You might know her as the competitive boxer 'Lady Killa,' or as your bartender, if you frequent the Chatham Squire.
Massachusetts Port Authority has been searching for someone with just the right voice and accent to welcome fliers to Boston Logan International Airport. And Dennis resident Kristin Ingala could be that voice.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke with Ingala recently about what it's like to be a finalist for the Voice of Logan contest.
Gilda Geist Can you tell me about how you first heard about the Voice of Logan contest and what made you want to audition?
Kristin Ingala I had no idea about this audition. I had probably over six different people send me it. I'm a competitive boxer and I even had one of my competitors send it to me and I was like, I guess I gotta do this. So one day, house was quiet, son was good in the kitchen, I just put my phone on. I had sweatpants and tank top and just read the script off, and I didn't think anything of it. I just said, I might as well send one in. I have a pretty good accent, might as well do it. By October 4 you had to send it in. And then I think October 16 they were like, "oh, you're a semifinalist." And I just thought it was like one of those timeshare giveaways, like, oh, you won a cruise. And I was just like, all right, whatever. Then I get a call and they're like, "we need you for media at iHeart in Medford on Monday at 8." And I was like, "wait, what do you mean?" They're like, "you made the top eight out of almost 6,000 people."
GG Your family's from Boston, but you live on Cape Cod. Can you tell me a little bit more about growing up?
KI So, I have family roots in the North End and Medford, and I kind of grew up in the town of Wilmington. And I went to a tech school, so there was like kind of five different towns around us, and we all pretty much have accents. My father's from Medford and my mom's from North Providence, Rhode Island. So, I kind of have like a combination of both. And I never knew I had an accent until I went to college. And I only went to college in Springfield, which is still in Massachusetts. And everybody was like, jaws were dropped when I was talking. Like it was super culture shock. I actually had a kid—after posting all this on my socials—he messaged me, and I haven't talked to him in years. I mean, I graduated in 2016. He goes, "I remember in class"—I was in the back of the classroom. We had about probably 30 to 40 people in the class. And I raised my hand. My teacher was using a red Expo marker. And I was like, "I have a question. Do you mind using a darker marker [she pronounces it DAH-kuh MAH-kuh]?" And every single person in the classroom turned around and laughed at me. And I was like, beet red. And I was just like, "I just can't see the board." And he messaged me and goes, "I'll never forget the darker marker story." So, my accent clearly has made some impression on people.
GG Going from people laughing in college to now you're getting TV and newspaper interviews and radio interviews like this one—what's been your reaction to making it this far in this contest and all of this media attention?
KI It's honestly surreal. I didn't think it was this big. Like, I didn't think that they were promoting it as much as they did, because I know a lot of different airports want to do it now. I have some pretty good traction. People know me from boxing and stuff like that. So definitely a lot of areas of life—in bartending—everybody's like, "you were made for this." I'm like, finally I can put the accent to good use.
GG I wanted to ask you about the boxing. You got some cool nicknames out there—Lady Killa, Dennis the Menace.
KI Yeah, I moved down here for a liquor rep position from Martignetti Companies from the city. And I always trained. I used to train with Mickey Ward in his gym out in Lowell. So, I finally found a gym [on Cape], and my coach is a former pro, Jesse Barboza. And he was like, "you have the skill set. I can make you a world champion." Obviously, that's going to still be down the road. But over the last six years, I've won the Golden Gloves two years in a row. I went out to Puerto Rico twice and finished with gold. I'm a Rocky Marciano champion. Especially with this contest, everybody's like, what's better than a Boston-based girl that boxes and bartends? It kind of goes hand in hand.
GG You work as a bartender at the Chatham Squire. Have you been talking to patrons and coworkers about voting for you? Or maybe they've been talking to you about it?
KI This is why I've stayed at the Squire for seven years. There's no culture like the Squire culture. The regulars, my coworkers—it's a family. All my coworkers were wearing QR codes to make sure everybody was voting for me. So, it was really, really cool.
To cast your vote for who should be the Voice of Logan, go to the official contest website and click on who you want to vote for. You must be a Massachusetts resident and 18 years old or older to vote. You have until Wednesday, October 28 at 11:59 PM to vote.
