Artwork for podcast Artist Soapbox * Audio fiction + Creative Process
160: Care and Intention for Your Interdisciplinary Artistic Life with Yolanda Rabun
Episode 16020th June 2022 • Artist Soapbox * Audio fiction + Creative Process • Tamara Kissane
00:00:00 00:33:24

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Get your vitamin cocktail and motivational shot in the arm from this conversation between Lormarev Jones and the incredible Yolanda Rabun! We consider her a Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill celebrity, so we are start struck!!

As a wife, mother, corporate executive, lawyer, singer-songwriter and publisher, motivational speaker, political scientist, community activist for youth, touring performance artist, and music entrepreneur, Yolanda lives at the speed of passion and challenges everyone to hold on to your dreams!  

You can also hear Yolanda's voice acting in Episode 1 of the Declaration of Love anthology, written by Michael J. Ivory, and titled The Gifts We Leave.

BIO

A North Carolina resident for over 25 years, Yolanda Rabun is a recording artist, actor, and storyteller. She has headlined national jazz festivals, toured jazz clubs, and most recently opened for Stephanie Mills at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) and Sheila E at the Red Hat Amphitheater. Yolanda has won accolades for Best Lead Actress (Archy and Mehitabel, Member of the Wedding, Nina) and Best Ensemble (Twelfth Night, Crowns, Chaunesti Webb's I Love My Hair When It’s Good: & Then Again When It Looks Defiant and Impressive). Recent appearances with North Carolina Theatre, Theatre Raleigh, and Playmakers Repertory Company include Beehive: the 60s Musical, Newsies, Smokey Joe's Café, Mary Poppins, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Howard L. Craft's one-woman play, No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone. www.yolandarabun.com

LISTEN TO ASBX AUDIO DRAMAS:

Master Builder

The New Colossus

Declaration of Love audio anthology

ASBX Shorts

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Transcripts

Tamara Kissane:

This is artist soapbox

Tamara Kissane:

through interviews and original scripted audio fiction.

Tamara Kissane:

We deliver stories that speak to your hearts and your minds.

Lormarev Jones:

Hello,

Lormarev Jones:

Soapboxers.

Lormarev Jones:

I am pumped to share my interview with Yolanda Rabun, a North

Lormarev Jones:

Carolina resident for over 25 years.

Lormarev Jones:

Yolanda Rabun is a recording artist, actor, and storyteller.

Lormarev Jones:

She has headlines national jazz festivals, tour, jazz clubs, and most

Lormarev Jones:

recently opened for Stephanie Mills at the Durham performing arts center and

Lormarev Jones:

Sheila E at the red hat amphitheater.

Lormarev Jones:

Yolanda has won accolades for performance and has appeared with North

Lormarev Jones:

Carolina theater, Theater Raleigh, and Playmakers repertory company.

Lormarev Jones:

As a wife, mother corporate executive lawyer, singer songwriter, and publisher

Lormarev Jones:

motivational speaker, political scientist, a community activist for

Lormarev Jones:

youth touring, performance artists and music, entrepreneur Yolanda lives at

Lormarev Jones:

the speed of passion and challenges.

Lormarev Jones:

Everyone to hold on to your dreams.

Lormarev Jones:

Yolanda is a longtime friend and an inspiration to me as

Lormarev Jones:

a multidisciplinary artist.

Lormarev Jones:

This conversation was soul filling and I hope you find

Lormarev Jones:

power and uplift in her story.

Lormarev Jones:

Take notes and enjoy.

Lormarev Jones:

Hello, miss Yolanda, how are you doing this afternoon?

Yolanda Rabun:

I am doing absolutely well miss Lormarev and I'm excited that

Yolanda Rabun:

we get to have a chance to just be in the same space and talk, talk life.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yes,

Lormarev Jones:

ma'am it's been a minute.

Lormarev Jones:

I was thinking about it today.

Lormarev Jones:

The last time that I saw you in the flesh flesh mm-hmm was at

Yolanda Rabun:

the, was at the opening

Lormarev Jones:

of Native Son at Playmakers.

Lormarev Jones:

You and me and Rasool took that picture together so that

Lormarev Jones:

people would stop confusing.

Yolanda Rabun:

Exactly by three Musketeers we are that, uh, I love

Yolanda Rabun:

that we're in the same field of work and mm-hmm, , we're so good that we're

Yolanda Rabun:

interchangeably known for each other, but it's all well, it's great company.

Yolanda Rabun:

Well, all three of

Lormarev Jones:

us have played Feste in 12th night and

Lormarev Jones:

I

Yolanda Rabun:

think that that's really what confuses

Lormarev Jones:

me.

Lormarev Jones:

That's it is that we have all played that

Lormarev Jones:

character.

Lormarev Jones:

We all have that, you know, Shakespeare's

Lormarev Jones:

smartest fool

Yolanda Rabun:

type spirit.

Yolanda Rabun:

Exactly.

Yolanda Rabun:

Exactly.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yep.

Yolanda Rabun:

So.

Lormarev Jones:

If we could begin with just for people that don't know

Lormarev Jones:

you, I feel like you're a Raleigh Durham chapel hill celebrity.

