Tamara Kissane: 00:00:08

This is artist soapbox through interviews and original scripted audio fiction. We deliver stories that speak to your hearts and your minds.

Lormarev Jones: 00:00:26

Hello, Soapboxers. I am pumped to share my interview with Yolanda Rabun, a North Carolina resident for over 25 years. Yolanda Rabun is a recording artist, actor, and storyteller. She has headlines national jazz festivals, tour, jazz clubs, and most recently opened for Stephanie Mills at the Durham performing arts center and Sheila E at the red hat amphitheater. Yolanda has won accolades for performance and has appeared with North Carolina theater, Theater Raleigh, and Playmakers repertory company. As a wife, mother corporate executive lawyer, singer songwriter, and publisher motivational speaker, political scientist, a community activist for youth touring, performance artists and music, entrepreneur Yolanda lives at the speed of passion and challenges. Everyone to hold on to your dreams. Yolanda is a longtime friend and an inspiration to me as a multidisciplinary artist. This conversation was soul filling and I hope you find power and uplift in her story. Take notes and enjoy. Hello, miss Yolanda, how are you doing this afternoon?

Yolanda Rabun: 00:01:38

I am doing absolutely well miss Lormarev and I'm excited that we get to have a chance to just be in the same space and talk, talk life. Yes,

Lormarev Jones: 00:01:47

ma'am it's been a minute. I was thinking about it today. The last time that I saw you in the flesh flesh mm-hmm was at

Yolanda Rabun: 00:01:55

the, was at the opening

Lormarev Jones: 00:01:57

of Native Son at Playmakers. You and me and Rasool took that picture together so that people would stop confusing.

Yolanda Rabun: 00:02:02

Exactly by three Musketeers we are that, uh, I love that we're in the same field of work and mm-hmm, we're so good that we're interchangeably known for each other, but it's all well, it's great company. Well, all three of

Lormarev Jones: 00:02:17

us have played Feste in 12th night and

undefined: 00:02:20

I

Yolanda Rabun: 00:02:20

think that that's really what confuses

Lormarev Jones: 00:02:21

me. That's it is that we have all played that character. We all have that, you know, Shakespeare's smartest fool

Yolanda Rabun: 00:02:28

type spirit. Exactly. Exactly. Yep. So.

Lormarev Jones: 00:02:32

If we could begin with just for people that don't know you, I feel like you're a Raleigh Durham chapel hill celebrity. And from my point of view, I've known you ever since I graduated from college, but for people that don't just talk a little bit about your journey and how you have arrived, whether that's educational, artistic, anything that you feel has contributed to your journey, to where you are right

Yolanda Rabun: 00:02:57

now. Well, I'll start by saying that I am still arriving. And that my life is a story that's unfolding day to day, and I get excited to wake up, to see what's on the page or to see that I've come to a chapter end and I get to go into a next chapter. So I was born in my Florida and eventually moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where I went to the school of the performing arts. Called Northside. And there honed my craft if you will, in singing and dancing and acting. And then in high school was also in academia. So I loved, I loved learning. So I ended up being in all of the different, uh, academic clubs. As well as president of my class and captain of the cheerleading squad, I just love living and doing any and everything that the gifts that were given to me allowed me to do. And so that multiplicity or multifacetedness, if you will, of my life began in high school. And as I went to college at the college of the Holy Cross in Worchester Massachusetts to law school, Boston college, Law. I kept all of those things, whether it was in the arts or whether it was academic related with me and used it as I moved to the Raleigh North Carolina area to live, I was fortunate to find my mate for life when I was in when I was in second grade And so we connected back in life. When I was in college, we were married when I moved to North Carolina. And I remember one of the first things I said to him is, you know, I do a lot of things, but I'm gonna dedicate my life to you for a year. And after that, I'm gonna keep living. I'm making this it's one

