<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/american-idol-anniversary-feature">"American Idol" contestants told Insider</a> the most surprising things they learned while on the show.</li><li>Some contestants recalled feeling "out of body" during live performances and their finales.</li></ul>There's a lot more to being on <a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-fun-facts-2018-10">"American Idol"</a> than what you see on <keyword id="11898468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tv" source="Orion">TV</keyword>. Ahead of the Fox-ABC show's 20th anniversary, Insider asked winners and finalists to share things that surprised them about being on the <keyword id="13757540" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="singing-competition" source="Orion">singing competition</keyword>. <h2>Early 'Idol' contestants were given a wardrobe budget and later ones worked with a stylist</h2><a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-runner-up-knew-kelly-clarkson-would-win-season-one-2022">Season-one runner-up Justin Guarini</a> said that there was a "nature of collaboration" between contestants and crew members when it came to the outfits they wore on stage when the show aired in 2002.Season-seven "Idol" winner David Cook said he was "floored by the fact" that he was allowed to pick his own wardrobe when he competed in 2008. "The idea of having $100 to $200 on an outfit for your performance was like, 'Oh my God, how am I possibly going to spend all this?'" Cook recalled. "And then you go shopping in LA and you're like, 'Oh, that's how I'm going to spend all of it.'"Jena Irene Asciutto, the "Idol" runner-up in 2014, said singers were paired with stylists on her season but that didn't mean their outfits were always perfect. Asciutto, who was 17 at the time of filming, said she remembers the season-13 stylists "were so incredibly talented" but "boxed in by what the executive producers saw for each contestant." For instance, Asciutto said she didn't appreciate how producers kept picking outfits that "accentuated" parts of her body that made her uncomfortable. "I think looking back on that, I would totally have wanted to change some things around and have the final say so," Asciutto recalled.<h2>'Idol' contestants can vote for each other</h2>Season-nine runner-up Crystal Bowersox said she would take time to vote for each contestant when the live shows aired."During the voting time, I would always go and place one vote for every single contestant other than myself, at least one," she told Insider.<h2>A few singers auditioned without ever watching the show</h2><div type="image" title="Taylor Hicks outstretches his arms and looks surprised on &quot;American Idol&quot; stage" height="1921" width="2562" msid="92396788" hostid="261" sizebytes="310996"></div>Though many contestants grew up <a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-william-hung-she-bangs-audition-story-2022-6">cheering for their favorite "Idol" singers</a>, a few told Insider that they went into their auditions knowing little about the series. "I went through the show having never really watched the show," said season-five winner Taylor Hicks. But he believes his experience on the show was made "even more special" by the fact that the camera crew captured his "pure and honest reactions."Season-six runner-up Blake Lewis said he wasn't planning to <a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-relatives-famous-celebrities-auditioned-2022-4">try out for "Idol"</a> until he spontaneously decided to join a friend in the audition line."My friend called me out of the blue to be in line with him," Lewis recalled. "He says, 'What are you doing at 5 a.m.?'" After he made it through to Hollywood Week, Lewis said he reached out to his childhood friends and "grilled them" on their "Idol" knowledge. He added, "I'm like, 'What is this show about? What am I getting myself into?'" <h2>Sudden fame from the show was disorienting for a lot of finalists</h2>"I went from complete obscurity to not being able to walk down the street at that time," said Bowersox, who competed in 2010.Season-six finalist Melinda Doolittle said that she became a hermit for "at least two years" after her time on the show. "You could not walk more than 10 feet without getting stopped or people wanting pictures and wanting to talk to you," Doolittle recalled.Some "Idol" contestants said that the attention could border on stalking at times. Hicks recalled that a paparazzo followed him in a helicopter for "about two weeks" after competing on the show. "I had a bodyguard for six months, it was very intense for me," Hicks said. "It's very scary when you get let out to pasture, as I like to say."<h2>According to contestants, security can be pretty tight on and off set</h2><div type="image" title="Melinda Doolittle wearing a silky white dress holding a microphone on &quot;American Idol&quot; stage" height="1480" width="1973" msid="92396789" hostid="261" sizebytes="92768"></div>Some contestants on earlier "Idol" seasons said producers kept a close eye on the singers in order to contend with fans and crowds of reporters. "I would run away from security and try to go find hiding spots because we were supposed to stay in a bubble and always have a security guard with us. I couldn't stand it," Bowersox told Insider. Lewis said he would often sneak out with his roommates and ask the security guard stationed outside their apartment to look the other way.Doolittle recalled that there were "security risks" involved with filming "Idol," but she was always upfront about asking producers for time away. She said that a friend "would literally drive me around in his car just so I could practice because in the apartments you couldn't really sing that loud."Season-three runner-up Diana DeGarmo, who was 16 years old when she competed, said there were security measures in place including contestant curfews, a staff of security guards, and limited mobility to and from set.<h2>Some contestants had an 'out of body' experience during the final rounds</h2><div type="image" title="Caleb Lee Hutchinson in a brown suit playing a guitar and singing onstage with red lights and illuminated background" height="1778" width="2371" msid="92396791" hostid="261" sizebytes="279526"></div>Caleb Lee Hutchinson, who placed second on season 16, said he "disassociated" at a certain point during the finale. "Honestly, I looked back at that footage and I don't see anything behind those eyes, that dude is just up there," Hutchinson said."When we did the performances I got to sing with Joe Cocker," Bowersox said of her finale experience. "I don't remember being in my body for those moments … it's hard to remember it even from my own perspective." Season-18 winner Just Sam said that she experienced a similar feeling when she found out she would <a href="https://www.insider.com/where-are-they-now-american-idol-winners-2018-5">progress to the finale episode</a>."I literally felt like, 'I am asleep,'" Just Sam said. "'I must be in a coma and somebody has not woken me up yet.'"