

Hosts included several of the top ten most subscribed youtubers of all time, like Ryan Higa (who collaborated with musicians DeStorm and Kina Grannis), MysteryGuitarMan and Philip DeFranco.

Many broadcasters this weekend responded to their fans request for a Q&A, so don’t be afraid to tweet at your favorite youtubers, celebrities or musicians about doing a live event on VOKLE!

As always, unmute yourself