Over the past couple of years, as I expanded The Voice Bureau from one-woman show (me) to boutique specialty agency, I found myself at a point where I needed to hire! staff! I was the most surprised of anyone, really. I didn’t see the day coming until it had already arrived.

Then one day, after months of over-busyness, I realized, Ohmygah. I need a couple other people to help me out with this business so I can continue to do what I love most and do best — which is, by the way, develop brand voices, bring creative direction and finessing to client copywriting projects, and create and teach courses for values-based business owners.

The first person I hired was Melissa Black, a truly wonderful individual who is now focusing on web design and creative support for small businesses. Melissa was The Voice Bureau‘s first Virtual Concierge. She was the first person to read emails from readers and subscribers, and my go-to woman (along with her charming husband, Bob) for all projects requiring tech support and implementation of creative touches, like photo editing and audio mixing. With Melissa now focusing full-time on her design clientele, there were some empty shoes to fill . . . and big shoes they were!

Enter Mia. Together with Katie Mehas (my Doyenne of Operations), she keeps The Voice Bureau‘s systems and processes running snag-free, ensuring a great customer experience from start to finish. In short, I couldn’t do what I love to do without Mia.

It’s time you met her, the most recent addition to our interior coterie. If you’re a current client or thinking of becoming one, it won’t be long before you have your first conversation with this woman.

Mia Pryputniewicz, Virtual Concierge at The Voice Bureau

MY TOP 3-5 VOICE VALUES ARE:

Clarity – Clarity is something that people always strive for, but never know how to ask for it. It requires creating boundaries and enforcing them, being okay with asking for help, and respecting that others may need more information.

Depth – I have a natural intellectual curiosity that drives me to find out more about subjects that interest me. I cannot give a quick and dirty answer; I want to make sure that all options are examined in order to make the best decision to move forward.

Intimacy – Similar to clarity, intimacy requires respect for others’ needs and boundaries. People want to be heard and acknowledged, and it’s important to respect that and tailor solutions to their needs without self-elimination.

[Abby’s Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter.

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PERSONAL DETAILS

I live in the San Francisco Bay area with my husband Peter and a very silly Blue Heeler. I’m half-Filipina, born in Indiana, but grew up in New Mexico before defecting to California. I went to college with Katie [Mehas]. She and I have been friends since freshman year, and we were maid of honor at each other’s weddings.

PROFESH

I grew up in the restaurant business. I worked in the comic book industry both as a journalist/editor writing for Sequential Tart webzine and as an administrative/accounting manager at Image Comics. I’ve been working for nonprofits the last 7 years as an office manager and bookkeeper. Lately I’ve been taking on freelance clients, helping them set up the financial side of their businesses and helping workflow by doing customer service or project management.

I DO THE WORK I DO BECAUSE:

I think people struggle with things like the day-to-day boring admin stuff. It’s so valuable to help people by answering their questions, giving them guidance about solutions that work best for them, and in some cases doing the parts that don’t come naturally like looking at financials. It’s not an easy skill set to learn or enjoy, but I do.

I’m very proud of being a self-taught accountant. I used to have to explain financial numbers to artists and writers who would call me in tears asking why their books hadn’t made money yet, which taught me how to be compassionate while being factual. I’ve had CPAs be very impressed with my level of work, and a controller I work with says my work is the most accurate and best organized she’s ever seen.

FAVORITE THING I NOTICE ABOUT OUR VOICE BUREAU CLIENTS IS:

They are all really passionate about their work, especially if their work involves helping others realize their potential.

20 YEARS FROM NOW, I WANT TO BE ABLE TO SAY I’VE:

Traveled the world with my wonderful partner, written stories that people like, and helped my friends and loved ones be happy and healthy.

THE iPHONE/ANDROID APP I WOULDN’T WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT IS:

Oh, I can’t pick just one! Asana is my newest love, as it’s so useful to work with teams of people. Untappd, as I’m a huge beer nerd, and a social media app just for beer-drinking is pretty fun. Evernote is pretty darn important to me too; I have a huge Fitness notebook I share with my husband and some friends tracking workouts and physical therapy/training modalities. I also cannot live without Paprika, which is my favorite recipe box app.

FAVORITE BOOKS/MOVIES/MUSIC/ARTISTS:

I’m a huge comic book fan, particularly of more indie titles published by Image Comics. I’m in love with THE WICKED + THE DIVINE lately, which is the most recent comic series by the excellent team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie and is an excellent examination of the price of creativity as viewed in the milieu of pop star godhood. Other excellent comics titles I love: BITCH PLANET, ODY-C, SAGA, VELVET, PROMETHEA, HAWKEYE and MS. MARVEL. I also re-read CROSS GAME by Mitsuru Adachi every year when I’m waiting for baseball to start up again.