<h2>Some winners and runner-ups won free cars as a part of the show's sponsorship deals</h2>Before "Idol" was picked up by ABC, the show had a long-running sponsorship deal with Ford in which some finalists received free cars. After placing second on season 14, Clark Beckham said that he went into "negotiation mode" when it came to picking his car."I'm going to shoot as high as I possibly can," Beckham recalled. "And if they say no, at least we work from there rather than not realizing I could have gotten more."Beckham said he went with a Ford 5-150 truck and "souped it up" as much as he could. Bowersox said that her season's winner, Lee DeWyze, went above budget on his car, which was good news for her. "There was some kind of clause where they had to honor that for me," Bowersox recalled. "So I picked a vehicle that was under that budget and ended up getting a check for the remaining amounts." <h2>Contestants said editing is everything on <keyword id="11899410" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="reality-tv" source="Orion">reality TV</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Jena Irene Asciutto wearing a white and red jacket with eyes closed singing into microphone with green lights in background" height="2174" width="2898" msid="92396793" hostid="261" sizebytes="387992"></div>Lewis said he "had to fight so hard" to be himself on the show and that a lot of what happened wasn't what it seemed.He said during his audition in front of the judges <a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-finalist-judges-forced-him-to-beatbox-blake-lewis-2022-6">he was asked to beatbox and declined three times before he finally gave in</a>. But Lewis said the footage was edited to make the situation seem different. "The way they cut it — they made it seem like I was cocky," Lewis said. When season-six finalist Sanjaya Malakar auditioned for the show with his sister, Shyamali, he said he could feel producers pushing for a "sibling rivalry" angle and <a href="https://www.insider.com/american-idol-runner-up-happy-no-more-bad-singers-on-show-2022">trying to coach certain reactions out of them</a>. "Essentially, it felt like they were feeling out whether or not my sister and I would be combative or a team," he told Insider. Asciutto said one waiver she signed included the show's right to "piece footage" together as it pleased. "You could be saying one thing, answering a question, or talking about a certain topic or situation, but they could string certain words or footage together to make it seem like you were saying something different," she told Insider.<h2>Choosing songs isn't always straightforward </h2><div type="image" title="A.S.E., formerly known as La'Porsha Renae, sings and holds a microphone on a stage illuminated with purple light" height="1643" width="2191" msid="92396794" hostid="261" sizebytes="320230"></div>Season-15 runner-up A.S.E., formerly known as La'Porsha Renae, said that singers sometimes had less creative control than viewers may have thought. Although producers often chose songs for contestants, A.S.E. said that she and a few others were "rebellious" on their season because they were "very adamant about what song choices we wanted to do and why we fought for our song choices."When A.S.E. chose to sing Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," she said that a crew member tried to feed her a line off-camera. "She was like, 'Just in case producers don't choose that song and they say you can't do it, say something like, I wish I could have done that song,'" A.S.E. recalled.A.S.E. said she refused to say the line, thinking that if they didn't have her saying it on camera she'd get to do the song. "So you have to be smart and learn to maneuver," she added. <h2>Contestants' vocal cords go through a lot and they take great measures to keep them going</h2>Since singing for a prolonged period of time can put pressure on contestants' vocal cords, Hicks said he would often camp out in the bathroom between rehearsals because it was the "most humidified place" on set."It was like I had a giant case of diarrhea the whole time, but actually it was just me trying to keep my voice," Hicks said. Season-13 winner Caleb Johnson said his voice "was blown out" right before the finale and he had to take drastic measures after conventional remedies, like drinking hot tea, didn't work. "... The reality was just, there was no time," Johnson told Insider. "So they did this kind of unorthodox thing where they took a needle of adrenaline and would spray my vocal cords to basically make it come back."<h2>Finalists' days are usually long and packed with rehearsing or shooting B-roll and commercials</h2>Season-16 winner Maddie Poppe said Hollywood Week was "exhausting," as the contestants had a 7 a.m. call time every day but she didn't yet have access to wardrobe or hair and makeup. "We eat breakfast, and then we go over and we get ready," she said. "Then you're at the Dolby Theatre shooting all day, but you don't have hair and makeup, you don't have a wardrobe. Asciutto told Insider that there were days when "we were barely even in our hotel rooms" due to commitments like shooting B-roll or participating in commercials." ... As the weeks went on and people were eliminated, the people left were responsible for filling that episode of time," she recalled. "So we were needed for more things. And I think at like top eight was when we started doing Ford commercials every Sunday."<h2>A lot of recent contestants check social media and are pushed to use it — but it can be tough</h2><div type="image" title="Caleb Johnson performs onstage in a black suit with yellow lights in background" height="3437" width="4583" msid="92396795" hostid="261" sizebytes="251350"></div>A.S.E. recalled that during her time on the show, she faced a "whole whirlwind" as she navigated social media platforms.She said the show's social-media mentor often told her to post on Instagram and Facebook, but it was extra tough because she "wasn't used to critique on such a massive level." Johnson even recalled a time when users didn't believe in him on one of the show's Twitter polls. "It said, 'Is Caleb going to make it into the watch shows?'" said Johnson. "And 80% of the Twitter poll said, 'No,' like it was like 80 to 20 and I was just laughing."He said it still cracks him up that the majority of voters on the poll didn't think he'd make it far, especially since he won the whole season. Representatives for Fox and ABC did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

'American Idol' finalists share 12 things even superfans don't know about being on the show

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Last year, I spent 2 months turning a 2012 Ford Transit Connect into a micro-cabin on wheels.</li><li>Since <a href="https://www.insider.com/interesting-things-about-living-on-the-road-with-family">taking it on the road</a>, I've realized there are plenty of things I wish I'd done differently.</li><li>Tackling a fast reno schedule in the middle of winter while working full-time wasn't a good combo.</li></ul>When 2020 hit with all of its uncertainties, I knew there was no better time to start <keyword id="6894034" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="van-life">van life</keyword>.I was working remotely, so I retreated to my childhood <keyword id="6363870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="home">home</keyword> in Ohio and spent two months and $12,500 turning a 2012 Ford Transit Connect into what I fondly call my micro-cabin on wheels.There are lots of things I'm proud of, but since hitting the road, I've learned a lot about what I should and shouldn't do for my next build.Read on for my biggest regrets from the <a href="https://www.insider.com/advice-for-buying-and-fixing-up-a-used-van">renovation process</a>.<h2>Working full-time while converting the <keyword id="6388544" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="van">van</keyword> wasn't ideal</h2>Most mornings, I worked on the van from 7 or 8 a.m. until I started work at 12 p.m. Then I got back to it at 8 or 9 p.m. and worked into the early hours of the next day.This allowed me to keep <a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-things-about-living-in-a-camper-van-what-it-is-like">my full-time, remote job</a> at an LA-based start-up while making progress on my build.I was able to hit the road quickly, but the schedule was aggressive and the burnout was real.There were moments I was bent over a jigsaw in tears from exhaustion and frustration and others when I <a href="https://www.insider.com/i-failed-at-van-life-what-went-wrong">made stupid mistakes</a> because I was in a hurry to finish before work.