Lormarev Jones:

And from my point of view, I've known you ever since I graduated from college,

Lormarev Jones:

but for people that don't just talk a little bit about your journey and

Lormarev Jones:

how you have arrived, whether that's educational, artistic, anything

Lormarev Jones:

that you feel has contributed to your journey, to where you are right

Yolanda Rabun:

now.

Yolanda Rabun:

Well, I'll start by saying that I am still arriving.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that my life is a story that's unfolding day to day, and I get excited

Yolanda Rabun:

to wake up, to see what's on the page or to see that I've come to a chapter

Yolanda Rabun:

end and I get to go into a next chapter.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I was born in my Florida and eventually moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where I went

Yolanda Rabun:

to the school of the performing arts.

Yolanda Rabun:

Called Northside.

Yolanda Rabun:

And there honed my craft if you will, in singing and dancing and acting.

Yolanda Rabun:

And then in high school was also in academia.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I loved, I loved learning.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I ended up being in all of the different, uh, academic clubs.

Yolanda Rabun:

As well as president of my class and captain of the cheerleading squad,

Yolanda Rabun:

I just love living and doing any and everything that the gifts that

Yolanda Rabun:

were given to me allowed me to do.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so that multiplicity or multifacetedness, if you will,

Yolanda Rabun:

of my life began in high school.

Yolanda Rabun:

And as I went to college at the college of the Holy Cross in Worchester Massachusetts

Yolanda Rabun:

to law school, Boston college, Law.

Yolanda Rabun:

I kept all of those things, whether it was in the arts or whether it was academic

Yolanda Rabun:

related with me and used it as I moved to the Raleigh North Carolina area to

Yolanda Rabun:

live, I was fortunate to find my mate for life when I was in when I was in

Yolanda Rabun:

second grade . And so we connected back in life.

Yolanda Rabun:

When I was in college, we were married when I moved to North Carolina.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I remember one of the first things I said to him is, you know,

Yolanda Rabun:

I do a lot of things, but I'm gonna dedicate my life to you for a year.

Yolanda Rabun:

And after that, I'm gonna keep living.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm making this it's one

Lormarev Jones:

of my favorite stories.

Lormarev Jones:

we love it so much

Yolanda Rabun:

because you know, ultimately in any kind of relationship

Yolanda Rabun:

you wanna define what, what the parameters are of its success.

Yolanda Rabun:

And part of it is getting to know each other.

Yolanda Rabun:

And then once you kinda lay down what you do and what you don't wanna do and how

Yolanda Rabun:

you might handle anything that comes up.

Yolanda Rabun:

After that you're just on the journey.

Yolanda Rabun:

And we did that.

Yolanda Rabun:

And immediately after that one year I was auditioning and, and I was

Yolanda Rabun:

diving into deeper projects that would just allow me to think that

Yolanda Rabun:

basic concept of, of, of thinking so that you can be the human being.

Yolanda Rabun:

You are to do everything that you were born to do so fast forward,

Yolanda Rabun:

I am an executive in corporation where I am a senior attorney, and

Yolanda Rabun:

I love that work working with.

Yolanda Rabun:

The law and the problems that we're seeking to solve and trying to make

Yolanda Rabun:

them work together so that we can get done what we wanna get done.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I am a professional actor doing a number of different kinds of projects.

Yolanda Rabun:

I have a one woman show Nina Simone that was written by the amazing Howard craft

Yolanda Rabun:

and directed by Catherine Hunter Williams.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I also.

Yolanda Rabun:

Am actually working with youth in just teaching them concept of storytelling as

Yolanda Rabun:

it relates to the arts, uh, in schools.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I am singing with my own band so that I get to travel with music

Yolanda Rabun:

that I've recorded over the years.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I am not done.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm just not done.

Yolanda Rabun:

Just getting started.

Lormarev Jones:

It sounds like

Lormarev Jones:

, Yolanda Rabun: I mean,

Lormarev Jones:

I am to the original question, simply arriving to the moments

Lormarev Jones:

that have been given to me to live.

Lormarev Jones:

Excellent.

Lormarev Jones:

So let's just unpack that a little bit, because I love that

Lormarev Jones:

you said, you know, I met my mate and.

Lormarev Jones:

You know, and I said, I'll commit to you for a year and

Lormarev Jones:

then I'm gonna do what I do.

Lormarev Jones:

And, and then you said, and then I started auditioning.

Lormarev Jones:

And so I'm wondering if you would talk a little bit about the parallels because I

Lormarev Jones:

am making the assumption and perhaps I'm wrong that during all of this auditioning,

Lormarev Jones:

you are also pursuing your career in law.

Lormarev Jones:

So if you would talk a little bit to our listeners about, about that dichotomy.

Yolanda Rabun:

so yes, you are correct.

Yolanda Rabun:

Mm-hmm in the process of auditioning.

Yolanda Rabun:

I am still, you know, headstrong in becoming the

Yolanda Rabun:

better lawyer that I could be.

