Author Archives: Luke Ford

About Luke Ford

My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).

The Melania Trump Voice

Melania Trump (b. 1970) speaks little in public, and the silence does most of her work. Her voice carries a Slovenian accent that decades in New York never sanded down. The register sits low. The pace stays slow and even. … Continue reading

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The Usha Vance Voice

Usha Vance (b. 1986) gives you far less to work with than her husband, and the scarcity is the most telling thing about her public voice. Start with how little there is. She built a successful legal career and then … Continue reading

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The JD Vance Voice

JD Vance (b. 1984) talks like a man trained to win arguments. The training shows up in nearly everything he says. Start with the voice as it began. The Vance of 2016 wrote and spoke as a memoirist and an … Continue reading

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The Jared Kushner Voice

Jared Kushner (b. 1981) speaks softly. The voice sits high and thin, almost a whisper, and it surprises people who expect force from a man who held so much power. He keeps the volume low and the pitch level. He … Continue reading

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The Susie Wiles Voice

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (b. 1957) built a public style out of refusing one. That is the first thing to understand about her. She made silence the whole presentation. Her self-presentation runs on absence. She stood offstage … Continue reading

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The Jamie Dimon Voice

Jamie Dimon (b. 1956) talks like a guy from Queens who runs a bank, because that is what he is. The voice carries a flat New York rasp, fast and a little gravelly, the consonants clipped. He does not slow … Continue reading

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The All-In Podcast Voice

The four hosts each play a fixed role, and the show works because the roles rarely break. Chamath Palihapitiya (b. 1976) speaks in flat declaratives. He opens with “Look” or “The reality is” and then delivers a claim he calls … Continue reading

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The Kara Swisher Voice

My 2006 interview. Kara Swisher (b. 1962) talks the way she writes. Fast, blunt, profane. She built her voice on access and on having been there first. She knew the founders before the money came, and she reminds you of … Continue reading

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The Warren Buffet Voice

Warren Buffett (b. 1930) speaks in a flat Omaha accent, nasal and a little reedy, higher than you might expect from a man his size. The voice carries no polish. He sounds like a Nebraska insurance man at a Rotary … Continue reading

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The Voice of Rabbi Yaakov Israel Ifergan

Rabbi Yaakov Israel Ifergan (b. 1966) — Known popularly in Israel as “The X-Ray” (Ha-Rentgen), Ifergan represents the rabbi as a charismatic ritual performer. Based in Netivot, his public appearances are spectacles of spiritual intensity. His performance style involves entering … Continue reading

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