As outgoing state Sen. Scott Wilk was wrapping up his Senate duties, he honored two local employers as part of National Disability Awareness Month.   Laurent Jouvin, CEO of Migrate Sound in Valencia, took part in the Yes I Can Unity Through Music and Education (YIC) program to help provide career-skills training and employment services to individuals with disabilities. According to YIC officials, Jouvin made a big impact on students.  Migrate Sound CEO Laurent Jouvin shares what his students are learning with representatives of Yes I Can Unity Through Music and Education on Saturday at the Migrate Sound recording studio in Valencia. Michael Picarella/The Signal “Employers who give individuals with disabilities the opportunity to work are not just offering a job,” said Carol Stevenson, a member of the YIC board of trustees. “They’re allowing people with diverse talents, perspectives and determination to turn their passion into paychecks. In this, everyone benefits.”  Last week, Stevenson, along with YIC founder and executive director Bret Lieberman, and YIC deputy director Kirsten Fitzpatrick, presented certificates of recognition from Wilk to Jouvin.   In a separate ceremony, they also presented a certificate from Wilk to Robert Shen, president of Remo Music Center, which specializes in percussion design, production and distribution, and Remo human resources director Carmen Boyce for the work the company is doing with the YIC program.  From left, Robert Shen, Carmen Boyce, Tom Dvorak, Kirsten Fitzpatrick and Carol Stevenson take part in the recognition of Shen and Boyce last Wednesday at Remo Music Center company headquarters in Valencia. Photo courtesy of Andrew Ryan Jouvin, a sound designer and mixer who’s worked with the likes of Warner Bros. Television, the Walt Disney Co., and Amazon Studios, among many others, has been working with YIC students in his Migrate Sound home studio to develop their voiceover skills. He got linked up with YIC about two years ago.  “Brett reached out to me just to see if I’d be willing to speak at a Zoom conference,” Jouvin said before the ceremony. “I had a blast. I mean, I could talk about voiceover forever. It was awesome, so much so that I reached out and I said, ‘Well, let’s do another one.’ One thing led to another, and I think I’m the one who reached out and said, ‘Why don’t we just do a workshop?’ We had enough people who were interested.”  One of the first students to want to join that workshop was William Felber, 30, who was at Jouvin’s ceremony.   Felber has since gone on to do voiceover jobs for Netflix and Disney, and he also got his Screen Actors Guild card as a result of his work with Jouvin.   By day, Felber is a welder. It’s not something he wants to do the rest of his life, he said. He’s harbored a dream to do voiceover since he was a kid when he used to watch cartoons like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Courage the Cowardly Dog.” He wanted to be one of those voices.  William Felber, left, and Laurent Jouvin listen to Felber’s voiceover demo reel on Saturday at the Migrate Sound recording studio in Valencia. Michael Picarella/The Signal “I just was too self-conscious, though,” he said. “I was stuck in my shell, afraid to really go through with it.”   Jouvin helped with that.  Student Juan Sanchez, 22, who was also at Jouvin’s ceremony, was studying business at College of the Canyons before joining the voiceover workshops.  “I never really knew that I wanted to be a voice actor,” Sanchez said. “But I knew I liked entertainment, and I wanted to do something entertainment based.”  During the pandemic, Sanchez was doing Zoom meetings like so many others and, having a microphone in front of him during those meetings, he began thinking about voice acting. He said he fell in love with it instantly. Like Felber, he’s been working with Jouvin for about two years.  Juan Sanchez reads a script for a Maserati car commercial on Saturday at the Migrate Sound recording studio in Valencia. Michael Picarella/The Signal Aidan Gurrola, 25, was the newest student of the three who were at the ceremony. He’s been going to Jouvin’s workshop for a few months and said he can see his own progression since starting. He gave credit to Jouvin.  “I met Brett Lieberman at an ‘America’s Got Talent’ showing via a friend,” Gurrola said. “I walked up to him, and I just showed him a little bit of my drawing, and I kind of introduced myself.”  Gurrola’s interest in voiceover was born out of his artwork. He said he wanted to put voices to the characters he was drawing. It eventually led to him linking up with Jouvin.  Aidan Gurrola reads a script for a Maserati car commercial on Saturday at the Migrate Sound recording studio in Valencia. Michael Picarella/The Signal All three students gave sample readings of a Maserati commercial during the event. Jouvin also played a couple of his students’ demo reels. Those who were in the studio that day seemed impressed with what they heard.  When Lieberman presented the certificate of recognition to Jouvin, he explained that it was for the amazing work he accomplished with YIC students.  “We’re honored,” Lieberman said, “to be able to have you pass down your knowledge, inspire and train our guys.”  Jouvin seemed grateful and also very proud of his students. He spoke highly of them and about how rewarding it was to see how far they’d come since they began the workshops.  “It’s the progression,” he said. “It’s their ability to take a piece of copy and understand the copy, understand the product, the message, and then bring it to life. The biggest reward I could ever get is when one of them actually gets a gig. They audition for something, we send it in, and if it actually materializes and turns into a gig, that is just priceless.”  According to Stevenson, Jouvin is an example of an employer that YIC is fortunate to find. Part of the challenge for YIC, she said, is finding employers who see the value in their students.  “It’s kind of driving parallel roads,” Stevenson said, “in that you’re teaching the individuals — the students of Yes I Can — but you’re also teaching the employers.”  Lieberman added that many employers hear “disability” and run away from it.  “Laurent will tell you right off the bat,” Lieberman said, “‘You’ve got some diamonds in the rough. These students have potential.’”  Lieberman agreed.  Earlier that same week, YIC also recognized Shen and Boyce, of Remo, with certificates of recognition that Wilk signed as part of National Disability Awareness Month.   Mike Parkyck, left, Robert Shen stand in front of a large mural of endorsed Remo drummers last Wednesday at Remo Music Center company headquarters in Valencia. Photo courtesy of Andrew Ryan According to Stevenson, YIC approached Remo about two years ago to create a paid internship for a neurodiverse student looking to work in the entertainment industry.   “They had a candidate who was very interested in pursuing a career in the music industry, and he had a particular interest in drumming,” Shen said during a telephone interview. “So, we brought him in for a couple of interviews.”  According to Shen, the candidate, Mike Parkyck, said he wanted to get his hands dirty. He really wanted to work in the production environment. Shen said Remo is always in need of capable and willing people to work in the factory.   Through the funding received by the state and YIC, Parkyck worked with Remo for six months. At that point, the company offered to keep Parkyck on as a permanent employee.   “He accepted,” Shen said, “we transitioned him, and for the last year and a half — or over a year and a half, probably almost two at this point — he’s been working as a machine operator in our factory.”  Shen couldn’t praise Parkyck enough, saying he’s a hard worker and has a positive attitude every day.  As for the recognition Remo received, Shen said he was honored. He sees the company continuing to work with YIC. In fact, they may have another YIC student coming to work with Remo soon. He looks forward to it.  For more information about YIC, go to YICUnity.org.  Yes I Can deputy director Kirsten Fitzpatrick, left, presents certificates of recognition from former Senator Scott Wilk to Robert Shen and Carmen Boyce during a visit last Wednesday to the company headquarters in Valencia. Photo courtesy of Andrew Ryan The post Two employers honored for work with ‘Yes I Can’  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.