Yolanda Rabun:

And part of, I think this idea of understanding why you're here, what your

Yolanda Rabun:

purpose is, is to explore and that area of the arts I had already explored pretty

Yolanda Rabun:

dog on well through my work, in the school of the performing arts, so that

Yolanda Rabun:

the concept of auditioning was getting back to doing what I know I can do, but

Yolanda Rabun:

in a new area, which was Raleigh, North Carolina, but at the same time, I was

Yolanda Rabun:

also trying to figure out how to serve the, the company that I was working for.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I do believe very strongly in this concept of service.

Yolanda Rabun:

I do believe that we are brought to this earth to help one another.

Yolanda Rabun:

And becoming the better selves that we should be, but also

Yolanda Rabun:

helping other people to become the better sales that they can be.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so I was doing the auditioning.

Yolanda Rabun:

I was doing the law, but also I was doing life.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I wanna make a point about that because technically I

Yolanda Rabun:

didn't stop loving my husband.

Yolanda Rabun:

I didn't stop paying attention to him.

Yolanda Rabun:

I gave that year, the time to find out what he needed.

Yolanda Rabun:

What made him tick, what made us tick together.

Yolanda Rabun:

And, and then I felt after I had that solid year, that I could from there,

Yolanda Rabun:

start, start putting into the fold, those other things that are and make up Yolanda.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I wanna, I want for your listeners to understand that when you start approaching

Yolanda Rabun:

life in the sense that I only do.

Yolanda Rabun:

Or I only do that.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I only do this at this point in time, then you start immediately potentially

Yolanda Rabun:

limiting everything that you can do.

Yolanda Rabun:

People look at my life and they say, how is it that you're doing all

Yolanda Rabun:

those 12 things at one time and trust and believe that they all are not,

Yolanda Rabun:

they're not ticking at the same time.

Yolanda Rabun:

They're just in a holding space to step in and, and almost like, think about

Yolanda Rabun:

theater, how you have people in the wings and you have people on stage, you are

Yolanda Rabun:

presenting and when they're time to go.

Yolanda Rabun:

Happens.

Yolanda Rabun:

They walk off and something walks in.

Yolanda Rabun:

That's what happens in my life.

Yolanda Rabun:

I just know that I have all of my players on stage so that I'm not looking for them.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm not wondering can I, I already know they can.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm just having over there waiting to be pulled into the moment.

Yolanda Rabun:

Wow.

Lormarev Jones:

That's that's a really great analogy.

Lormarev Jones:

Wow.

Lormarev Jones:

So to that point, You know, this may seem like a very elementary question.

Lormarev Jones:

Mm-hmm how do you manage the offstage and the on stage of that?

Lormarev Jones:

How do you there's so often the, the image of all of the, you know, all of the

Lormarev Jones:

stove, top irons burning at the same time.

Lormarev Jones:

Yeah.

Lormarev Jones:

You know, maybe one's on simmer one's on high.

Lormarev Jones:

So how do you in your life, how do you manage the,

Yolanda Rabun:

the juggling of it?

Yolanda Rabun:

So good.

Yolanda Rabun:

Great, great, great, wonderful question.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I love that I'm gonna be able to answer it, hopefully in this

Yolanda Rabun:

framework that I've suggested.

Yolanda Rabun:

I wanna start by saying it is not a juggle because the danger of thinking

Yolanda Rabun:

of it as a juggle is I feel setting yourself up for something falling.

Yolanda Rabun:

And it's not that you're not an excellent juggler and you know, can

Yolanda Rabun:

throw knives and fire and catch them all.

Yolanda Rabun:

But what you wanna be careful about is, is framing it in the

Yolanda Rabun:

manner of juggling, because if it falls, somebody might get hurt.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the last thing I wanna do is get hurt.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm actually moving forward and everything I do.

Yolanda Rabun:

I always ask where do I find the fun, right?

Yolanda Rabun:

Where is upside to what looks to be absolutely horrible.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so with the concept of having people off stage versus on stage, I think in

Yolanda Rabun:

the whole idea being off stage is usually you're in a period of weight, right?

Yolanda Rabun:

You're trying.

Yolanda Rabun:

You're waiting to be on.

Yolanda Rabun:

And in that period of wait, I always recommend that you ask yourself, are

Yolanda Rabun:

you ready when it's time to go on?

Yolanda Rabun:

Because as you know, sometimes you don't even know it's

Yolanda Rabun:

time to go on until you pull.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so I always have this thing.

Yolanda Rabun:

Hello.

Yolanda Rabun:

Hello understudy.

Yolanda Rabun:

Hello.

Yolanda Rabun:

Hello.

Yolanda Rabun:

Understudy of being prepared, you know, recently in Broadway, they've made this

Yolanda Rabun:

to do about, you know, people being in these understudy roles or standby roles

Yolanda Rabun:

and being called on and being amazing and how they need to get far more recognition

Yolanda Rabun:

than they, than they often are given.

Yolanda Rabun:

And part of that is because.

Yolanda Rabun:

To be in a standby role or in a holding pattern, and then able to

Yolanda Rabun:

turn it on is because you are honing your craft while you're waiting.

Yolanda Rabun:

You are in a position of, of learning as much as you can learn or stripping

Yolanda Rabun:

stuff that is weighing you down, that doesn't allow you to be as flexible as

Yolanda Rabun:

you can be so that when that time comes.

