Olivia Flanigan (she/her), a gender-affirming voice educator and singer-songwriter based out of Chicago, IL, found her passion for the voice and being of service to others leading her to gender-affirming voice work. Olivia is a cisgender woman, and a proud ally of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Throughout her 11 years of teaching, she has been motivated to help clients feel confident and joyful by uncovering their authentic voice. Olivia has been working with transgender speakers and singers since 2018. Olivia’s study and training in gender affirming voice is ongoing, and most recently completed Gender Affirming Voice Training: A Course for Clinicians given by Speech Language Pathologists, and pioneers in Gender Affirming Voice work, Sandy Hirsch, CCC-SLP, Dr. Leah B. Helou, CCC-SLP, Christie Block, MA, MA, CCC-SLP, and Dr. AC Goldberg, CCC-SLP. Olivia has also completed Levels I, II, III of Somatic Voicework™, The LoVetri Method.

Olivia holds a MM in Jazz Studies, Voice, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and spent the year after her graduation as the Jazz Voice Faculty member there. She went on to become the Director of Jazz Voice at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador, a Global Partner of Berklee College of Music.

Olivia has been a guest clinician at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana and at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado. She has also given talks on Gender Affirming Voice at the SDMEA, IMEA, and ILMEA state music education conferences, among others. She regularly speaks at music conferences and universities, including at the University of Illinois, SDMEA, IMEA, ILMEA, WMEA, among others.

Olivia is effortlessly flexible and creative in the pursuit of her students’ growth. Whether she is working with speakers or singers, Olivia’s teaching style is rooted in healthy vocal technique, with an emphasis on releasing held tension to uncover each student’s truthful voice.

Outside of her teaching work, Olivia performs regularly in a variety of contexts and genres around Chicago as a jazz and pop singer and a pianist. Her first album as a songwriter, Girl, was released on March 26, 2021.