Nikki Zhao (B.Bus, B Aviation Management, MFA Voice) is a professional voice coach that uses actor training methods, both artistic and scientific approaches to help professional speakers, presenters and creatives to become more confident, effective and engaging communicators.

Her practice centres around preparing speakers for the particular demands of public speaking, through non-verbal communication, voice, phonetics and text. In her teaching she has demonstrated a considerably strong ability to work alongside professionals in collaborative situations and is comfortable in leading workshops alongside the philosophy, ethos and practice of a program, developing successful working relationships with participants, children, mature learners and professionals. 

With a special interest in working with artists, healers, influencers, actors and educators and EAL speakers' voices, Nikki is a sessional lecturer at the VCA and JMC, teacher at Funese, and a wedding MC.

Based in Melbourne, Nikki works across Australia and beyond.

Creative Bio

Nikki has worked as dialect coach on productions including: for Creative Learning Victoria: Abbotsford DNA Through Time; for NIDA: When Vampires Shop; for VCA: She Kills Monsters; for Red Stitch: Caught; FLAKE; for Griffin: Sex Magick; for SBS: Appetite.

Stage work: Shanghai Mimi at the Hawthorn Art Centre; for Melbourne University Chinese Musical Group: December Rains (dir: Bang Xiao), Mulan: The Original Musical (dir: Ching Ching Ho), What Binds Us (dir: Virginia Lin); For Crown: Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival; fundraiser event: Stage Fright.

Nikki attended the Lessac Body and Voice Intensives and gained her practitioner certification with the Lessac Training and Research Institute. Before the global pandemic, Nikki travelled to Singapore to teach performing arts, dance and acting students at LASALLE College of the Arts and Intercultural Theatre Institution (ITI), and observed classes at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and Chowk Productions. Nikki also worked alongside the Creative Victoria’s Creative Learning Partnerships grant recipients Ching Ching Ho and Abbotsford Primary School in 2022.

Coaching Focuses

Voice and speech is a key to expressivity and character, and speaking is a sensory journey. Through the fine-tuning of the body and the awareness of the innate qualities of the body, the aware speaker responds to inner and outer stimuli with more eloquence and readiness.

The fine tuning of the body, voice and the mind is like assembling and tuning up a musical instrument before a performance, our very own instrument - the body and voice also needs to be tuned up before facing the demands of the day. As the larynx or the voice box sits in our body, it is therefore very important to teach the body to release excess tension or effort, train the mind to become more carefree, so that sounding can feel much more at ease with a body that is responsive to the impulse to speak!

I coach, guide, demonstrate, listen and teach you along the way with the deep understanding I have of body, voice, embodiment, and communication. But the real practice, sensing and exploring comes from you. Through in-depth speech analysis, and an understanding of the client’s cultural context, the work addresses habitual patterns that impedes efficient voice use, such as physiological habits, physical and emotional tension. My style is practical, disarmingly dorky, non-judgemental, and inclusive. I’m also a multilingual so I’m very aware of how to support people who’s acquiring new languages or accents. I approach coaching with utmost care, thoughtfulness and consideration.

Online sessions are conducted via Zoom or Skype. Payments can be made via PayPal.