<h2>I wish I'd invested in a bigger rig from the start</h2><div type="image" title="exterior shot of abbey's van in front of some rock structures" height="2275" width="3033" msid="85151894" hostid="261"></div>There are a couple of vehicle models that are almost ubiquitous with the van-life <keyword id="15482" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="lifestyle">lifestyle</keyword>: the Mercedes Sprinter, the RAM Promaster, and the Ford Transit.They're long, tall, and allow for building out extra elements like showers and kitchens. They also cost about three to four times my total budget before <keyword id="923923" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Renovations">renovations</keyword>.I wanted to hit the road as soon as possible while keeping costs low, so I went with a smaller van.But when I start <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-to-know-before-traveling-in-a-camper-van-tips">planning for my next build</a>, I'll go with something that allows me to comfortably host my partner, friend, and pups and has extra room for bikes and climbing gear. <h2>Trying to build in the middle of a Midwest winter was a big mistake</h2>On the weekends, I frequently worked for eight hours straight in the snow and cold, and Ohio winters don't mess around.A trusty pair of insulated Carhartt coveralls became my best friend, but I'll never recommend a winter build.Glue doesn't stick when it's 9 degrees Fahrenheit, wet paint doesn't always dry in the right finish or color when it's too cold, and trying to do any work that requires fine motor skills in gloves is a major morale buster.<h2>Building out-of-state without paying attention to details made things harder</h2>When I went home to Ohio, I planned on finding a van, converting it, and driving back to California within two or three months.But I quickly learned that securing out-of-state registration and getting my van from point A to point B without incurring massive fines wasn't easy.I knew buying the van in rural Ohio would save me money, but it didn't occur to me that the logistics of building and taking my first trip would be inhibited by registration details.The timeline of the long, leisurely trip I'd imagined was suddenly based around when my temporary tags expired.<h2>I wish I'd installed a few more creature comforts</h2><div type="image" title="interior shot of abbey's van with sink and couch" height="2274" width="3024" msid="85151897" hostid="261"></div>I knew my small van was going to fall short of the glitzy "apartments on wheels" <a href="https://www.insider.com/rv-renovation-what-its-really-like-gross-expensive-photos-2021-5">all over social media</a>.In many ways, that's what I wanted. As an avid backpacker and camper, I didn't want to lose the "out there" feeling I love about nature.But building a van <a href="https://www.insider.com/things-i-have-for-living-on-the-road-2021-5">without creature comforts</a> means I have to adapt how I <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> and prioritize proximity to necessities like showers and toilets. Unless I want to haul a collapsible toilet in my van, I have to camp at defined sites rather than in the backcountry.Although I invested in a portable shower, I find myself envying people in <a href="https://www.insider.com/things-i-wish-i-knew-before-buying-a-secondhand-rv-travel">bigger rigs or RVs</a> who don't have to trek to and from the bathroom in the dark or inclement weather. <h2>Insisting on doing the build myself wasn't all that gratifying in the end</h2>Whenever you see a beautifully built, woman-owned van on social media, check the comments. The most frequent one you'll probably see is, "Did you build that yourself?"I was motivated to be able to answer "yes" without hesitation, proving all the subtle misogynistic questioners wrong.In reality, I relied heavily on the expertise of my dad and uncle. They helped me brush up on the skills I'd learned in high-school shop class and take them to the next level. They also put in extra effort while I was working.I have lots of great memories of working on the van with them, but there are things we probably would've saved time and effort on by outsourcing labor.Even if it ended up costing a little more, it would've been worth it for our sanity and peace of mind. <h2>I run my van on renewable energy, so it would've been nice to have fixed solar panels</h2>I decided that I wanted my van to run primarily on solar energy early on, but costs and timing meant that buying solar panels wasn't an option.The first two months on the road, I charged my battery - which powered my lights, fan, and electronics chargers - through shore power (outlets at campsites that plug right into my van). A few months ago, I invested in a 100-watt solar panel and have since been running everything on the renewable energy source.But the panels aren't fixed to my roof, so I have to lug them in and out of the van every time I use them. They're bulky, heavy, and fragile, and having them fixed to the top of my van would make a huge difference. <h2>Next time, I'm investing in a van with 4-wheel drive</h2><div type="image" title="abbey's van sitting in a tree-filled forest over gravel road" height="2994" width="3992" msid="85151901" hostid="261"></div>I haven't run into a terrain problem yet, but it's something I'm always thinking about while scouting campsites on dirt roads.I sometimes have to hop out and walk a route to be sure that I'll be able to make it over sandy or muddy areas while people in Sprinters or Transits cruise right past.<a href="https://www.insider.com/i-failed-at-van-life-what-went-wrong">Buying a van</a> without four-wheel drive kept my costs low, but the investment would've been worth it. <h2>I didn't give myself a very realistic schedule for the build </h2>I purchased my van on December 22, 2020, and hit the road on February 21, 2021.In those two months, my dad and I gutted the van; installed flooring, insulation, wood paneling, and electricity; and built cabinets, an overhead storage unit, and a convertible bed.Did I mention this was all while working nine-hour days?Spreading out the build would've given me more rest days - I took exactly two days off - and peace of mind. I also could've planned further in advance and taken more time to consider whether or not I was happy with how things were coming along. <h2>My tight budget wasn't that effective in the end</h2>Although budgeting was helpful for getting a rough idea of how I wanted to break up my investment, it was brutal when I faced the reality of working on such a large-scale project.When I started, 2-by-4 pieces of lumber were almost $7 per board - the <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/03/31/lumber-prices-2021-chart-wood-production-high-why-is-lumber-so-expensive-right-now-home-prices-data-update/">highest cost in 13 years</a>. Additionally, you don't always know what you need until you start moving. That extra $40 here on flooring material and $20 there on more paneling adds up.After buying my van for $9,000, I knew I only wanted to put in $3,000 more, max, and I came pretty close.But since then, <a href="https://www.insider.com/rv-information-you-should-know-before-buying-secondhand">I've invested another $1,000</a> into things like solar panels, showers, and safety supplies that were never in my original budget.Now I see a van build as an ongoing expense, like rent, that I'm always saving for and investing in rather than a one-time purchase.

I spent 2 months renovating my van for $12,500. Here are 10 of my biggest regrets so far.