Lormarev Jones: 00:04:44

of my favorite stories. we love it so much

Yolanda Rabun: 00:04:49

because you know, ultimately in any kind of relationship you wanna define what, what the parameters are of its success. And part of it is getting to know each other. And then once you kinda lay down what you do and what you don't wanna do and how you might handle anything that comes up. After that you're just on the journey. And we did that. And immediately after that one year I was auditioning and, and I was diving into deeper projects that would just allow me to think that basic concept of, of, of thinking so that you can be the human being. You are to do everything that you were born to do so fast forward, I am an executive in corporation where I am a senior attorney, and I love that work working with. The law and the problems that we're seeking to solve and trying to make them work together so that we can get done what we wanna get done. And I am a professional actor doing a number of different kinds of projects. I have a one woman show Nina Simone that was written by the amazing Howard craft and directed by Catherine Hunter Williams. And I also. Am actually working with youth in just teaching them concept of storytelling as it relates to the arts, uh, in schools. And I am singing with my own band so that I get to travel with music that I've recorded over the years. And I am not done. I'm just not done. Just getting started.

Lormarev Jones: 00:06:19

It sounds like

Yolanda Rabun: 00:06:21

I mean, like have not arrived. I am to the original question, simply arriving to the moments that have been given to me to live. Excellent.

Lormarev Jones: 00:06:31

So let's just unpack that a little bit, because I love that you said, you know, I met my mate and. You know, and I said, I'll commit to you for a year and then I'm gonna do what I do. And, and then you said, and then I started auditioning. And so I'm wondering if you would talk a little bit about the parallels because I am making the assumption and perhaps I'm wrong that during all of this auditioning, you are also pursuing your career in law. So if you would talk a little bit to our listeners about, about that dichotomy.

Yolanda Rabun: 00:07:02

so yes, you are correct. Mm-hmm in the process of auditioning. I am still, you know, headstrong in becoming the better lawyer that I could be. And part of, I think this idea of understanding why you're here, what your purpose is, is to explore and that area of the arts I had already explored pretty dog on well through my work, in the school of the performing arts, so that the concept of auditioning was getting back to doing what I know I can do, but in a new area, which was Raleigh, North Carolina, but at the same time, I was also trying to figure out how to serve the, the company that I was working for. And I do believe very strongly in this concept of service. I do believe that we are brought to this earth to help one another. And becoming the better selves that we should be, but also helping other people to become the better sales that they can be. And so I was doing the auditioning. I was doing the law, but also I was doing life. And I wanna make a point about that because technically I didn't stop loving my husband. I didn't stop paying attention to him. I gave that year, the time to find out what he needed. What made him tick, what made us tick together. And, and then I felt after I had that solid year, that I could from there, start, start putting into the fold, those other things that are and make up Yolanda. And I wanna, I want for your listeners to understand that when you start approaching life in the sense that I only do. Or I only do that. And I only do this at this point in time, then you start immediately potentially limiting everything that you can do. People look at my life and they say, how is it that you're doing all those 12 things at one time and trust and believe that they all are not, they're not ticking at the same time. They're just in a holding space to step in and, and almost like, think about theater, how you have people in the wings and you have people on stage, you are presenting and when they're time to go. Happens. They walk off and something walks in. That's what happens in my life. I just know that I have all of my players on stage so that I'm not looking for them. I'm not wondering can I, I already know they can. I'm just having over there waiting to be pulled into the moment. Wow.

Lormarev Jones: 00:09:20

That's that's a really great analogy. Wow. So to that point, You know, this may seem like a very elementary question. Mm-hmm how do you manage the offstage and the on stage of that? How do you there's so often the, the image of all of the, you know, all of the stove, top irons burning at the same time. Yeah. You know, maybe one's on simmer one's on high. So how do you in your life, how do you manage the,

