Meet Victoria Vasquez, The “Voice of NYCHA”
Her name, Victoria Vasquez, might not ring a bell, but her voice is familiar to NYCHA residents and just about anyone who has ever called NYCHA’s offices.
For nearly a decade, the Vladeck Houses resident has been lending her voice to the interactive voice responses (IVR) for the robocalls NYCHA sends out to residents as well as the prompts that help callers navigate NYCHA’s phone system. She is the first-ever NYCHA employee to perform this task, earning her the unofficial “Voice of NYCHA” title.
Though perhaps best-known for her voice-over work, Ms. Vasquez is a Computer Associate (Operations) in the IT Department whose daily tasks include ensuring that the telephone systems are operating properly. She landed her role as the “Voice of NYCHA” by accident:
When Superstorm Sandy impacted millions of New Yorkers in 2012, there was an urgent need for NYCHA to send information to residents and staff. But NYCHA did not have an emergency broadcast system at the time. Brian Donaghy, the then-acting Director of Network and Telecommunications, asked the relatively new hire, Ms. Vasquez, to record the emergency message because he believed she had the perfect voice for it. Mr. Donaghy’s conviction was backed by George Williams, Director of the Customer Contact Center, and Margaret Podmore, Director of the IT Service Desk.
“That was the first time we had to broadcast emergency messages for residents and employees,” Ms. Vasquez explained.
Using the approved text, she recorded the message on her mobile phone from her apartment, uploaded it to the emergency broadcast system, and sent it out to residents and staff. That was just the first of many recordings she would do for NYCHA.
“Victoria’s voice talent has been used to host an amazing amount of voice recordings in support of IVR and telecom messaging,” said Mr. Donaghy.
Ms. Vasquez joined NYCHA in 2012 through the Workforce Opportunity Services initiative, a program that trained public housing residents in computer technology support at Columbia University. She was among 400 residents who applied to the program. About 15 of them went through the two-year program, and Ms. Vasquez and seven others were hired by NYCHA upon graduation.
In her decade at NYCHA, Ms. Vasquez has worked on several telephony projects, including the hotline for residents to report elevator outages and a phone system used by NYCHA staff for daily health screening during the COVID-19 pandemic. One project she is particularly excited to have brought online is the IVR system for NYCHA’s payroll department, which she designed and implemented.
Earlier this year, Ms. Vasquez worked with a vendor on a cloud-based IVR telephony system for NYCHA ensuring that “all the verbiage, the call flows that we use, and all of the hotlines we use are transferred to the cloud correctly.” She is still providing support for the cloud-based platform.
Mr. Donaghy said Ms. Vasquez has been instrumental in coordinating with the business units and using her institutional knowledge of the existing IVR system to ensure that the new systems meet and exceed the previous ones.
“Victoria Vasquez is an extremely valued member of the Telecom team,” said Mr. Donaghy. “Her hard work supports the functionality of the IVR and outbound call campaigns. NYCHA as a whole, and particularly the Telecom team, are exceptionally lucky to have such a talented member on our team.”
As work on the cloud-based IVR project nears completion, so too will Ms. Vasquez’s tenure as the “Voice of NYCHA” – an automated voice will take over the IVR duties once the cloud-based IVR goes live.
“I am going to miss it,” she said about her IVR duties. “But I may still do it from time to time, though, because we still have emergency situations that can come up [that would require me to record a message].”
So until the automated voice takes over the IVR duties, you still have time to hear the famed “Voice of NYCHA” say: “Hello! You have reached the New York City Housing Authority; please hold for the next representative.”