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<div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"></div>Vincent Yu, AP</div>
HONG KONG (AP) — For many of the richest people in Hong Kong, one of Asia's wealthiest cities, home is a mansion with an expansive view from the heights of Victoria Peak. For some of the poorest, like Leung Cho-yin, home is a metal cage.
The 67-year-old former butcher pays 1,300 Hong Kong dollars ($167) a month for one of about a dozen wire mesh cages resembling rabbit hutches crammed into a dilapidated apartment in a gritty, working-class West Kowloon neighborhood.
The cages, stacked on top of each other, measure 1.5 square meters (16 square feet). To keep bedbugs away, Leung and his roommates put thin pads, bamboo mats, even old linoleum on their cages' wooden planks instead of mattresses.
"I've been bitten so much I'm used to it," said Leung, rolling up the sleeve of his oversized blue fleece jacket to reveal a red mark on his hand. "There's nothing you can do about it. I've got to live here. I've got to survive," he said as he let out a phlegmy cough.
Some 100,000 people in the former British colony live in what's known as inadequate housing, according to the Society for Community Organization, a social welfare group. The category also includes apartments subdivided into tiny cubicles or filled with coffin-sized wood and metal sleeping compartments as well as rooftop shacks. They're a grim counterpoint to the southern Chinese city's renowned material affluence.
Forced by skyrocketing housing prices to live in cramped, dirty and unsafe conditions, their plight also highlights one of the biggest headaches facing Hong Kong's unpopular Beijing-backed leader: growing public rage over the city's housing crisis.
Leung Chun-ying took office as Hong Kong's chief executive in July pledging to provide more affordable housing in a bid to cool the anger. Home prices rose 23 percent in the first 10 months of 2012 and have doubled since bottoming out in 2008 during the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund said in a report last month. Rents have followed a similar trajectory.
The soaring costs are putting decent homes out of reach of a large portion of the population while stoking resentment of the government, which controls all land for development, and a coterie of wealthy property developers. Housing costs have been fuelled by easy credit thanks to ultralow interest rates that policymakers can't raise because the currency is pegged to the dollar. Money flooding in from mainland Chinese and foreign investors looking for higher returns has exacerbated the rise.
In his inaugural policy speech in January, the chief executive said the inability of the middle class to buy homes threatens social stability and promised to prioritize tackling the housing shortage.
"Many families have to move into smaller or older flats, or even factory buildings," he said. "Cramped living space in cage homes, cubicle apartments and sub-divided flats has become the reluctant choice for tens of thousands of Hong Kong people," he said, as he unveiled plans to boost supply of public housing in the medium term from its current level of 15,000 apartments a year.
His comments mark a distinct shift from predecessor Donald Tsang, who ignored the problem. Legislators and activists, however, slammed Leung for a lack of measures to boost the supply in the short term. Some 210,000 people are on the waiting list for public housing, about double from 2006. About a third of Hong Kong's 7.1 million population lives in public rental flats. When apartments bought with government subsidies are included, the figure rises to nearly half.
Anger over housing prices is a common theme in increasingly frequent anti-government protests. Legislator Frederick Fung warns there will be more if the problem can't be solved. He compared the effect on the poor to a lab experiment.
"When we were in secondary school, we had some sort of experiment where we put many rats in a small box. They would bite each other," said Fung. "When living spaces are so congested, they would make people feel uneasy, desperate," and angry at the government, he said.
Leung, the cage dweller, had little faith that the government could do anything to change the situation of people like him.
"It's not whether I believe him or not, but they always talk this way. What hope is there?" said Leung, who has been living in cage homes since he stopped working at a market stall after losing part of a finger 20 years ago. With just a Grade 7 education, he was only able to find intermittent casual work. He hasn't applied for public housing because he doesn't want to leave his roommates to live alone and expects to spend the rest of his life living in a cage.
His only income is HK$4,000 ($515) in government assistance each month. After paying his rent, he's left with $2,700 ($350), or about HK$90 ($11.60) a day.
"It's impossible for me to save," said Leung, who never married and has no children to lean on for support.
Leung and his roommates, all of them single, elderly men, wash their clothes in a bucket. The bathroom facilities consist of two toilet stalls, one of them adjoining a squat toilet that doubles as a shower stall. There is no kitchen, just a small room with a sink. The hallway walls have turned brown with dirt accumulated over the years.
While cage homes, which sprang up in the 1950s to cater mostly to single men coming in from mainland China, are becoming rarer, other types of substandard housing such as cubicle apartments are growing as more families are pushed into poverty. Nearly 1.19 million people were living in poverty in the first half of last year, up from 1.15 million in 2011, according to the Hong Kong Council Of Social Services. There's no official poverty line but it's generally defined as half of the city's median income of HK$12,000 ($1,550) a month.
Many poor residents have applied for public housing but face years of waiting. Nearly three-quarters of 500 low-income families questioned by Oxfam Hong Kong in a recent survey had been on the list for more than 4 years without being offered a flat.
Lee Tat-fong, is one of those waiting. The 63-year-old is hoping she and her two grandchildren can get out of the cubicle apartment they share in their Wan Chai neighborhood, but she has no idea how long it will take.
Lee, who suffers from diabetes and back problems, takes care of Amy, 9, and Steven, 13, because their father has disappeared and their mother — her daughter — can't get a permit to come to Hong Kong from mainland China. An uncle occasionally helps.
The three live in a 50-square-foot room, one of seven created by subdividing an existing apartment. A bunk bed takes up half the space, a cabinet most of the rest, leaving barely enough room to stand up in. The room is jammed with their possessions: plastic bags filled with clothes, an electric fan, Amy's stuffed animals, cooking utensils.
"There's too little space here. We can barely breathe," said Lee, who shares the bottom bunk with her grandson.
They share the communal kitchen and two toilets with the other residents. Welfare pays their HK$3,500 monthly rent and the three get another HK$6,000 for living expenses but the money is never enough, especially with two growing children to feed. Lee said the two often wanted to have McDonalds because they were still hungry after dinner, which on a recent night was meager portions of rice, vegetables and meat.
The struggle to raise her two grandkids in such conditions was wearing her out.
"It's exhausting," she said. "Sometimes I get so pent up with anger, and I cry but no one sees because I hide away."