I’ve recently become obsessed with K-pop, which started because of the girl group 2NE1. It’s fun music, and because I don’t know Korean I don’t get annoyed by the lyrics. Otherwise, I love the classics: David Bowie, Queen, Paul Simon, The Runaways. I also have a love for DJ-focused hip-hop, like RJD2, DJ Shadow, or Dan the Automator. I’m also pretty sure Mos Def’s BLACK ON BOTH SIDES is one of the greatest albums ever made.

I have a love of Hong Kong cinema, especially for Johnnie To movies. He has such an offbeat style that really balances well with his tendency to do crime thrillers. However, my favorite of his films is THROW DOWN, which is about a down-and-out former judo champion who runs a nightclub. Not so much crime, very much slice-of-life.

It may sound snobbish, but I honestly love Shakespeare. [Abby’s Note: Me, too!] I fell in love with MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING when I was 14, and it’s still one of my favorite classic romantic comedies. HAMLET with David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart is so compelling, I watched it 5 times in two weeks. I also love Sir Patrick Stewart’s version of MACBETH, which has a setting inspired by Stalin’s rise to power, but ShakespeaRE-told did a fantastic adaptation of MACBETH starring James McEvoy that updated the language and the setting to a modern-day Michelin-starred restaurant. [Abby’s Note: That I must see.]

FAVORITE PLACES YOU’VE TRAVELED OR COOL PLACES YOU’VE SEEN

So far, Istanbul is my favorite place of all time. It was the center of world for a long time (there are ruins dating back to the Bronze Age), and has this incredible feeling of history. It was the seat of power for both the late Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire because it controlled a huge amount of the trade in the Mediterranean. Istanbul is dynamic and strange and a bubbling cauldron of thousands of years of religious, ethnic, and political influences while at the same time feeling young and vibrant. You can walk down the street past a Top Shop, then turn a corner and run into an 800 year old hammam. The food is amazing, there’s a huge music culture and the people are lovely. There is a very intense current of political tension right now, so I keep track of what’s going on there pretty regularly.

I’m about to go to Europe again at the end of April, this time seeing the Netherlands, Belgium, and Paris. I plan on drinking many excellent beers and eating a lot of waffles.

I also grew up in New Mexico, so I have a love of wide open spaces and stark landscapes. There is something about the desert that is a revelation, that cuts you open and lets the world pour in.

PERSONALITY TYPING? WHY, YES. I’M:

Enneagram Type 6 (The Loyalist) with a 5-wing (The Investigator) [Abby’s Note: This combo is called The Defender]. My Myers-Briggs is INFP (The Counselor) or INFJ (The Protector), depending on the test/day. I’m also a double metal Capricorn Monkey.

MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW THAT I:

Have a good ear for languages. I don’t speak other languages fluently, but I can identify what language people are speaking and I pick up phrases quickly. [Abby’s Note: Noticing how well this trait melds with our focus on voice at The Voice Bureau]. It also means I mimic accents far too easily which embarrasses me from time to time (someone once assumed I was Irish because I was hanging out with a bunch of British boys during San Diego Comic-Con and picked up a terrible version of their accents). I should really focus more on learning other languages, but it’s really hard for me to learn grammar context.

I’m a huge San Francisco Giants fan, and try to make it to at least 3 games every year. I even score the games in a book when I go.

My tattoo on my back was designed by Katie. [Abby’s Note: Photos, please!].

I once drove 3½ hours from Las Cruces to Albuquerque to see DJ Shadow and the Quannum Records crew and drove back home at 2am after the show.

I used to train in Krav Maga and San Quan Dao. That’s actually how I met my husband — he was an instructor at the school where I trained.

I have a 22 year old stepdaughter whom I love dearly.

I actually learned to love working out, to the point where if I don’t get any exercise for a week I fall apart mentally. I even have a TRX suspension training certification, and lately I’ve been really into kettlebells and learning how to power lift.

SECRET FANTASY CAREER/OCCUPATION:

Super spy in the 1960s. I’m pretty sure that’s never going to happen. Basically I just want to be the awesome feminist version of James Bond. Or be Agent Peggy Carter, because she punched the patriarchy in the face every week in her tv show.

I’M FAIRLY INSATIABLE WHEN IT COMES TO:

Knowledge. If I become interested in an activity or subject I always want to know everything about it and I pride myself in being self-taught. I went to Istanbul in 2012 and fell in love with the Haghia Sophia, so I immediately started reading everything I could about Byzantine history and the Justinian era. When I learned how to knit, I would look up any technique online that I didn’t know in order to try new patterns. My friends used to refer to me as Mia-pedia, and my stepdaughter’s friends would call her to ask me a question about some subject instead of looking it up on Google.

In the comments, we’d love for you to:

Say hello to Mia and welcome her to The Voice Bureau!