As a child, Dr. Wendy LeBorgne dreamed of being on Broadway
Today, it is undeniable that she has had her impact on Broadway shows—though not as an actress. She has helped countless actors and actress when they’ve experienced vocal injuries, helping rehabilitate their voices and prepare them to act and sing again. LeBorgne is a vocal athlete, an expert on the voice, vocal injuries, and vocal recovery. She is to vocal athletes what a physical therapist is to an athlete.
LeBorgne helps professionals restore and care for their voices, enabling them to return to their performances and careers. She has worked with anyone from singers, actors and actresses to preachers, lawyers, and presenters—anyone who relies on their voice and may experience vocal injuries.
Her work on Broadway involves walking actors and actresses through vocal exercises, assessing vocal demands, and doing what’s needed to get performers safely ready to return to the stage. Most of her work is crisis management, assisting performers and people after the damage to their voice has already been done. Her work has a great impact on the performances, not only helping stars get back on stage, but also assisting those people in maintaining their voices for years to come.
Over her career, LeBorgne has supported the vocal wellness of countless Broadway shows, like “Shrek,” “Wicked,” “A Chorus Line,” “Scottsboro Boys,” “School of Rock,” “Finding Neverland,” “Cinderella,” and “Hamilton.” She has been involved in a little bit of everything, always contributing to the vocal success of such musicals.
Over the course of her 30-year career, her clients and patients have been in Broadway shows, operas, television, and films, both nationally and internationally. Her work expands beyond performers, providing executive communication coaching and even giving a TED Talk about how one’s voice is one’s brand. Between group workshops and individual vocal therapy, she has helped prominent figures preserve and heal their voices and communicate more effectively.
For the last three years, LeBorgne has taught at the Mount, mostly graduate-level classes in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences program. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati in the College-Conservatory of Music, teaching, for example, vocal wellness for vocal athletes.
Beyond academia and vocal therapy, LeBorgne is involved in advocacy. Currently serving on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Health Care Economics Committee, she strives to shape policy to better support coverage of communication disorders.
Understandably, she loves her work. To help people on their vocal journeys and witness clients perform after a vocal injury is a rewarding experience. Her work has involved her with some of the most prominent voices in the world, which has been a daunting responsibility as well as an exciting opportunity. Even with the odd hours—her clients are across time zones, across the world—she loves her job and loves sharing her passion with her students.
From Broadway to TED Talks to Mount St. Joseph, LeBorgne has worked with a vast variety of professionals as she furthers the field of voice.