Story & Lesson Highlights with Melissa Del Toro Schaffner of Peoria

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Melissa Del Toro Schaffner. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Melissa, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Recently, I had the privilege of being cast alongside my 9 year old daughter, Indi, in the brand new audio drama “Cerulean Summer” by Keiko at MLA Entertainment. Voice acting is my dream, not my daughter’s. But, when I asked her if she’d be interested in auditioning for 10 year old Charlotte in Cerulean Summer, she was genuinely interested. During recording for Episode 1, I watched as she masterfully cold-read the script and emoted an authentic performance, genuine to the character of Charlotte. Having studied acting and voice acting and techniques to come across more “authentically” for over a decade, I was just so proud and amazed how simply and naturally it came to her. She needed no direction from me, and took direction from Keiko very well. Definitely a proud mama moment, watching my little deliver voiceover effortlessly – a career pivot I thought for myself an impossibility all of those years ago. I think all of the hard work, dedication, and professionalism I’ve put into my own craft have become an example to my daughter of which I’m super proud.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Melissa Del Toro International is a media company that empowers people with big goals dreams to make them a reality. Melissa Del Toro Voiceover, a branch of Melissa Del Toro International, provides broadcast quality voiceover services that give a compelling and relatable performance to engage your listeners and viewers. Services include, but not limited to, audiobook narration and editing services, animation voiceover, corporate narration and radio/television commercials. I was nominated for Best Animation Demo by the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences at the 2024 Voice Arts Awards in Beverly Hills, CA. My newest projects currently include Animation and Video Game Voiceover, where I voice Minny from Cerulean Summer, Lace in Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa, and several characters including Elvira and Gracelynn in the popular and beautiful SRPG game Path to Nowhere. I am the co-creator, producer and chief narrator of The Untold Tales short story, sci-fi podcast (which will be officially ending its production in December 2025), and I’ve voiced dozens of memorable characters on the popular Children’s S.T.E.M. Podcast “Who Smarted?!”.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
When I was a child, I always thought I needed to strive to be something better, do something better, have better things than what I had. I always had this force inside me to become the next best version of myself. And while there is nothing wrong with striving to be better, I never accepted that I was always “good enough”. I didn’t need to be anything MORE than I was. Because honestly, looking back at. myself as a kid, I was awesome. I was a great friend – loyal, loving, authentic. I was a scholar, a hard worker, took my responsibilities seriously. I didn’t have many friends because my parents were pretty strict (and having my own kid now, I understand why). However, my father would always “help” me with school projects and while he wanted them to come out awesome, it gave me the feeling that I “wasn’t good enough”. That was never true, of course, because my art and musical talent stood on their own. However, I never settled into my own “artist’s skin”. I always thought, “I can do better.” Now, I’m finally in a space where I feel like I’m “enough”. All of that preparation was always part of who I am – a person that strives for excellence. But, I’m now learning that the quality of “striving for excellence” is internal to me… and I am enough as I am, because of all of the things that I’m interested in and that come naturally to me. People now hire me for my ability to connect, act, emote, and tell stories. I was always great at that. I didn’t have to become anything else. I was enough. I know that my parent’s did the very best with the tools they had at the time with what was given to them. And now that I have advanced even further, I can teach my daughter what I’ve learned about myself. Her ideas, her “way of being”, her abilities, goals and desires, are always enough.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There are MANY, MANY times I almost gave up. At every junction and transition in my life, I wondered if it would be just better to lay down and die than to push forward and potentially fail. When I was in college, I lost a full-ride to Penn State University (my dream school) in my sophomore year of school. I had unknowingly overloaded myself with freshman year pre-engineering credits (math and science) and got a couple of 4-credit “D’s” that led to being unable to keep the “B” average needed for the scholarship. I came from a poor, middle-class family. That scholarship meant everything – my entire education. And I wanted to unalive myself for losing it. But, that little voice inside told me “keep going”, and eventually I landed other scholarships and cobbled together the finances for my education. That little “keep going” voice spoke up every time I almost gave up – just like it did when I ended a couple of toxic relationships, lost a couple of dream jobs, released a couple of dream properties. Even when I started my own business and my Voice Acting career; the money was non-existent compared to the money I was making with an Engineering/Project Management salary. I really questioned myself, my talent, my goals and dreams. My husband was really upset with me for “throwing it all away” until he saw the financial fruits of my Voiceover career slowly trickle in. But, I had to be the one to cry, defy, and push through – by myself. Every time, I’d ask myself: “Would you want this for yourself in 5, 10, 15 years? Would you kick yourself if you lost all of the progress you’ve already made?” When the answer was “yes”, I aways knew it was not time to give up… After all, it really is always darkest before the dawn. Giving up is actually ok to do, if your heart isn’t into it anymore, or you truly don’t like the results you are getting. But, if there’s something more you can do- if there’s something you haven’t tried or a direction you haven’t gone (and there always is), then never, ever, ever give up!

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes. I have no desire to put out into the world anything that I would not want to become part of my legacy and my time here on Earth. As an actor, while the characters I play are not “me” – per se – there is always a part of my authentic self embodied in the performances that I give and the projects that I produce. I do not desire to use Artificial Intelligence to create versions of myself that are not authentic. I do not desire to partake in projects, campaigns or initiatives that hurt or malign good people. I do not align myself with people, rhetoric, or organizations that are not wholly authentic to my thoughts, feelings and point-of-view. Anyone who knows me knows that when they meet me IRL, they will get the same person they know online. I want to leave my little part of the world (and the internet) better than when I came into it.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
Often, when people come to me and say they are interested in becoming Voice Actors, I think the one thing they don’t really want to come to grips with is that almost everything you do as a professional in any space – including Voice Acting – doesn’t really pay off until the 7-10 year mark. It’s taken about a decade to really hone my acting skills so that I can turn on-and-off performances, characters, and voices for a client. This truly is a profession. It’s taken about a decade to learn the in’s and out’s of being a business owner, that many years to get burned by bad clients and recognize scams. When we are new, we are willing to do anything. Discernment really kicks in at about the 7-10 year mark. And with discernment, the eye to work with great clients. The lessons that I’m learning and performances I’m doing now in Animation and Video Game voiceover will take several years to settle into fanbases and comic con signings. Sure, for some people it happens very quickly. But, I’d say the average overnight success definitely takes 7-10 years!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.melissadeltoro.com/voiceover
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissadeltoro_voiceover
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaideltoro/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissadeltorointernational
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MelissaDelToro

Image Credits
Personal
West 10th Photography