Yolanda Rabun:

You can be ready.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I have to give you a shout out because you are that person.

Yolanda Rabun:

This is why I love that we're having this conversation because for the

Yolanda Rabun:

listeners, if you don't know, I was actually doing a show a couple of years

Yolanda Rabun:

ago and maybe more than a couple of years ago, but where I was in a lead

Yolanda Rabun:

role and notably in an ensemble cast.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I was called to go to South Korea.

Yolanda Rabun:

To perform.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the question was, how is that gonna work?

Yolanda Rabun:

Because this show must go on.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I could only think of one person who I knew was capable from the sense

Yolanda Rabun:

of talent, but also smart that it didn't even matter what was thrown to her.

Yolanda Rabun:

She would be able to stand on a stage and hold her own.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that is Ms.

Yolanda Rabun:

Lormarev Jones.

Yolanda Rabun:

I called this woman.

Yolanda Rabun:

I said, I have to take this gig.

Yolanda Rabun:

Will you, she blinked and this woman came in on a, I don't even know how much notice

Yolanda Rabun:

you had, but you learned that show and took that role and kicked that behind.

Yolanda Rabun:

And again, few and far between, I think we exist, but you were one of those persons.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I think, you know, just representative of what it means to

Yolanda Rabun:

be ready to stay ready and just to turn on because you are that person.

Yolanda Rabun:

That's you?

Lormarev Jones:

Yeah, it was, it was a week.

Lormarev Jones:

I had a week.

Lormarev Jones:

a week, a lot of music, ladies and gentlemen, it was a week and she

Lormarev Jones:

had to learn music and learn music.

Lormarev Jones:

And there was no music.

Lormarev Jones:

Like there was no, there was no sheet music li I'm crying, thinking about it.

Lormarev Jones:

Cuz there was no sheet

Yolanda Rabun:

music.

Yolanda Rabun:

Okay.

Yolanda Rabun:

Okay.

Yolanda Rabun:

Wait a minute.

Yolanda Rabun:

Wait a minute.

Yolanda Rabun:

And remember I said this was an ensemble cast, so she not

Yolanda Rabun:

only had to know her her track.

Yolanda Rabun:

She had to know how to interact with them.

Yolanda Rabun:

Right.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the beauty of it is that Lormarev, you had enough, I don't know if it's

Yolanda Rabun:

gonna say je ne sais quoi, you had enough about who you were in this

Yolanda Rabun:

industry that when you stepped in, cuz I asked afterwards, how was it?

Yolanda Rabun:

There was no question that you were the one, right?

Yolanda Rabun:

They couldn't have thought of anybody else who could have come in and done that work.

Yolanda Rabun:

Now let's transfer all of what I just said to this idea that in my life I have

Yolanda Rabun:

these different multifaceted areas of my life in standby, waiting to come on so

Yolanda Rabun:

that what I'm often and always am doing is looking at what those different areas

Yolanda Rabun:

are and what do I need to become better?

Yolanda Rabun:

Is my, is my resume up to date.

Yolanda Rabun:

Have I actually worked on how to memorize lines quicker?

Yolanda Rabun:

Have I looked at, you know, what does it mean to get in front of an executive

Yolanda Rabun:

and speak in, you know, one minute?

Yolanda Rabun:

What they need to know.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so just those little things, there is Yolanda perhaps in her free time,

Yolanda Rabun:

cuz we have more free time than we know.

Yolanda Rabun:

Let me say that again.

Yolanda Rabun:

We have far more free time than we know in her free time might read an

Yolanda Rabun:

article on this topic and her free time might while she's walking, listen

Yolanda Rabun:

to a podcast that talks about the importance of doing certain things.

Yolanda Rabun:

When you speak in a constant state of learning.

Yolanda Rabun:

But also because I probably exhausted someone and listening to everything I

Yolanda Rabun:

just said, I truly believe in taking rest.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so when you think about that, when you put it all together that you are

Yolanda Rabun:

doing, being, staying prepared, staying ready, there's also a very large part of

Yolanda Rabun:

that that says, take care of yourself.

Yolanda Rabun:

That says it's okay to be quiet.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's okay to do nothing at all.

Yolanda Rabun:

But be about the business of all of that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Hmm.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that's what I am in my life.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I

Lormarev Jones:

wanna jump on that because there's a lot of discussion about,

Lormarev Jones:

you know, in our culture, especially right now about self-care and rest,

Lormarev Jones:

and it's taken on a life of its own.

Lormarev Jones:

It's gotten its little capitalist makeover, but I'm very interested

Lormarev Jones:

in how do you experience and

Yolanda Rabun:

or define rest?

Yolanda Rabun:

I experience rest.

Yolanda Rabun:

Every day and every moment that I can meditate, reflect, and just be

Yolanda Rabun:

quiet now, therefore, the definition is it is an interchangeable

Yolanda Rabun:

exchangeable concept that I, where I give myself permission to breathe.

Yolanda Rabun:

So part of meditation is breathing and as simple as.

Yolanda Rabun:

In the middle of a moment is me giving myself rest.

Yolanda Rabun:

And sometimes it's that little millisecond that we took then.

