Earlier this week we announced something new: The UN/SUNG Award. It’s our way of recognizing people of the Pacific Northwest who are #tunedtocommunity and making an exciting, creative #communityimpact with their work.
And today we’re thrilled to shine a spotlight on our first award recipient: Deena Kamm, founder of Voice Up, a company dedicated to empowering community members to access and lift their voices.
“I teach people how to unlock the power of their voices and use them more effectively, and to break down the barriers that repressed their voices in the first place,” said Kamm, who runs her company from Bend, Oregon where she moved after a long career in Los Angeles as a professional musician.
Deena works with regular folks, community leaders and corporate VIPs to develop a connection with their own authenticity–and to own that power by expressing themselves through song.
Her work is exceptionally powerful when applied to a group setting. Several years ago Deena began honing transformative group experiences through a beloved community event series in Bend called Public Rock Choir. Community members gather together with a live band and Deena as coach to sing en masse. Many participants say it’s unlike anything else they have ever experienced.
“What happens when you’re singing in a group is that everybody syncs up. Your physical body chemistry actually syncs up so everyone is moving on the same frequency,” said Deena. “If you are singing with a live instrument, that live instrument is producing the same frequency that you’re singing, so it literally, physically feels better.”
Why is Deena receiving our first UN/SUNG Award?
Her work is the physical embodiment of what happens when we come together to alter our communities. We sync up and transform ourselves. Her coaching gives community members the permission to speak up. To get loud. To tap into their own original sound and to never be afraid to share it.
“I’m trying to raise the volume of the world,” she said.
We hear you Deena and salute you with our first ever UN/SUNG Award.
Thank you for making a #communityimpact.