Yolanda Rabun: 00:09:47

the juggling of it? So good. Great, great, great, wonderful question. And I love that I'm gonna be able to answer it, hopefully in this framework that I've suggested. I wanna start by saying it is not a juggle because the danger of thinking of it as a juggle is I feel setting yourself up for something falling. And it's not that you're not an excellent juggler and you know, can throw knives and fire and catch them all. But what you wanna be careful about is, is framing it in the manner of juggling, because if it falls, somebody might get hurt. And the last thing I wanna do is get hurt. I'm actually moving forward and everything I do. I always ask where do I find the fun, right? Where is upside to what looks to be absolutely horrible. And so with the concept of having people off stage versus on stage, I think in the whole idea being off stage is usually you're in a period of weight, right? You're trying. You're waiting to be on. And in that period of wait, I always recommend that you ask yourself, are you ready when it's time to go on? Because as you know, sometimes you don't even know it's time to go on until you pull. And so I always have this thing. Hello. Hello understudy. Hello. Hello. Understudy of being prepared, you know, recently in Broadway, they've made this to do about, you know, people being in these understudy roles or standby roles and being called on and being amazing and how they need to get far more recognition than they, than they often are given. And part of that is because. To be in a standby role or in a holding pattern, and then able to turn it on is because you are honing your craft while you're waiting. You are in a position of, of learning as much as you can learn or stripping stuff that is weighing you down, that doesn't allow you to be as flexible as you can be so that when that time comes. You can be ready. And I have to give you a shout out because you are that person. This is why I love that we're having this conversation because for the listeners, if you don't know, I was actually doing a show a couple of years ago and maybe more than a couple of years ago, but where I was in a lead role and notably in an ensemble cast. And I was called to go to South Korea. To perform. And the question was, how is that gonna work? Because this show must go on. And I could only think of one person who I knew was capable from the sense of talent, but also smart that it didn't even matter what was thrown to her. She would be able to stand on a stage and hold her own. And that is Ms. Lormarev Jones. I called this woman. I said, I have to take this gig. Will you, she blinked and this woman came in on a, I don't even know how much notice you had, but you learned that show and took that role and kicked that behind. And again, few and far between, I think we exist, but you were one of those persons. And I think, you know, just representative of what it means to be ready to stay ready and just to turn on because you are that person. That's you?

Lormarev Jones: 00:12:46

Yeah, it was, it was a week. I had a week. a week, a lot of music, ladies and gentlemen, it was a week and she had to learn music and learn music. And there was no music. Like there was no, there was no sheet music li I'm crying, thinking about it. Cuz there was no sheet

Yolanda Rabun: 00:13:04

music. Okay. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. And remember I said this was an ensemble cast, so she not only had to know her her track. She had to know how to interact with them. Right. And the beauty of it is that Lormarev, you had enough, I don't know if it's gonna say je ne sais quoi, you had enough about who you were in this industry that when you stepped in, cuz I asked afterwards, how was it? There was no question that you were the one, right? They couldn't have thought of anybody else who could have come in and done that work. Now let's transfer all of what I just said to this idea that in my life I have these different multifaceted areas of my life in standby, waiting to come on so that what I'm often and always am doing is looking at what those different areas are and what do I need to become better? Is my, is my resume up to date. Have I actually worked on how to memorize lines quicker? Have I looked at, you know, what does it mean to get in front of an executive and speak in, you know, one minute? What they need to know. And so just those little things, there is Yolanda perhaps in her free time, cuz we have more free time than we know. Let me say that again. We have far more free time than we know in her free time might read an article on this topic and her free time might while she's walking, listen to a podcast that talks about the importance of doing certain things. When you speak in a constant state of learning. But also because I probably exhausted someone and listening to everything I just said, I truly believe in taking rest. And so when you think about that, when you put it all together that you are doing, being, staying prepared, staying ready, there's also a very large part of that that says, take care of yourself. That says it's okay to be quiet. It's okay to do nothing at all. But be about the business of all of that. Hmm. And that's what I am in my life. So I

Lormarev Jones: 00:15:09

wanna jump on that because there's a lot of discussion about, you know, in our culture, especially right now about self-care and rest, and it's taken on a life of its own. It's gotten its little capitalist makeover, but I'm very interested in how do you experience and