SEE ALSO: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/jan-25-2013-photo-77-old-yeung-ying-photo-103152648--finance.html">Pictures of Hong Kong's Cages &gt;</a>
___
Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman
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</div>

In Hong Kong, Rich Live In Mountain Mansions And Poor Live In Cages

A complete timeline of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's tumultuous relationship

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">APA Facebook partner lounges on Facebook's Menlo Park campus.</div></div></div><ul><li>The least-secret secret in the Valley is called "resters and vesters," or "coasters" - which refers to engineers who get paid big bucks without doing too much work, waiting for their stock to vest.</li><li>We talked to engineers in the "rest and vest" world who explained how it happens and how they spend their days.</li><li>As cushy as it sounds, there are some real career risks and pitfalls for doing this rest-and-vest thing.</li></ul>On a sunny summer morning, a Facebook engineer woke up to go to work but felt ill. She ran to her bathroom and threw-up. "I thought I was getting sick," the engineer recalled. It wasn't a virus or food poisoning. She was having a bad reaction to her job.She was making $1 million a year, mostly in stock, and running a team of about three dozen people, she told Business Insider. And she had worked herself into a state of exhaustion in the three years since Facebook had acquired her previous company. The acquisition had been highly political, the integration wasn't going well and she had been killing herself to make it more successful and protect her people from losing their jobs over it.As tired as she was, she couldn't just quit this job. She owed a big chunk of money in taxes thanks to that stock and needed her salary to pay those taxes.But after getting violently ill at the thought of going to work, she decided not to go in. Not that day. Not ever again. And she knew she wouldn't get fired.Because not going to work was actually her manager's idea.The previous day she had told him she would be leaving the company at the end of the year, six months away. She wanted to spend the rest of the year wrapping up her projects but not taking on any more, collecting on the stock that would vest by year end and making the money she needed to pay her taxes."My manager and I had lots of conversations. I teetered on leaving so many times," she said. "But this time was for real. I was going to see these projects to a healthy state and then I needed to go. I felt good about it. The next thing, he told me not to come in."She panicked thinking he was firing her but he explained she wasn't being terminated at all. "Just don't come to work. You're burned out and need a break. Just don't talk about it and everyone will assume you're on someone else's team," her told her.The manager's proposal didn't go over well. "I was livid and I never would have done it. I had every intention of joining another team. But then I woke up and started vomiting," she said.And that's how this hard-working, conscientious engineer wound up joining the least-secret, secret club in the Valley, known as "rest and vest."<h2>The least-secret, secret club in Silicon Valley</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/2910041631/in/photostream/">Scott Beale/Laughing Squid</a></div></div></div>"Resting and vesting" is when an employee, typically an engineer, has an easy work load (if any job responsibilities at all) and hangs out on the company's payroll collecting full pay and stock. Stock is often the bigger chunk of total compensation for a senior engineer than salary.Once she was in rest-and-vest mode, this engineer spent her time attending tech conferences, working on pet coding projects and networking with friends, quietly developing an idea for her next gig, a startup.She realized that her manager let her "rest and vest" to keep her quiet about the problems with that acquisition, so she had time to find her next thing. Had he terminated her immediately, she would have been incensed. "Everyone knew I had a big mouth and would speak out. He figured, 'Hey, it costs us next to nothing keep her happy for six months,'" she said.Business Insider talked to about a half a dozen people with direct knowledge of the rest-and-vest culture. Some were "fat cats" themselves. Some were hiring managers who tried to lure these folks back to the world of productivity. Many acknowledged that resting and vesting was a common, hush-hush practice at their own companies. Internally, these people are often referred to as "coasters."Their lives counter the other reality for many in the tech world: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/syndromes-drive-coders-crazy-2014-3">long work hours</a> and pressure for workers to pledge unrelenting devotion to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-google-engineer-gave-up-on-silicon-valley-2017-3">their companies and jobs above all else.</a><h2>'My days began at 11 ... and I took long lunches'</h2>Engineers can wind up in "rest and vest" jobs in a variety of ways. Manny Medina, the CEO of fast-growing Seattle startup <a href="https://www.outreach.io/">Outreach</a>, has been on all sides of it. He briefly was a coaster himself, and says he saw how Microsoft used it to great effect when he worked for the software giant. He has also tried to lure some "rest and vest" engineers to come work for him at his startup.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Manny MedinaOutreach CEO Manny Medina experienced the "rest and vest" phenom from all sides.</div></div></div>Medina said he experienced the high-pay, no-work situation early in his career when he was a software engineer in grad school. He finished his project months early, and warned his company he would be leaving after graduation.They kept him on for the remaining months to train others on his software but didn't want him to start a new coding project. His job during those months involved hanging out at the office writing a little documentation and being available to answer questions, he recalls. "My days began at that point at 11 and I took long lunches," he laughs. "They didn't want you to build anything else, because anything you built would be maintained by someone else. But you have to stand by while they bring people up to speed."Years later, he landed at Microsoft and says he saw how Microsoft used high-paying jobs strategically, both within its engineering ranks and with its R&amp;D unit, Microsoft Research. The company, he says, would nab hard-to-find experts in up-and-coming fields like artificial intelligence, robotics, natural speech language, quantum computing and so on, often allowing them to collect their Microsoft pay while maintaining a job as a professor or researcher at a university."You keep engineering talent but also you prevent a competitor from having it and that's very valuable," he said. "It's a defensive measure."Another person confirmed the tactic, telling us, "That's Microsoft Research's whole model." <h2>'Mid-30's pulling in 7-figures a year'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">AP</div></div></div>At other companies it's less about defense and more about becoming indispensable.For instance, Facebook has a fairly hush bonus program called "discretionary equity" or "DE," said a former Facebook engineer who received it."DE" is when the company hands an engineer a massive, extra chunk of restricted stock units, worth tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's a thank you for a job well done. It also helps keep the person from jumping ship because DE vests over time. These are bonus grants that are signed by top execs, sometimes even CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself."At Facebook the 'OGs' [Original Gangsters] we know got DE," this former Facebook engineer said. OGs refer to engineers who worked at the company before the IPO. "Their Facebook stock quadruples and they don't leave. They are really good engineers, really indispensable. And then they start to pull 9-5 days," this person said. Facebook declined to comment but several engineers told us that Facebook has a reputation of requiring long hours from their engineers.These DE bonuses are not specifically designed as a mechanism for resting and vesting, but they can play a role in enabling it. Those with DE packages land in a self-fulfilling prophecy of success. They become known to top managers. They get choice assignments with plenty of resources which means they can work less with good outcomes, this Facebook engineer described."These are really smart people and they don't leave. They're in their mid-30s, pulling in seven figures a year, and they don't have to work as hard. We say they're just coasting," he said.<h2>The 10x engineer</h2>Other "rest-and-vest" types are part of a tribe in the Valley known <a href="http://redmonk.com/fryan/2016/12/12/on-the-myth-of-the-10x-engineer-and-the-reality-of-the-distinguished-engineer/">as "the 10x engineer,</a>" a term used to describe someone said to be 10-times more effective than a so-called ordinary engineer.Legend has it that a 10x engineer can do in one hour what it would take others 10 hours to do. Some of these folks are just plain brilliant. Others aren't necessarily smarter but they know every detail of a critical system. "When people have been there long enough, they often bring a value that's not easy to see. They might know where the bodies are buried on some project, be called in as a last resort to debug a project, or they are known as a great pinch hitter," describes the former rest-and-vest Facebook engineer."One guy at Facebook didn't seem to work a lot, but when the site would go down he could find things that couldn't be found," the engineer described.