Gday, I’m Jess McAvoy (they/them)—a non-binary performance artist and voice educator based in Brooklyn, originally from Perth, Australia. For over three decades, I’ve worked professionally with voice as both an artistic medium and a practical discipline, releasing 20 studio projects since 1994 and building a body of work that spans music, multi diciplinary performance and voice work. My creative practice centers on leaning into the spaces that scare me using sound, presence and story—and how they inform the way we express ourselves and show up in the world.
Long before any of this had names, my creative work was a way of making sense of things. I’ve been turning inner chaos into something usable—sometimes even beautiful—since I could reach paper and pencils on the back-room table as a child. Making things helped me organize feeling, attention, and energy. That instinct—to listen closely and translate experience into form—became the foundation of both my artistic life and voice work.
I began my professional path as an in live musician in the 1990s, coming up as one of the few openly queer, independent artists in Australia at a time when mainstream pathways were even more inaccessible to minorities. That period pushed me to stay connected to my authenticity, even when it would have been easier not to. Eventually, that commitment carried me to North America, where I settled in Brooklyn in 2014 and continued expanding my work.
Over time, my creative inquiry took the shape of The Search—a one-person rock theatre work exploring identity, multiplicity, and authentic self-expression. The piece debuted off-Broadway at The Tank Theater in New York and later premiered at Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival, where it received a 5-star review from Artshub Australia. Around the same period, I released American Dreaming, my 20th studio work, reflecting on disruption, reinvention, and the stories we inherit about success. Both works ask the same core question that runs through everything I do: What becomes possible when we surrender to who we truly are?
My work as a voice coach began as a side hustle, but it quickly became clear that something much more significant was happening. I saw, again and again, the depth of change people experienced through this work—and I came to trust that my intuition and natural instinct for teaching were powerful tools. Teaching became an act of service and a central practice, inseparable from my creative philosophy and essential to the way I understand voice and transformation.
Today, I’m a highly respected voice coach in New York City, working one-on-one with performers, founders, CEOs, public speakers, and people navigating moments of real change. My work isn’t about fixing your voice or perfecting technique in isolation. It’s about helping you access a voice that’s connected—to your body, your nervous system, and your values—and learning how to use it with clarity, confidence, and impact.
I also lead The Sing Easy™, a group vocal practice rooted in ease, collective harmony, and nervous-system regulation. It’s welcoming, grounding, and quietly powerful—designed for both beginners and experienced voices. What began as a workshop has grown into a methodology and a community, continuing to evolve as both a wellness practice and a creative one.
I’m also available for keynote talks and panels, where I speak about voice, authenticity, resilience, and creative leadership—from the perspective of someone who has lived the questions, not just studied them.
Whether you encounter my work through music, performance, teaching, or a room full of voices, the offering is the same: a space for alchemy. A place to listen more closely, tell the truth, and step into a fuller, freer version of your voice.
If you’re here because you’re curious about the art, welcome.
If you’re here because something in you is ready to shift—and you want a guide who knows the terrain—I’m glad you found your way here.