Yolanda Rabun: 00:15:27

or define rest? I experience rest. Every day and every moment that I can meditate, reflect, and just be quiet now, therefore, the definition is it is an interchangeable exchangeable concept that I, where I give myself permission to breathe. So part of meditation is breathing and as simple as. In the middle of a moment is me giving myself rest. And sometimes it's that little millisecond that we took then. And sometimes it is waking up in the morning and walking out onto my porch and just sitting there and being there sometimes it's taking a yoga class. And, and really absorbing what those moments mean for me, because the thing I love about yoga is not just about what the teacher is saying, but it is about that challenge that you're giving to your body. And some of the simplest positions, the stress and the beauty of. Starting a mode and not being able to bend over. So, you know, but for so far, and then breathing through those moments and then at the end saying, oh my goodness. And so I think that concept, I try and use in life and just taking that moment of breathing that gets me to stretching and able to deal with the noise of the world. And that's exactly what I call it. Anything outside of what it is that I feel I'm purposely driving to go for. The fun in my life is noise. And how is it that I can I ask myself quiet noise? Dampen the noise or shut it out all together. That's a word my world is very noisy at present. Mm-hmm mm-hmm and, but you allow that, right? Yeah. No, but no, I heard that. I want you to embrace that. You allowed it and be happy about it because here's the deal, Lormarev,. If you're not happy about the choice that you've made for the noise that you're hearing, then I want you to adjust. Immediately like right away, because in the long term only you get hurt. Everyone else just says we got her. There's a power in no. And people don't think I say no. I say it far more often than you think. Oh no, I believe you say no, because I, you have one of those lights that everyone's like, I'd

Lormarev Jones: 00:17:59

love a piece of that. Or, you know, I'd love that in my show or whatever it is. Mm-hmm and mm-hmm I imagine that that is a word that is quite much a part of your vocabulary, because for that very reason.

Yolanda Rabun: 00:18:09

Yeah. And honestly, it's a skill it's not easy. I wanna be very clear about that. There are things that, Ooh, I wanna do that. Ooh, I've been waiting for that. Oh yes. And then that moment of this is where rest comes in, because rest is a part of the whole equation says, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, what about me? Right. If you say yes to that, then you say no to me. And is that fair? And, and I began that, that internal negotiation of, okay, you're right. But I could do this and do that. But what about me? And honestly, all that conversation is being in tune with yourself, knowing actually who you are and what you feel your limits are and what they are not, and, and being true to yourself. So some of my knows are hard to say, but as I, I told family members, especially if I tell you, no, it's not because I don't love you. it's because I love me more. And that's not even being arrogant or self centered. It's about, there's nobody gonna care for me more than I'm gonna care for me. And that's Yolanda being in tuned with Yolanda. I think that

Lormarev Jones: 00:19:14

our the people listening might appreciate. Now that you've sort of set this framework and you're talking about, you know, things waiting in the wings or people waiting in the wings. How do you and saying no, which I have gotten very good at over the past couple of years, cuz I think that's what, that's the gift that the pandemic gave to me is that I can definitely now say no where I, I felt such a sense of scarcity before. I just don't feel that anymore. Right. Um, but I'm wondering for you personally, how do you go about. How do you go about that? Yes and no. How do you go about the curation of your material, of what, the noise that you invite versus the