<h2>Google and the "rest and vest" joke</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">BI Graphics/Anaele Pelisson</div></div></div>Other members of the "rest and vest" set are the "coasters," the long-timers who have reached a company's top engineering ranks and don't need to work hard to stay there.They may not be 10x engineers, but they are institutional employees who know how to do just the right amount of work to get a good annual review and collect their next batch of stock grants.According to all the folks we talked to, Google is known as a place where this type of rester-and-vester flourishes."Most of my friends at Google work four hours a day. They are senior engineers and don't work hard. They know the Google system, know when to kick into gear. They are engineers, so they optimized the performance cycles of their own jobs," one engineer described.A former Google manager who recently left the company agreed. "There are a lot 'coasters' who reached a certain level and don't want to work any harder. They just do a 9-5 job, won't work to get promoted, don't want to get promoted. If their department doesn't like them, after a year or two they move somewhere else," she said.The term "rest and vest" even became a term jokingly associated with Google when HBO's satire sitcom, "Silicon Valley" did a bit on it. In the hit show, Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti, played by actor Josh Brener, got a promotion at the fictional tech giant Hooli, which is inspired by Google. Bighetti was not assigned to any project and instead joined a group of other unassigned employees squandering their days on the company's roof."I've actually had a number of people, including today at Google X, ... send me pictures of themselves on a roof, kicking back doing nothing, with the hashtag 'unassigned' or 'rest and vest.' It's something that really happens, and apparently, somewhat often," the actor <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-rest-and-vest-2016-8">Brener told Business Insider's Melia Robinson last year.</a>While those pictures were likely jokes sent to Brener by fans of the show, several people from Google told us that when very senior engineers wrap up a big project, they may find themselves unassigned for a while, reporting to Google cofounder Larry Page, until they decide what they want to do next, not unlike the Hooli roof-top crowd.<h2>"Life is good, you maximize your vacation. I'll come in when I want to"</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Getty/Stephen Brashear</div></div></div>The moonshot research unit known as X, run by Google's parent company Alphabet, has a Valley-wide reputation as a place to land a "rest and vest" gig, several people told us. An engineer currently working at X said that X's extremely long-term view, and its tendency to cancel projects, has given it that reputation."At X, we don't have a sense of budgetary concerns," this person said. "Engineers get paid $250,00 to $600,000 range, but there's no sense of urgency. It's like a startup but not really. It's like a startup with unlimited funds."Alphabet's CFO and Wall Street veteran Ruth Porat is said to be reining in the idea of unlimited funds at X and elsewhere in the company.People inside Google say that her office personally approves all new hires these days for all units except cloud computing, which reports to Diane Greene. (We hear cloud is growing so fast that Google is ramping investment in it, hiring like crazy.)Even so, it's the nature of X that can tempt people into coasting, this engineer says.While other tech companies "sear" a product's ship date into their engineers, who work nights and weekends to hit that date, "at X, people think, 'if my project is cancelled, oh well, I'll just find another project,'" he said."You get paid so much after a certain level at Google, that once you get there, there's no real reason to work that hard. Life is good, you maximize your vacation. I'll come in when I want to," the X engineer said, estimating that very senior engineering positions can command up to $400,000- $600,000 in total compensation at X, including bonus and stock options."What incentive do you have to work harder when you are already making $500,000 in salary and there is no more upward trajectory?" this person explains.Google declined comment but a spokesperson for Alphabet X wholly rejected this characterization."We have a compensation program here that has been tailored to encourage intellectual honesty from our teams," X spokesperson Courtney Hohne told us. "So we developed this program to reduce any incentives to just hang around until some far-off payday."<h2>Come to work each day and play</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Erin SiegalAn employee plays with Legos at the New York City offices of Google</div></div></div>Whether coasting long term, unassigned short-term or resting-and-vesting for another reason, these engineers typically do go into the office every day and are expected to show up, a former Google manager told Business Insider. "You have to be physically present," this person said. But "there are so many distractions within Google" that it's easy to come to work and still spend hours playing."You want to have lunch at a lovely cafe, or maybe attend a tech talk, or a class, or you want to go to a bodywork class at 6 p.m. or to get juice at the Slice Cafe and it's on another campus. So you end up working 6 hours. There are times you have to put in nights and weekends, but in general, the company is so big and has so much money, you can work less," this person told us.Google certainly isn't the only tech company to offer such distractions. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-disneyland-inspired-campus-2013-10">Facebook has classes, a wood shop</a> and a video arcade for its employees. Oracle <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-employees-enjoy-pool-yacht-2015-1">has a sand beach volley ball pit and a swimming pool</a>. Microsoft has a soccer and cricket sports field, <a href="https://careers.microsoft.com/benefits/usbenefits">plenty of Xboxes and an on-site day spa.</a> We've been told rest-and-vest engineers can be found at all of these companies.<h2>From cushy to dead-end </h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Happy-Happy-Worksite/f99af0ed6be44b7faa44531eb8d3fc74/110/0">AP Photo/Jeff Chiu</a>Companies say extraordinary campuses are a necessity, to recruit and retain top talent, and to spark innovation and creativity in the workplace. And there are business benefits and financial results for companies that keep their workers happy.</div></div></div>If this sounds like a dream job situation, there is a dark side: the "rest and vest" life can also be a career killer. In an industry that worships workaholics and the Next Big Thing, ambitious engineers want their resumes to be full of products used by millions of people.But rest-and-vest engineers can wind up spending years "never shipping anything" the X engineer described. That can be particularly true for those coasting at a long-term research facility like Microsoft Research, where <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-x-yoky-matsuoka-valley-of-death-product-development-2017-7">academic research doesn't easily leap into commercial products</a> or at X, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/technology/they-promised-us-jet-packs-they-promised-the-bosses-profit.html">where projects are frequently cancelled</a> by design."They know staying at X can be a career deadpool," the X employee said.X spokesperson Courtney Hohne says that this criticism misses the point of X."X is not about polishing products or optimizing systems that support millions of users," Hohne said. "X is designed to be a place for early stage prototyping and de-risking. Different engineers (and business people) like different stages of the innovation process, and that's ok."Still, Medina, the former coaster and Outreach CEO, agrees that doing the rest-and-vest thing too long can be dangerous for a career."These engineers are highly, highly paid, but there is no other company that will take them," he says.If the engineers are willing to adjust their pay expectations downward and roll up their sleeves again, startups like his have been known to offer them jobs."Eventually, they get tired and want to go get real work," he said.Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-8-rumor-roundup-iphone-x-10-rumors-tim-cook-2017-8">Everything we know about the new iPhone that Apple will announce in September</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="mhKLRarl" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Inside the world of Silicon Valley's 'coasters' - the millionaire engineers who get paid gobs of money and barely work

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">Renee Raudman Renee Raudman, one of the most requested narrators in the multibillion dollar audiobook industry.</div></div>You probably don't know Renee Raudman by name - but there's a good chance you've heard her voice.
