NASA engineer Eryn Andrews earned more than $227,000 in 2026 to date, CNBC says
Eryn Andrews says her closet-based voiceover work surpassed her NASA salary, but its income remains uneven and project-driven.
By Jordan Bell · Startups & Deals Reporter
· 3 min read
A NASA engineer voiceover side hustle started with about $200 has grown into a second career for Eryn Andrews. CNBC reported that it reviewed documents showing Andrews had earned more than $227,000 from voiceover work in 2026 to date at the time of publication. The figure is reported earnings, not a measure of profit or a promise of regular monthly income.
Andrews, 41, works full time as a human performance engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, according to CNBC. Her NASA work includes collecting and analyzing data aimed at helping astronauts move in spacesuits. She has worked at NASA since 2008 and says her team is also studying the physical and cognitive effects of living and working on the moon.
Her voiceover business has become a meaningful second income stream, though Andrews says its demand can be unpredictable. She told CNBC that she averages roughly $32,400 a month and that the side income moved above her six-figure NASA salary in the summer of 2025.
How did Eryn Andrews start her voiceover side hustle?
Andrews began looking into voice work in March 2022, after her divorce, when she was seeking an additional $200 a month for small outings with her then-6-year-old daughter, CNBC reported. She found the field after searching online for side jobs for single mothers.
Her initial spending was roughly $200: a voiceover class, a microphone and a 1-inch mattress topper from Walmart, according to her account. She used cardboard to build a compact recording enclosure in a guest-bedroom closet and attached the topper with Velcro to reduce noise. The booth was so small that she could not stand while recording, she told CNBC.
Andrews set up a Fiverr profile and initially charged below other voice actors on the platform. She said her early rate included $5 per 100 words and that a handful of jobs produced $1,000 in her first month. She now says she will not begin a job for less than $200.
What does the work involve?
Andrews says she usually spends one to eight hours a week recording short assignments, mainly corporate announcements, company voicemail systems and workplace training videos. She told CNBC that Coca-Cola, PetSmart and the University of Mississippi are among clients that have hired her, while Fiverr remains her principal channel for bookings. Her website and referrals bring in other work, she said.
Short projects are a deliberate choice. Andrews said she could earn more from longer work such as audiobooks, but does not want that work to take too much time from her daughter. She estimates that each minute of requested audio takes about three minutes to record, edit and prepare for delivery.
The results also reflect a business with uneven order flow. Andrews described voiceover demand to CNBC as "feast or famine," with quiet stretches sometimes followed by several client requests in a day. She says she plans to keep her NASA role while expanding selectively into character work for video games and animated comics.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