Yolanda Rabun:

And sometimes it is waking up in the morning and walking out onto my porch

Yolanda Rabun:

and just sitting there and being there sometimes it's taking a yoga class.

Yolanda Rabun:

And, and really absorbing what those moments mean for me, because the thing I

Yolanda Rabun:

love about yoga is not just about what the teacher is saying, but it is about that

Yolanda Rabun:

challenge that you're giving to your body.

Yolanda Rabun:

And some of the simplest positions, the stress and the beauty of.

Yolanda Rabun:

Starting a mode and not being able to bend over.

Yolanda Rabun:

So, you know, but for so far, and then breathing through those moments and

Yolanda Rabun:

then at the end saying, oh my goodness.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so I think that concept, I try and use in life and just taking that moment of

Yolanda Rabun:

breathing that gets me to stretching and able to deal with the noise of the world.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that's exactly what I call it.

Yolanda Rabun:

Anything outside of what it is that I feel I'm purposely driving to go for.

Yolanda Rabun:

The fun in my life is noise.

Yolanda Rabun:

And how is it that I can I ask myself quiet noise?

Yolanda Rabun:

Dampen the noise or shut it out all together.

Yolanda Rabun:

That's a word my world is very noisy at present.

Yolanda Rabun:

Mm-hmm mm-hmm and, but you allow that, right?

Yolanda Rabun:

Yeah.

Yolanda Rabun:

No, but no, I heard that.

Yolanda Rabun:

I want you to embrace that.

Yolanda Rabun:

You allowed it and be happy about it because here's the deal, Lormarev,.

Yolanda Rabun:

If you're not happy about the choice that you've made for the noise that you're

Yolanda Rabun:

hearing, then I want you to adjust.

Yolanda Rabun:

Immediately like right away, because in the long term only you get hurt.

Yolanda Rabun:

Everyone else just says we got her.

Yolanda Rabun:

There's a power in no.

Yolanda Rabun:

And people don't think I say no.

Yolanda Rabun:

I say it far more often than you think.

Yolanda Rabun:

Oh no, I believe you say no, because I, you have one of those

Yolanda Rabun:

lights that everyone's like, I'd

Lormarev Jones:

love a piece of that.

Lormarev Jones:

Or, you know, I'd love that in my show or whatever it is.

Lormarev Jones:

Mm-hmm and mm-hmm I imagine that that is a word that is quite much a part of your

Lormarev Jones:

vocabulary, because for that very reason.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yeah.

Yolanda Rabun:

And honestly, it's a skill it's not easy.

Yolanda Rabun:

I wanna be very clear about that.

Yolanda Rabun:

There are things that, Ooh, I wanna do that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Ooh, I've been waiting for that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Oh yes.

Yolanda Rabun:

And then that moment of this is where rest comes in, because rest is

Yolanda Rabun:

a part of the whole equation says, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, what about me?

Yolanda Rabun:

Right.

Yolanda Rabun:

If you say yes to that, then you say no to me.

Yolanda Rabun:

And is that fair?

Yolanda Rabun:

And, and I began that, that internal negotiation of, okay, you're right.

Yolanda Rabun:

But I could do this and do that.

Yolanda Rabun:

But what about me?

Yolanda Rabun:

And honestly, all that conversation is being in tune with yourself, knowing

Yolanda Rabun:

actually who you are and what you feel your limits are and what they are

Yolanda Rabun:

not, and, and being true to yourself.

Yolanda Rabun:

So some of my knows are hard to say, but as I, I told family members,

Yolanda Rabun:

especially if I tell you, no, it's not because I don't love you.

Yolanda Rabun:

it's because I love me more.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that's not even being arrogant or self centered.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's about, there's nobody gonna care for me more than I'm gonna care for me.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that's Yolanda being in tuned with Yolanda.

Yolanda Rabun:

I think that

Lormarev Jones:

our the people listening might appreciate.

Lormarev Jones:

Now that you've sort of set this framework and you're talking about,

Lormarev Jones:

you know, things waiting in the wings or people waiting in the wings.

Lormarev Jones:

How do you and saying no, which I have gotten very good at over the

Lormarev Jones:

past couple of years, cuz I think

Lormarev Jones:

that's what, that's the gift that the pandemic gave to me is that I

Lormarev Jones:

can definitely now say no where I, I felt such a sense of scarcity before.

Lormarev Jones:

I just don't feel that anymore.

Lormarev Jones:

Right.

Lormarev Jones:

Um, but I'm wondering for you personally, how do you go about.

Lormarev Jones:

How do you go about that?

Lormarev Jones:

Yes and no.

Lormarev Jones:

How do you go about the curation of your material, of what, the

Lormarev Jones:

noise that you invite versus the

Yolanda Rabun:

noise that you don't?

Yolanda Rabun:

So I am a planner, I believe in organization, and I also

Yolanda Rabun:

am believe in improvisation.

Yolanda Rabun:

but I start from a base of organization and I look at months

Yolanda Rabun:

at a time weeks at a time, days at a time, what is happening in my life.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I look at it from the perspective of what's happening for my family.

Yolanda Rabun:

What's happening at work.