Yolanda Rabun: 00:19:54

noise that you don't? So I am a planner, I believe in organization, and I also am believe in improvisation. but I start from a base of organization and I look at months at a time weeks at a time, days at a time, what is happening in my life. And I look at it from the perspective of what's happening for my family. What's happening at work. What is happening in the community? What is happening with my music? I have four categories. Right. I call 'em pillars and I look at each of these different pillars and I plan what I'd like to do. What I know is happening and even look at how they may interoperate with each other. And I often. As a matter of fact, I call it the business of me, right? In that each of these different pillars of my life have board of directors, people who speak into my life based on those particular pillars and the people who are on each of those boards are not in all of the pillars. And it is not always someone who I know is most likely some, I should say people who. Either do not know me. And I know that sounds crazy, who do not know me personally, but know of me, but also people who are not of the same mind as me and the purpose of those boards is to really allow me to make my final decision about my life and what I'm gonna do based on their information. I could go a whole podcast on that concept alone, but mention that to the point that the way I eventually would get to a yes or a no is in evaluating what is on the table for today for this week, for this month, for this quarter, for next year, and looking at. What is it serving the purpose for which I'm here in this world? I do believe that the reason why I'm here is to connect people to their next. So it's not even about me. It is about what am I doing in my life that will allow someone else to see they can do it. They will do it. And this is how it can happen. And that assignment I feel is it's so broad. Sometimes I have to go back and ask, why am I doing that again? Who is this? Who is this affecting? How is that helping me? And and then I'm reminded yo, you are here to serve. And so this is not necessarily about you. I just get the benefits of it. All right. I get the residuals and that's the fun part. Like, wow. I didn't even know what I could get that. Thanks is how I. It's that constant state of gratitude that gets me to, to understanding, oh, I can say no to that because that actually doesn't fit with the whole paradigm of what's happening here. Right. And what's important in all of that. And this goes back to something that you and I have talked about in the past is I think it's so very important to reflect on what you've done, where you are and where you wanna go. I call it like my reflect, respect and project. And the reflection is remembering that those little small wins actually still a win. So I don't get upset if I audition for a show and I don't get it. I actually am looking for how do I improve Yolanda, so that can be ready to come out of the wings and hit the stage. right. And, or I don't get upset if I'm driving and I'm supposed to be somewhere by a certain time and I've done everything to do what I'm supposed to do to be on time. And I'm late. I obviously will call my stage manager and let them know. I'm just kidding, but I, I always, I'm grateful you, the universe must have turned in a way that kept Yolanda from something. That was not for Yolanda. And so I ne I try not to be disappointed when things don't go the way I think they should go, because I know that there's a force far bigger than me that is actually working things out so that I can get what Yolanda. Would like to have happen for Yolanda. Yeah. Would you

Lormarev Jones: 00:23:50

mind cuz I agree. And I, that's how I feel. I feel like my work as an educator informs my artistic practice and vice versa. Would you talk a little bit about the different ways in which you, you know, serve young people, but you know, all the ways in which you are an educator?

Yolanda Rabun: 00:24:06

So absolutely. I started working with North Carolina arts in action, maybe about 10 years ago. And in that particular organization, We go into schools and work, particularly with fourth graders and teaching them dance based on a program out of New York that has been adopted really across the world, teaching kids how to use their bodies to understand really how to dance, but also how to communicate a. My role with the North Carolina arts in action group is to be the narrator. So I typically will come in near the end of the process. We'll learn some of the dances, but interact with the students as the storyteller of their production. In that role. I am ideally showing students. I am no different than they are, except perhaps in age that I am ordinary. And anything that appears to be extra ordinary is simply because I'm putting effort behind my work. So I take the time to stop and work with them on their dance and because I'm interacting with them and the acting part of it, just making them feel confident in what they're doing and also applauding their, their confidence. Because I think with any kind of educator, that part of our role. It's not just to be great and know the information, but to share it and also inspire those people who we are sharing it with, that they can do it too. It's not enough that I know it, but I wanna see you young person where I am, and I'm gonna be kind about it. I'm going to be simple about it. I'm going to be explanatory about it so that again, they can aspire to not be me, but to be, and to walk in their greatness. So as an educator, I'm walking in my greatness and ideally showing others, you can do the same thing too fast forward. I'm working with the Carolina harmonic and that program is teaching kids about the orchestra, teaching kids about music and tempos and different languages associated with what we sing. When you are a presenter in front of an orchestra. And the joy in that is that the kids are also on the stage with us. And we are showing them that playing the recorder is the first step to potentially perhaps playing the flute or playing a saxophone or playing some other instrument. And it starts somewhere to get you again, where you were destined to go. So as an educator, I just feel that, and I really hope this. I'm gonna say this really simple. We all know that we all are educator. But as those who consciously know you are walking into the role of an educator, that our job is essentially to serve those who are coming behind us, who will become future educators as well. Amen. So

Lormarev Jones: 00:26:49

I feel like this whole interview has been a sermon, which I appreciate as a preacher's child, but I do wanna give you just an opportunity if you have any specific, more specific tips. The, the final question I have is. What advice do you have for people who are looking, you know, let's say who have a day job and who are looking to create an artistic practice in their life? What is your advice or

