Meet Jessica
Jessica Luffey
CSOM, MM
Certified Specialist of Orofacial Myology
Professional Operatic Soprano
Ms. Luffey is perhaps the world’s leading expert at the intersection of vocal performance, orofacial myology, and airway health. Early in her career as a professional opera singer, she was introduced to the field of orofacial myology, for which she immediately developed a deep passion- ultimately pursuing it as a second career. Recognizing the profound impact of orofacial myology and tongue ties on vocal performance, she has since pioneered innovative approaches that bridge the disciplines of voice science, dental-airway health, and elite vocal training.
Ms. Luffey’s extensive education includes being trained by the world’s top myo, dental/ortho, and tongue tie experts, authors, and educationalists including: Dr. Soroush Zaghi, Dr. Richard Baxter, Dr. Micheal Gelb & associates, Sanda Valcu-Pinkerton, and Sandra Coulson among others. Her expertise and work has even been featured directly in Dr. Baxter’s blog (read the full article HERE.) Her past clients include Grammy-winning artists and A-level house title-role singers.
In the professional operatic community, Ms. Luffey has performed many of the opera world’s most well-known and loved leading women both nationally and internationally including: Leonore, Fidelio; Tatyana, Eugene Onegin; Fiordiligi, Cosi fan tutte, Alice in Falstaff, Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, and Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others. She has won or placed in the Finals of numerous national competitions including: Jensen Vocal Competition, Gerda Lissner Competition, Premiere Opera Competition, Delta Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Harold Haugh Comic Opera Competition, Orpheus Vocal Competition, NATS National Level Student Auditions, and has been a consecutive Semi-Finalist and Finalist in numerous other national competitions. (View Ms. Luffey’s professional page here: www.jessicaluffeysoprano.com)
Ms. Luffey holds a CSOM from the Graduate School of Breathing Sciences and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance. She is actively researching tongue ties and their impact on singers across all genres.
Brief CV: Training, Lectures, & Events
The Graduate School of Breathing Health Sciences: Certified Specialist of Orofacial Myology under Sandra Coulson, 2018.
The Breathe Institute w/ Dr. Zaghi: The Breathe Course, 2019, live attendee.
Tongue Tie Alabama w/ Dr. Baxter: Tongue-Tied Academy: Advanced Live Patient Course, 2021, Special Invitee
Georgia State University: Special Guest Lecturer, Wind Instruments
New York Singing Teacher’s Association: Main Event Special Invitee Lecturer
Meet Julia
Julia Mihalich
M.A.
Vocologist, Myofunctional Specialist,
Professional Operatic Soprano
Ms. Mihalich is a vocologist, voice teacher, and myofunctional specialist with over a decade of experience working with singers across classical, musical theatre, and contemporary commercial styles. She holds a Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, where her master’s thesis, “The Effects of Functional Tongue-Tie Restrictions on Vocal Production,” examined how ankyloglossia impacts articulation, resonance, breath coordination, compensatory strategies, and overall vocal efficiency in trained singers. Her work bridges evidence-based voice science with functional, singer-centered pedagogy.
Julia has a Vocology certification through New York University and has completed advanced training in orofacial myofunctional therapy (AOMT), Therapeutic and Functional Breathwork (Breath Body Therapy), movement-based voice work, and vocal rehabilitation. She has participated in Dr. Kari Ragan’s Singing Voice Specialist (SVS) practicum training, focusing on voice rehabilitation and evidence-based clinical approaches for singers with vocal injury or dysfunction. She is also completing pre–Speech-Language Pathology coursework at Northwestern University.
As a research assistant with Jessica, Julia supports ongoing observational case-study research examining the effects of myofunctional therapy and lingual frenectomy on singers with tongue-tie. Her work involves collecting and organizing qualitative and quantitative data on vocal function before and after intervention, with a growing interest in integrating acoustic and spectrographic analysis to better understand functional vocal outcomes.
In addition to her clinical and research work, Julia is an active performer. She is an operatic lyric coloratura soprano who has performed both nationally and internationally. Her performance background spans opera, classical repertoire, musical theatre, and contemporary commercial music, and she also performs as a vocalist in a CCM girl band. Her lived experience as a working singer deeply informs her approach to myofunctional and vocal work, allowing her to meet singers with both technical expertise and artistic understanding.