Yolanda Rabun:

What is happening in the community?

Yolanda Rabun:

What is happening with my music?

Yolanda Rabun:

I have four categories.

Yolanda Rabun:

Right.

Yolanda Rabun:

I call 'em pillars and I look at each of these different pillars

Yolanda Rabun:

and I plan what I'd like to do.

Yolanda Rabun:

What I know is happening and even look at how they may interoperate with each other.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I often.

Yolanda Rabun:

As a matter of fact, I call it the business of me, right?

Yolanda Rabun:

In that each of these different pillars of my life have board of directors,

Yolanda Rabun:

people who speak into my life based on those particular pillars and

Yolanda Rabun:

the people who are on each of those boards are not in all of the pillars.

Yolanda Rabun:

And it is not always someone who I know is most likely some, I should say people who.

Yolanda Rabun:

Either do not know me.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I know that sounds crazy, who do not know me personally, but know of me,

Yolanda Rabun:

but also people who are not of the same mind as me and the purpose of those

Yolanda Rabun:

boards is to really allow me to make my final decision about my life and what

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm gonna do based on their information.

Yolanda Rabun:

I could go a whole podcast on that concept alone, but mention that to the

Yolanda Rabun:

point that the way I eventually would get to a yes or a no is in evaluating

Yolanda Rabun:

what is on the table for today for this week, for this month, for this

Yolanda Rabun:

quarter, for next year, and looking at.

Yolanda Rabun:

What is it serving the purpose for which I'm here in this world?

Yolanda Rabun:

I do believe that the reason why I'm here is to connect people to their next.

Yolanda Rabun:

So it's not even about me.

Yolanda Rabun:

It is about what am I doing in my life that will allow someone

Yolanda Rabun:

else to see they can do it.

Yolanda Rabun:

They will do it.

Yolanda Rabun:

And this is how it can happen.

Yolanda Rabun:

And that assignment I feel is it's so broad.

Yolanda Rabun:

Sometimes I have to go back and ask, why am I doing that again?

Yolanda Rabun:

Who is this?

Yolanda Rabun:

Who is this affecting?

Yolanda Rabun:

How is that helping me?

Yolanda Rabun:

And , and then I'm reminded yo, you are here to serve.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so this is not necessarily about you.

Yolanda Rabun:

I just get the benefits of it.

Yolanda Rabun:

All right.

Yolanda Rabun:

I get the residuals and that's the fun part.

Yolanda Rabun:

Like, wow.

Yolanda Rabun:

I didn't even know what I could get that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Thanks is how I.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's that constant state of gratitude that gets me to, to understanding,

Yolanda Rabun:

oh, I can say no to that because that actually doesn't fit with the whole

Yolanda Rabun:

paradigm of what's happening here.

Yolanda Rabun:

Right.

Yolanda Rabun:

And what's important in all of that.

Yolanda Rabun:

And this goes back to something that you and I have talked about in the

Yolanda Rabun:

past is I think it's so very important to reflect on what you've done,

Yolanda Rabun:

where you are and where you wanna go.

Yolanda Rabun:

I call it like my reflect, respect and project.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the reflection is remembering that those little small

Yolanda Rabun:

wins actually still a win.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I don't get upset if I audition for a show and I don't get it.

Yolanda Rabun:

I actually am looking for how do I improve Yolanda, so that can be ready to

Yolanda Rabun:

come out of the wings and hit the stage.

Yolanda Rabun:

right.

Yolanda Rabun:

And, or I don't get upset if I'm driving and I'm supposed to be somewhere by a

Yolanda Rabun:

certain time and I've done everything to do what I'm supposed to do to be on time.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I'm late.

Yolanda Rabun:

I obviously will call my stage manager and let them know.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm just kidding, but I, I always, I'm grateful you, the universe

Yolanda Rabun:

must have turned in a way that kept Yolanda from something.

Yolanda Rabun:

That was not for Yolanda.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so I ne I try not to be disappointed when things don't go the way I think

Yolanda Rabun:

they should go, because I know that there's a force far bigger than

Yolanda Rabun:

me that is actually working things out so that I can get what Yolanda.

Yolanda Rabun:

Would like to have happen for Yolanda.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yeah.

Yolanda Rabun:

Would you

Lormarev Jones:

mind cuz I agree.

Lormarev Jones:

And I, that's how I feel.

Lormarev Jones:

I feel like my work as an educator informs my artistic practice and vice versa.

Lormarev Jones:

Would you talk a little bit about the different ways in which you, you know,

Lormarev Jones:

serve young people, but you know, all the ways in which you are an educator?

Yolanda Rabun:

So absolutely.

Yolanda Rabun:

I started working with North Carolina arts in action, maybe about 10 years ago.

Yolanda Rabun:

And in that particular organization, We go into schools and work, particularly

Yolanda Rabun:

with fourth graders and teaching them dance based on a program out of New York

Yolanda Rabun:

that has been adopted really across the world, teaching kids how to use their

Yolanda Rabun:

bodies to understand really how to dance, but also how to communicate a.

Yolanda Rabun:

My role with the North Carolina arts in action group is to be the narrator.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I typically will come in near the end of the process.