Raudman is one of the most requested narrators in the multibillion dollar audiobook industry, having recorded well over 300 books since 2006.
In less than a decade, the actress-turned-voice-over star has won several awards, critical acclaim, and changed the landscape of the genre. 
"When audiobooks were first being produced for a more mass market, the trend was toward a 'single-voiced' read with, at most, subtle changes for each different character," she says. "However, I didn't know that when I narrated my first audiobook. I just assumed the approach I took - voicing a distinctive personality for each major character - would be best suited for this medium as well."
Her goal, she explains, was to make a movie for the mind.
And she has succeeded.
Business Insider spoke with Raudman about how she got into the fascinating world of audiobooks, and the most exciting and surprising aspects of her job. 

Business Insider: Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Renee Raudman: I was raised in the small town of Kalkaska, Michigan - a beautiful place to grow up. I graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor's degree in Communications. (Go Spartans!) Immediately after graduating from Michigan State University, and about five years into the corporate world of advertising and marketing (and loving it) in the suburbs of Detroit, I decided that I didn't want my life to pass by without finally listening to this little voice deep within me - that, up until that point, I was terribly afraid to even acknowledge - that begged me to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor.
BI: What happened next?
RR: One of the girls that I worked with at the ad agency told me her brother was a pretty big agent in LA. I asked if I could interview him, and she kindly set up the meeting. I flew to Los Angeles and asked him to give me every piece of advice that he could, in addition to what he believes the biggest mistakes other aspiring actors make, that ultimately lead to their leaving the business unfulfilled. He smiled and said nobody had ever asked those questions, because they probably didn't really want to know the answers, and he proceeded to give me a detailed list. I took copious notes.
Within 30 days, I moved to Los Angeles and had taken every step of advice he gave me. When I called and gave him this update, there was a stunned silence on his end of the phone. He said, "I never thought I'd hear from you again. And certainly not within a month!"
BI: So how did this lead to your narrating career?
RR: While having success in a variety of daytime and prime time television and film opportunities, my "voice over" star was rising. I had voiced hundreds of TV and radio commercials, including several national campaigns for retail and political ads, as well as cartoons and video games. 
In 2005, I met someone who narrated audiobooks - which I personally always loved! Can you guess what I did? I sat him down, asked him dozens of questions, and … I took copious notes. 
BI: Did you ever imagine you'd have a successful career in the audiobook industry?
RR: Well, when I was in third grade, my parents had given me a little cassette recorder for Christmas. I used to come home after school and take that tape recorder into the bathroom (no one bothered me in there, and the acoustics were fantastic) and I would act out all the characters from my history class I had learned that day. I would give each notable person from history a different voice, and make up all these stories about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, the Hopi Indians, etc.. At seven years old I was recording and acting out full stories with different voices.
I still have that tape recorder.
When I tell you I loved listening to audiobooks, I mean I loved it. I would drive to San Diego from Los Angeles, just so I wouldn't have to stop the tape. And do you know, it never occurred to me to pursue this medium.
BI: When did it finally occur to you?
RR: About nine years ago, I met a fellow who was dating my sister at the time named Scott Brick. He was, and still is, the male voice in audiobooks. And as I mentioned, I was fairly successful in my own right in the commercial VO world.
Given my fascination with audiobooks, I hung on his every word when he told me of his industry. We agreed to trade information about the other's voice-over world. The rest is history, as they say. 
BI: Did he help you break in to the industry?
RR: Yes. He kindly helped me put together a demo reel, I sent it out to seven companies and heard back from four of them within the month - which was unheard of at that time. Very few women back in 2006 had their own home recording studio, so it allowed me to work for several different publishers from home, and it also allowed me to work in every genre of audiobook imaginable.
In a way, it's a "right time, right place" kind of story. The audiobook world was just beginning to explode with digital downloads and a lower price-point. Amazingly, this series of events led me to be able to make a living at something that I seemed to be destined to do from such an early age. 
BI: Have people always complimented your voice?
RR: What an interesting question! I guess they have; yes. But I've worked really hard on what my normal speaking voice sounds like. In my early 20s I heard myself on a recording, and I thought, YIKES! 
I then began to take note of how other's spoke. For example: If they had a squeaky, tight, breathy, baby, or whiney voice. (Amazing at how it would match to their personality.) While at the same time, I would feel so attracted to people's voices that were calm, relaxed, in control, at a lower more natural register, etc. 
After a little research, I found that if I strengthened the muscles of my diaphragm and use them from which to speak, that it gave my whole being a sense of ease, control, and confidence. It did away with my shallow breaths, and higher pitch. Honestly, transforming my voice had an incredible impact on shaping who I am as a person today. 
BI: Can you tell us more about what it's like to record an audiobook?
RR: Without a doubt, audiobook narration has been the toughest work I've done in the world of entertainment. I'm not complaining, as there are other jobs in our world that are truly backbreaking hard and dangerous!
