My voice is holding me back in life

What do you mean when you day you don’t have an accent and this contributes to you sounding young? Everyone has an accent, not sure how it could make you seem older or younger.

I used to record myself before I had to do a presentation or say something at a formal meeting, mainly because of nerves. I found my accent was much stronger than I thought it was and sometimes I had a strange inflexion to my voice or I would repeat a word like ‘right.’ Anyway practise saying your piece a few times and you get more confident and more aware of your voice and generally you can improve really quickly.

If it’s the actual pitch of your voice that’s a problem then yes to voice coaching too.

Also, not sounding sure of yourself- try to just be very serious when talking, and talk slowly

I'm like this, so I make an effort to speak in a low voice when I feel the need to. I like to sing when I'm on my own, and I think it helped me overall to practice singing in low tones

I also want to have voice coaching for similar reasons and I’m older than you.

I’m sick of men at work who take themselves more seriously than me and ar heard more than me, because they make the same points (or even weaker points) in their slow, serious voices full of gravitas. I’ve tried hard to beat them and had some success and now want to join them.

I’m also hampered by a regional accent that I’m proud of (and it’s unusual in my workplace - most Brits speak RP), so I want to learn how to speak with influence but without losing my accent.

I know of other women who’ve had voice coaching and been pleased with the results. Michelle Obama is a more contemporary famous woman. She wasn’t naturally an effective public speaker. Look at her now!

Ever tried singing in a choir? It really helps to teach you where your voice is strongest and once you've learned to support your voice so that it comes out rich and full and you are confident that the sound that comes out is exactly what you want, that technique carries into speaking.

I have a friend like this she has really high almost teenage voice, it’s unfortunate as she just sounds really highly strung all the time! I mean she quite highly strung. I’ve got used to it over time but not sure how you could change it.

Definitely, one of my directors had coaching as part of professional development ( for presentations) which helped immensely.

He said he enjoyed doing it too.

Nasal speech tends to sound whiny: if this is a longstanding problem it might be worth an ENT appointment, to see whether it’s being caused by something like adenoids or sinusitis, or a structural issue with your palate. Other than that, definitely voice coaching which helps focus on your tone, pitch and inflection.

Margaret Thatcher had voice coaching to lower the pitch of her voice, in order to be taken seriously by the men around her.

I can sympathise with it as an issue, but to me it’s incredibly insulting, it’s not your problem, the people who make assumptions based on your voice problem.

I used to adapt my ‘typically thick’ east London accent as it would often be mocked. I did this for years, but into my 30s I grew sick of it – my accent does not signal my abilities and anyone who thinks it does can bugger off. I speak with my original accent now and if anyone mocks it (and they still do occasionally) I let them know it’s not acceptable.

Voice coaching. I also sound young and it’s annoying as fuck.

I have the same problem OP, nobody listens to me (especially men). If I suggest something intelligent everyone usually ignores me and then a random man will repeat it and everybody will agree with him. It’s frustrating and I don’t know what the solution is.

Probably not the best role model but Margaret Thatcher had voice coaching for exactly that reason. Deepened her voice by a lot.

Voice coaching might be useful - perhaps you could learn to change where the pitch rises and falls, or it's a case of learning breathing technique to sound more secure and assertive. It's the sort of thing that actors need to learn for particular characters.

If you are really unhappy then you could get some voice coaching... otherwise you are just going to have to put with it.