Yolanda Rabun: 00:27:16

suggestions? I would say change the way you look at things. And when you do that, the things that you look at will change first. What is a day job? Okay. Because my entire life is my job and I do what I do all. And so there, there is a, a time where, for example, we are in the middle of the day and am I lawyering right now? Am I performing right now? Am I mothering right now? Am I wife-ing right now? What do you think the answer is you talking to me? Hey, I am, but I am still doing you're socializing. Yeah, I am. But I'm still all of those things. that's my point. I don't compartmentalize my life like that. I move with the experience of my life. Just like people take time off to go eat lunch and they spend an hour there because that's what they wanna do. Are they stopped being at work by doing that? No, they're still at work. They just took an hour and a half lunch. To meet with friends or people go and work out in the morning. Right. It's just how it is that you choose to spend your time. Which is what I was talking about a little bit earlier. Well, we have time if you wanna go and watch, you know, Netflix for two hours, because that's your thing, then define that as that's your thing. And use those two hours to the most that hopefully when you're vegging out, you're either in your rest mode or you are in your learning mode because those two hours that you're using in Netflix is gonna teach you how you're gonna respond to a situation somewhere else. Being in a constant state of learning allows you, I think, to figure out how it is that you want to become who you are going to eventually be. So if you are a performer in your heart and not doing that now, and you have a job that you go to from nine to five, my challenge to you is to go understand why the performer is in the wing. See that the performer in the wing actually is. Has all the skills and all the things like contacts, like experiences in the space they're trying to go into, right. And have them ready and prepared so that while you maybe in that nine to five job, if an audition comes up, you know how that performer can attend the audition, what does that mean? Maybe the audition is associated with day that, you know, you can take. So you arrange for your auditions to be on that day, or that's a wild example, or you know, that you have flexibility in your lunch so that you don't know when the audition will come. Cuz again, you've already prepared. You're already ready, but you know that when you find out you can take lunch from two to three. Real story. About 15 years ago, I did a commercial that I shot on my lunch break. That commercial got me more attention than I can't even tell you people in the workplace kept coming at me and saying, wait a minute minute, did I see you in a commercial? What's going on? You know, how'd you do that? And all I could think to myself was between 12 and one o'clock. I shot that commercial. Did it in a timeframe that you think that the only thing you can do is eat yourself is eat. Yep. And so another thing I like to say is happen on things. Don't wait for things to happen to you. I knew I wanted that. I got in the audition and the timeframe that was the audition might have been even in the evening after work, but the shoot time was in the middle of the day. And I don't remember saying to them, I gotta only do it during this lunch period, but I remember them asking. When can you do it? Oh, right between this time. right. Mm-hmm And I prepared for that moment so that when it was time, while I was on the stage, you know, being the lawyer, when it was time for Yolanda, the actor to take the stage, all I did was high five, though. Right? She walked in, did that job and high fived me on the way back in you was ready, being ready, staying ready, knowing your craft, do the homework. That's the other thing I would say to you, to your listeners, do the homework. It's not easy. You gotta do literally the work to understand what it takes to get to where you wanna go. Doesn't happen overnight. And the things that you see, the Rihannas, the, all those folks they've worked. right. They're living the life of it now, but there was something that they did before they got there and they're continuing to work because if they don't, they won't have a job. So you gotta do the work.

Lormarev Jones: 00:31:47

Amen. Yolanda. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for letting me wait in the wings and then take the stage in your amazing busy serviceful. I just made up a word. I don't think

Yolanda Rabun: 00:32:04

servicefull was a word. I, I like that. I like that. Serviceful life. Thank you so much for your time. You're welcome. Thank you for even thinking about me and, and also just letting me share your life, you know, with other people, because again, part of my purpose is to connect people to their next and while that might not have been your next quote, unquote. It was your fabulous and you did well. And I appreciate you for that. Oh, thank you.

Lormarev Jones: 00:32:30

all right.

Tamara Kissane: 00:32:34

Established in 2017, artist soapbox is a podcast production studio based in North Carolina. Artist soapbox produces original scripted audio fiction and an ongoing interview podcast about the creative process. We cultivate aspiring audio Dramatists and producers, and we partner with organizations and individuals to create new audio content for more information and ways to support our work. Check out artist soapbox.org, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. The artist soapbox theme song is ashes by Juliana Finch.