Narrating is like running a marathon versus a sprint. Unlike a radio commercial, which might take an hour to record, I work full eight-hour days, five days a week, with just two short breaks a day and lunch. I sit for long stretches of time in a dark small studio (usually by myself, unless recording with a partner). It's fairly exhausting, because during those eight hours, I'm talking the whole time, and there's never a moment where I can stop and return emails, phone calls, or not be in full performance mode. Let's just say I'm not the best conversationalist when I get home. 
BI: How do you prepare for a narration? 
RR: It really depends on the project. While I do prep for every book I narrate, a non-fiction book typically takes a lot less time than a fiction novel. The prep on a non-fiction title is usually limited to pronunciations, and some research, based on either the author or the subject matter. For the most part, as the narrator, I am responsible for coming up with all pronunciations in the book. Whether it's medical verbiage, names of towns in foreign countries, or another language all together, we are responsible for it being 100% accurate.
However, fiction is another story. Because of the number of books that I record, I've found that I can be more productive if I have assistance in the preparation of almost every novel I narrate. I, personally, pre-read the manuscript. Simultaneously, I'll hire someone else who will go through and prep the physical manuscript. This will include creating character sheets, pronunciation lists, story summary by chapter, as well as "coding" the script.
"Coding" includes putting initials next to each line as to who is speaking, highlighting direction or emotion if it appears after the line of dialogue, and the change of character's point of view. 
As far as warm up goes: Other than a cup of coffee several hours before recording, and then a cup of tea and glass of water in the booth, I'm pretty much ready.
BI: What's the typical starting salary for a new audiobook narrator? And how high can that number go for an experienced narrator? 
RR: The wages tend to be pretty hush-hush. If the title is 10 hours long, you get paid an hourly rate based on the finished hours. I believe starting salary is approximately $100 per finished hour for newcomers, and can go up to anywhere in the neighborhood of $500 for the cream. This would not include celebrity reads. 
BI: How many books do you record a year? 
RR: I used to take every book that was offered to me. However, I'm trying my best to add more balance to my life. My new goal is to narrate no more than one to two books per month. I'm trying to go from approximately 40 books a year to 24 books a year. (Except I sort of blew it this month, because I recorded four titles and a short story in the last two weeks alone.) Exhausted doesn't begin to describe how I feel!
BI: How long does it typically take to record an audiobook? 
RR: A fairly standard title would take me about 1.5 times the length of the book. The audiobook world is measured by the "PFH" (per finished hour). So if a title is 10 hours, it usually takes me about 15 hours of actual recording time. However, two of the aforementioned titles I recorded in these last couple weeks, took over twice the PFH. One had approximately 130 different characters in it, many of those returning from prior books in the series.
BI: How many narrators work on any given book?
RR: Typically, only one person narrates an entire book. But some titles will beg for a full cast of narrators (for instance, The Bible). Several of the bigger name authors, like Catherine Coulter, can request - and their audiobook sales can support - hiring two narrators; usually a male and a female. 
I've done several duo narrations for Catherine Coulter, and they are a blast to narrate. To make it more of a movie for the mind, Catherine allows us to take all the "he saids/she saids" out of the book. It's also a real treat to get to read and play off of another actor. 
BI: Do you have a favorite book that you've narrated? 
RR: Boy, that's so tough. Truthfully, I don't have a favorite. Certain titles move me to tears. Others make me laugh out loud. Some provide me a day's (much needed) escape. And in others, I fall in love. Who can pick a favorite? I will say, I was just recently chosen by Disney to narrate Tangled and because my 3-year-old niece absolutely loves this movie, this was a very exciting job to get. 
While I can't pick a favorite book, I am so, so, lucky to work with some of the best selling authors in the world. I have to pinch myself some days. Really! Danielle Steel, Catherine Coulter, J.T. Ellison, Suzanne Brockmann, Nora Roberts, Ilona Andrews, Deborah Coonts, and the list goes on and on. 
BI: What's the coolest or craziest experience you've had as an audiobook narrator? 
RR: Perhaps that I lost an "Audie" (our industry's Oscar equivalent) to Johnny Depp. 
Will you indulge me one more?
BI: Of course.
RR: In addition to narrating audiobooks, my company also has professional recording studio, and we produce audiobook textbooks for online universities in Southern California and Colorado.
So, one day, I needed to buy an office chair, and had heard that a nearby garage sale had a brand new one. My fiancé and I went to take a look. The place was hopping with people, but for some reason the homeowner took a shine to me and began asking a lot of questions about what I did and where would I use the chair. 
When I told her that I narrated audiobooks, she said, "You're kidding! They've changed my life! I would never be able to get my college degree without taking courses from an online college. And I wouldn't be able to get through the classes but for the fact they offer their textbooks in audiobook format. Have you ever heard of such a thing?!"
I said that I had. And then she said, "How cool is this?!" and whipped out her iPhone and pushed play: "Welcome to Anthropology 101. Narrated by Renee Raudman…." 
My fiancé, John, started giggling and said, "that's her" and pointed to me. We all had a good laugh. 
But truly, I can't tell you how proud I feel to be able to contribute something so worthwhile. I'm someone who learns much better by listening than reading. So that was a powerful and really cool moment for me.
BI: Do you listen to you own audiobooks after they're completed?
RR: Once in a great while I'll need to listen to characters from a prior series, or if I'm working on a new accent and want to hear how it came out. Though it does pain me. I'm completely hyper-critical. I always want to get back into the studio and fix a line here and there and find myself cringing. However, there are times where I'll be listening and get caught up in the story and think: Hey, that was OK! 
BI: Has a stranger ever recognized your voice? 
RR: As I mentioned, I am from Michigan. Upon first moving to Southern California, I had a very strong Michigan accent. My very first radio spot was for Security Pacific Bank and had nine words: "College, clothes, my own car, Christmas vacation … spring break!"
My Michigan accent was particularly strong in words like car. I was in the McDonald's drive through here in So Cal. After placing an order, the girl, through the speaker, asked, "Do you have a bank commercial running right now?!" 
BI: What's the one most surprising things about being an audiobook narrator? 
RR: I guess a few things. One, I didn't know it would be so labor intensive. Two, until recently, it never occurred to me that I might have fans. And three, that reading a love scene in a book is a whole lot different than acting one out. (I'm not saying it isn't fun. I just have to be careful with what titles I recommend to mom and dad.)
BI: What's the best part about being an audiobook narrator?
RR: I get paid to read what I'd read if I were on vacation; I get to be all the characters behind the mic; and I get to fall in love over and over again, every time I step into the booth.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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