Yolanda Rabun:

We'll learn some of the dances, but interact with the students as the

Yolanda Rabun:

storyteller of their production.

Yolanda Rabun:

In that role.

Yolanda Rabun:

I am ideally showing students.

Yolanda Rabun:

I am no different than they are, except perhaps in age that I am ordinary.

Yolanda Rabun:

And anything that appears to be extra ordinary is simply because

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm putting effort behind my work.

Yolanda Rabun:

So I take the time to stop and work with them on their dance and because

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm interacting with them and the acting part of it, just making them

Yolanda Rabun:

feel confident in what they're doing and also applauding their, their confidence.

Yolanda Rabun:

Because I think with any kind of educator, that part of our role.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's not just to be great and know the information, but to share it and also

Yolanda Rabun:

inspire those people who we are sharing it with, that they can do it too.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's not enough that I know it, but I wanna see you young person where I

Yolanda Rabun:

am, and I'm gonna be kind about it.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm going to be simple about it.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm going to be explanatory about it so that again, they can aspire to not be me,

Yolanda Rabun:

but to be, and to walk in their greatness.

Yolanda Rabun:

So as an educator, I'm walking in my greatness and ideally showing others, you

Yolanda Rabun:

can do the same thing too fast forward.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm working with the Carolina harmonic and that program is teaching kids

Yolanda Rabun:

about the orchestra, teaching kids about music and tempos and different

Yolanda Rabun:

languages associated with what we sing.

Yolanda Rabun:

When you are a presenter in front of an orchestra.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the joy in that is that the kids are also on the stage with us.

Yolanda Rabun:

And we are showing them that playing the recorder is the first step to

Yolanda Rabun:

potentially perhaps playing the flute or playing a saxophone or

Yolanda Rabun:

playing some other instrument.

Yolanda Rabun:

And it starts somewhere to get you again, where you were destined to go.

Yolanda Rabun:

So as an educator, I just feel that, and I really hope this.

Yolanda Rabun:

I'm gonna say this really simple.

Yolanda Rabun:

We all know that we all are educator.

Yolanda Rabun:

But as those who consciously know you are walking into the role of an educator,

Yolanda Rabun:

that our job is essentially to serve those who are coming behind us, who

Yolanda Rabun:

will become future educators as well.

Yolanda Rabun:

Amen.

Yolanda Rabun:

So

Lormarev Jones:

I feel like this whole interview has been a sermon, which I

Lormarev Jones:

appreciate as a preacher's child, but I do wanna give you just an opportunity if

Lormarev Jones:

you have any specific, more specific tips.

Lormarev Jones:

The, the final question I have is.

Lormarev Jones:

What advice do you have for people who are looking, you know, let's say who have

Lormarev Jones:

a day job and who are looking to create an artistic practice in their life?

Lormarev Jones:

What is your advice or

Yolanda Rabun:

suggestions?

Yolanda Rabun:

I would say change the way you look at things.

Yolanda Rabun:

And when you do that, the things that you look at will change first.

Yolanda Rabun:

What is a day job?

Yolanda Rabun:

Okay.

Yolanda Rabun:

Because my entire life is my job and I do what I do all.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so there, there is a, a time where, for example, we are in the middle of

Yolanda Rabun:

the day and am I lawyering right now?

Yolanda Rabun:

Am I performing right now?

Yolanda Rabun:

Am I mothering right now?

Yolanda Rabun:

Am I wife-ing right now?

Yolanda Rabun:

What do you think the answer is you talking to me?

Yolanda Rabun:

Hey, I am, but I am still doing you're socializing.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yeah, I am.

Yolanda Rabun:

But I'm still all of those things.

Yolanda Rabun:

that's my point.

Yolanda Rabun:

I don't compartmentalize my life like that.

Yolanda Rabun:

I move with the experience of my life.

Yolanda Rabun:

Just like people take time off to go eat lunch and they spend an hour there

Yolanda Rabun:

because that's what they wanna do.

Yolanda Rabun:

Are they stopped being at work by doing that?

Yolanda Rabun:

No, they're still at work.

Yolanda Rabun:

They just took an hour and a half lunch.

Yolanda Rabun:

To meet with friends or people go and work out in the morning.

Yolanda Rabun:

Right.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's just how it is that you choose to spend your time.

Yolanda Rabun:

Which is what I was talking about a little bit earlier.

Yolanda Rabun:

Well, we have time if you wanna go and watch, you know, Netflix for two

Yolanda Rabun:

hours, because that's your thing, then define that as that's your thing.

Yolanda Rabun:

And use those two hours to the most that hopefully when you're vegging out,

Yolanda Rabun:

you're either in your rest mode or you are in your learning mode because those

Yolanda Rabun:

two hours that you're using in Netflix is gonna teach you how you're gonna

Yolanda Rabun:

respond to a situation somewhere else.

Yolanda Rabun:

Being in a constant state of learning allows you, I think, to figure out

Yolanda Rabun:

how it is that you want to become who you are going to eventually be.

Yolanda Rabun:

So if you are a performer in your heart and not doing that now, and you have a

Yolanda Rabun:

job that you go to from nine to five, my challenge to you is to go understand

Yolanda Rabun:

why the performer is in the wing.

