When Nicole Gress left traditional medical settings, she wasn’t walking away from her profession: she was walking toward a new model of care. A trained speech-language pathologist, Gress, who uses she/they pronouns, saw too many transgender people hit a wall with conventional voice therapy. That frustration, combined with inspiration from the DIY innovations happening in the trans community online, led her to found Undead Voice.
“After we’d exhausted all of my speech pathology tricks, my patients started bringing in YouTube clips,” Gress recalled. “Videos made by other trans people who had also gone through the speech therapy ringer and found it inadequate. They were tired of waiting for the system to work for them, so they did what our community always does, and started to figure it out themselves.”
When Gress shared these ideas with colleagues, she was told they were “unsafe or inappropriate.” Yet the same methods were already being used in singing and voice acting without concern. That double standard was the breaking point. Gress left the clinical system and immersed herself in new training. She started exploring techniques in singing, voice acting, somatic breathing, pedagogy certifications, while also listening closely to what trans people were already creating and sharing.
“I used everything I knew about neuroplasticity and habit formation to build a curriculum that helps people create real, lasting, habitual, automatic change in their voice so they can sound like themselves, effortlessly,” Gress said. “That’s when Undead Voice was born.”
Resonance vs pitch
“Most traditional voice training methods were never built for trans people in the first place,” Gress explained. “And yet we’re still expected to use them, and we’re confused when they don’t work.”
She pointed to research by Stanford University’s Lily Clifford showing resonance, not pitch, is the most powerful factor in gender perception. Yet clinical models largely ignored this. Traditional training also mimicked physical therapy: a few isolated appointments with long stretches of practice alone. That isolation stalled progress.
“People don’t need the most support when they’re learning. They need it while they’re practicing,” Gress said. “Traditional models leave you to do the entire voice transition process by yourself. There’s no built-in community. No consistent emotional support. And no friends that have the same lived experience of transitioning their voice to buffer against the very real mental and emotional toll of voice dysphoria, which is often the number one reason people stop practicing ”
Undead Voice flipped the model, offering video lessons combined with real-time feedback, peer practice groups, and a global network of thousands. Instead of years (not including time spent on waiting lists), many members complete their voice transition with Undead Voice in just four to six months.
Building trust and shifting the field
Early on, Gress faced skepticism from medical peers. That has since shifted. “These days, I hear from other speech pathologists weekly, many of whom want to get into trans voice work but don’t know how, or don’t feel equipped,” Gress said.
Her videos, once dismissed as unsafe, are now recommended starting points by peers. Undead Voice also shares data with healthcare providers, speaks at conferences, and supports parent groups navigating voice dysphoria in youth.
“I do think the tide is turning… slowly… but it’s not because the system is fixing itself. It’s because trans people are building better models, and demanding better care, and the system can’t ignore that anymore.”
The power of community
Community is the foundation of Undead Voice. “When people practice alone, it’s easy to get stuck in fear, perfectionism, or silence. But when people practice together, everything changes because they realize they’re not alone. The community becomes a mirror, a buffer, and a source of momentum,” Gress said.
Members also echo that sentiment. Atticus, a trans man from Vancouver shared that once his voice aligned with his identity, he felt free to participate at work and pursue creative passions.
“Now that my voice reflects who I am, I don’t cringe every time I open my mouth,” said Atticus. “I feel like myself. Being surrounded by people who get it made me want to speak again. I sing again. I act again. I participate at work. My interests came back. I feel at peace.”
Willow, a 52-year-old woman in Florida said she felt safer in public once she began training with peers.
“I was skeptical… but I’m now so much more confident when talking to people as Willow,” she said. “Having others to walk through the process with made me believe it was actually possible. And now, I love the sound of my voice.”
“It’s not just technical progress; it’s emotional relief, social connection, and real healing,” Gress emphasized.
Making access possible
Cost has long been a barrier in voice training. “Most traditional voice training is cost-prohibitive,” Gress said, with sessions often costing $150 or more per one hour. To counter that, Undead Voice offers lifetime access to its core program and has awarded more than $1.4 million in scholarships. Undead Voice also launched Jumpstart, a free three-week series that has already reached tens of thousands.
“We believe that every trans and gender-diverse person deserves access to voice training, regardless of their age, zip code, income, or stage of transition,” Gress said.
What’s ahead
Undead Voice has already worked with more than 100,000 people in over 20 countries. But for Gress, the real impact lies in the individual moments: the person who finally answered the phone without cringing, the teen who started speaking again, the parent who said they could finally hear their child’s true self.
In the coming years, Gress and her team plan to scale up Jumpstart, expand healthcare partnerships, and develop new technology to make affirming voice training even more accessible.
“This is more than a program; it’s a movement,” Gress said. “And we’re calling in anyone who believes in self-determination, health equity, and the power of being heard to help us build what’s next.”