'Divine timing': How Canadian Tamara Levitt became the voice of the Calm app

Downloaded over 50 million times, the Calm meditation app relies on Tamara Levitt to write, produce and narrate its daily content, including guided meditations, breathing exercises, and stories that lull users to sleep. (Image Courtesy of Calm)

After listening to Tamara Levitt’s tranquil voice, it’s not surprising that the Toronto-area woman is responsible for the daily meditation practice of more than two million people.

Downloaded over 50 million times, the Calm meditation app relies on Levitt to write, produce and narrate its daily content, including guided meditations, breathing exercises, and stories that lull users to sleep.

“About five years ago, I was looking for a change in my life and I found out about Calm,” Levitt said Wednesday on CTV’s Your Morning.

“I was really drawn to them because they have such a meaningful mission and I had been meditating for 25 years, so it sounded like a great fit.”

Levitt says she sent a resume into the ether, not expecting to hear back from the San Francisco-based company, and was shocked to find herself on a call with the co-founder the next day.

“It was divine timing,” she said of her start with the company.

Calm allows users to access audio content that is designed to “strengthen mental fitness” and help them cope with mental health challenges including stress, anxiety, insomnia and depression.

The app’s most popular feature, “The Daily Calm,” walks users through a 10-minute meditation based on a daily theme.

Over two million subscribers also have access to the app’s paid features, which include an entire library of sleep stories, more than 100 guided meditations, and Calm Masterclasses taught by world-renowned experts.

Levitt leads the creative development of the app’s content. Once she comes up with an idea for the daily session, she writes a meditation practice and records her narration in a studio on Toronto’s popular Queen Street West.

According to her website, Levitt discovered mindful meditation during an eight-week course at an eating disorders centre. Prior to that, she described herself as “an angry punk rocker” whose childhood “wasn’t an easy one.”

“I try and integrate mindfulness into my life as much as I can, but I do have to say that I am at the mercy of anxiety, just like many other people are—my mindfulness practice really helps me support that,” she said on Your Morning.

“I notice when I’m not meditating.”