Yolanda Rabun:

See that the performer in the wing actually is.

Yolanda Rabun:

Has all the skills and all the things like contacts, like experiences in the

Yolanda Rabun:

space they're trying to go into, right.

Yolanda Rabun:

And have them ready and prepared so that while you maybe in that nine to

Yolanda Rabun:

five job, if an audition comes up, you know how that performer can attend

Yolanda Rabun:

the audition, what does that mean?

Yolanda Rabun:

Maybe the audition is associated with day that, you know, you can take.

Yolanda Rabun:

So you arrange for your auditions to be on that day, or that's a wild

Yolanda Rabun:

example, or you know, that you have flexibility in your lunch so that you

Yolanda Rabun:

don't know when the audition will come.

Yolanda Rabun:

Cuz again, you've already prepared.

Yolanda Rabun:

You're already ready, but you know that when you find out you

Yolanda Rabun:

can take lunch from two to three.

Yolanda Rabun:

Real story.

Yolanda Rabun:

About 15 years ago, I did a commercial that I shot on my lunch break.

Yolanda Rabun:

That commercial got me more attention than I can't even tell you people

Yolanda Rabun:

in the workplace kept coming at me and saying, wait a minute minute,

Yolanda Rabun:

did I see you in a commercial?

Yolanda Rabun:

What's going on?

Yolanda Rabun:

You know, how'd you do that?

Yolanda Rabun:

And all I could think to myself was between 12 and one o'clock.

Yolanda Rabun:

I shot that commercial.

Yolanda Rabun:

Did it in a timeframe that you think that the only thing you

Yolanda Rabun:

can do is eat yourself is eat.

Yolanda Rabun:

Yep.

Yolanda Rabun:

And so another thing I like to say is happen on things.

Yolanda Rabun:

Don't wait for things to happen to you.

Yolanda Rabun:

I knew I wanted that.

Yolanda Rabun:

I got in the audition and the timeframe that was the audition might have been

Yolanda Rabun:

even in the evening after work, but the shoot time was in the middle of the day.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I don't remember saying to them, I gotta only do it during this lunch

Yolanda Rabun:

period, but I remember them asking.

Yolanda Rabun:

When can you do it?

Yolanda Rabun:

Oh, right between this time.

Yolanda Rabun:

right.

Yolanda Rabun:

Mm-hmm . And I prepared for that moment so that when it was time,

Yolanda Rabun:

while I was on the stage, you know, being the lawyer, when it was time

Yolanda Rabun:

for Yolanda, the actor to take the stage, all I did was high five, though.

Yolanda Rabun:

Right?

Yolanda Rabun:

She walked in, did that job and high fived me on the way back in you was

Yolanda Rabun:

ready, being ready, staying ready, knowing your craft, do the homework.

Yolanda Rabun:

That's the other thing I would say to you, to your listeners, do the homework.

Yolanda Rabun:

It's not easy.

Yolanda Rabun:

You gotta do literally the work to understand what it takes

Yolanda Rabun:

to get to where you wanna go.

Yolanda Rabun:

Doesn't happen overnight.

Yolanda Rabun:

And the things that you see, the Rihannas, the, all those folks they've worked.

Yolanda Rabun:

right.

Yolanda Rabun:

They're living the life of it now, but there was something that

Yolanda Rabun:

they did before they got there and they're continuing to work because

Yolanda Rabun:

if they don't, they won't have a job.

Yolanda Rabun:

So you gotta do the work.

Lormarev Jones:

Amen.

Lormarev Jones:

Yolanda.

Lormarev Jones:

Thank you so much for your time.

Lormarev Jones:

Thank you for letting me wait in the wings and then take the stage

Lormarev Jones:

in your amazing busy serviceful.

Lormarev Jones:

I just made up a word.

Lormarev Jones:

I don't think

Yolanda Rabun:

servicefull was a word.

Yolanda Rabun:

I, I like that.

Yolanda Rabun:

I like that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Serviceful life.

Yolanda Rabun:

Thank you so much for your time.

Yolanda Rabun:

You're welcome.

Yolanda Rabun:

Thank you for even thinking about me and, and also just letting me share your life,

Yolanda Rabun:

you know, with other people, because again, part of my purpose is to connect

Yolanda Rabun:

people to their next and while that might not have been your next quote, unquote.

Yolanda Rabun:

It was your fabulous and you did well.

Yolanda Rabun:

And I appreciate you for that.

Yolanda Rabun:

Oh, thank you.

Lormarev Jones:

all right.

Tamara Kissane:

Established in 2017, artist soapbox is a podcast production

Tamara Kissane:

studio based in North Carolina.

Tamara Kissane:

Artist soapbox produces original scripted audio fiction and an ongoing interview

Tamara Kissane:

podcast about the creative process.

Tamara Kissane:

We cultivate aspiring audio Dramatists and producers, and we partner with

Tamara Kissane:

organizations and individuals to create new audio content for more

Tamara Kissane:

information and ways to support our work.

Tamara Kissane:

Check out artist soapbox.org, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Tamara Kissane:

The artist soapbox theme song is ashes by Juliana Finch.

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