Today we’d like to introduce you to Terri Rockwell.
Terri, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up in Pittsburgh, I loved playing teacher and dancing, but I always dreamed of living under blue skies unobstructed by steel mill haze. After getting my degree in Broadcast Journalism, and minor in French, at Kent State University, I worked in TV news in Pittsburgh, and Steubenville, Ohio, before meeting my husband Jason at a station in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He was the weekend sports anchor, and ai was the weekend news anchor.
We agreed that whoever could get a job in a bigger TV market should take it, and the other would follow. I accepted a reporting position on Hilton Head. He followed and ended up working at WTOC News as the Beaufort Bureau Chief. I soon joined the Big Red 11 Team as a weekday reporter, covering city government,
Then came the “Big Break.” In 1997, we got our own show: The News First Report from 5:30-7am. A married news anchor team! We didn’t plan to have children, but God had other plans.
Our daughter, Alexis, was born in the summer of 1998. And the news didn’t seem quite so important anymore. So I decided to be a stay-home mom. In fact, that’s the same time frame that I started asking God if He was real, I challenged Him to prove it to me if He was. He did,
On Sept. 19, 1999, in a church in Bluffton, I heard a voice in the ears of my heart say, “Terri, I died for you.” I knew it was Jesus. From that moment, my life was no longer pointed at myself. It was now pointed at my Savior.
We moved to Savannah after the birth of our son, Ryan in 2000. Our new neighborhood of Georgetown is where we met the man who would become our pastor of The Sycamore Church, and the woman who would disciple me.
I was enjoying stay-at-home-mom life. We even decided to homeschool our kids. When Lexi was 3, I wanted her to have dance lessons like I did growing up. So I called around and was shocked at the expense involved with dance classes for a 3-year old. I felt God nudging me to start my own class for her and her friends in my living room! In no time., we had 15 girls between 3 and 12 bouncing off the walls of my small living room. God let me be a dance teacher! At 56 years old now, I am still teaching dance at Savannah Christian Lower School and at Rambam Day School. In addition, I have choreographed bridal dances and flash mobs, including The Resurrection Dance in 2010, which brought together almost 500 people from 60 different churches to dance in Forsyth Park.
Teaching something else from a childhood passion has brought me equal joy: French classes. In 2004, a teenage daughter of my friend asked me if I could teach her the language I hadn’t used since I graduated college with the minor in 1991. No way! God said, “Yes Way,” That first Terrifique French class had 4 high school students, 20 years later, I am still teaching small groups and tutoring one-on-one, in-person and online. Many of my students have gone on mission trips to French-speaking countries.
I finally got the chance to go to France with my family in 2018, a trip I had dreamed of my life. We visited 4 cities over 17 days. It was perfect. 4 years later, I returned as a missionary, working with a local church.
I still wanted to use my training as a professional speaker for something uplifting. So during Covid, I got trained in audiobook narration. My first narration was a book I authored myself in 2009 called “Eating with the King.” Then God sent me a dream series: 3 culinary adventures set in France, filled with characters whose accents I could create, and moving stories of WWII weaved throughout. They are Searching for Family and Tradition at the French Table: Books 1 & 2, and A Cup of Redemption.
To date, I have completed 7 audiobooks available on Audible.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No! It has been a road filled with twists, turns, mountaintops and valleys.
When I gave my life to Jesus, my husband thought I had lost my mind! It was a tough year until He found his own faith.
Professionally, I had been such a career-driven person. It was super hard to lay down my career for the good of my baby. I had worked 9 years and moved around a lot to finally get in that seat in the anchor desk. Each new thing Jesus has called me to do has seemed crazy. Home schooling, teaching dance, teaching French, mission trips to Nigeria, Cuba, and France, narrating audiobooks from my bedroom closet….none of these things were on my 20-year plan when I was 20.
Every step has been a step of faith, not knowing how God would provide, not knowing if I would look like a fool. Sometimes I did! But it has been a joyous adventure that I wouldn’t have traded for the greatest riches or fame.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
This is where I really get weird. I have 3 plates that I spin professionally.
My dance ministry is called Celebration Dance. I am known for helping children and adults express the joy of dancing for Jesus to contemporary Christian music without shame, perfection, or performance pressure. I get a lot of special needs students, who wouldn’t thrive in a traditional dance studio.
I’m also known for being a party starter. That means I can be hired to get a dance floor going at a big event, or choreograph and teach wedding dances…even a Michael Jackson dance mash-up! Im most proud of helping people without dance experience find their groove.
I’m freelance, so I can pop up a class wherever there is a group who wants to learn!
My French endeavor is called Terrifique French. It’s another super flexible thing where I can teach a class anywhere a group wants one. Traditionally, I have taught elementary, middle, and high school classes at The Sycamore Church. I also do one-on-one tutoring in my home and online. What sets Terrifique French apart is my hands-on learning approach. I teach topically and out students in situations where they have to learn basically vocabulary and simple conversational phrases to do games, skits, role playing, and songs. Once a month, students come to my house to create a French recipe together. Those are the most delicious and memorable experiences!
My actual business is Rock Talk Voice Overs by Terri Rockwell. www.terrirockwell.com
I do any kind of voice over: commercial and narration, but my favorite is audiobook narration. I adore a good redemptive story! My favorites are biographies and historical fiction. My niche is anything where I can use my French accent!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I have a big concern about AI taking voice actor’s jobs. Our voices are as unique as our fingerprints, but they are not protected. Our voices can be captured and manipulated to make AI voices without any compensation. It is identity fraud.
One thing AI can never replicate is my heart.
In the dance realm, I am very concerned about little girls being made up and dressed to look like adults. Sometimes even “sexy.” I believe this feeds in to a culture at not only objectifies women, but puts little girls in danger by attracting the wrong kind of attention. Kids need to be kids. I also believe performance presss]ure and emphasis on the external appearance leads ro self-esteem and anxiety issues later in middle and high school.
Pricing:
- Celebration Dance private lessons ; $100/hour
- Celebration Dance Kids Class: $75/month
- Terrifique French private tutoring: $40/hour
- Terrifique French Elementary Class: $50/month
- Rock Talk VO audiobook narration: $200 PFH
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.terrirockwell.com
- Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/celebrationdance and https://www.facebook.com/terrifiquefrenchclass
