About Janelle Chavonne

I am a solutionist, an alchemist, an artist, a disruptor, a warrior, a Jesus follower, and a relentless optimist.

There is no moment I can pinpoint where I made a choice to fulfill these roles. They are intrinsic to my being and inextricable from my identity. In fact, my existence as a culture bearer and artist disruptor was perhaps predestined, beginning before those words ever entered into my vocabulary. My commitment to heritage and community was instilled in childhood. The daughter of a North Carolinian sharecropper and a Black Panther-era Oakland native, it was the juxtaposition of attending an all-Black Baptist church, in stark contrast to my tiny, predominately-white private elementary school, that caused me to seriously seek to discover: "what does it mean to be Black?"

Growing up African-American in California's Central Valley as the child of a prominent medical doctor in an affluent suburb known for its racism, being "different" was a way of life. I came of age at the height of Purity Culture and the shifting American climate from openly hostile, blatant, and obvious discrimination to politically-correct, covert, and institutional oppression. I remember hearing about Rodney King at home, but not at school. I remember the outrage in my high school classroom when OJ Simpson was found not guilty, and the celebration of my church family over the same. My highschool experiences were a true "Tale of Two Cities" and everyday I straddled the worlds of wealthy, white, Republican evangelicalism and a traditional, Black Baptist faith impacted by class, patriarchy, and red-lining exacerbated economic struggle. My two worlds provided a front row seat to the disparities caused by racism, classism, sexism, and saviourism and little-by-little I gained the courage, vocabulary, skills, and connections to fight for those whose voices were ignored.

I have actively been engaged in community leadership since childhood. I learned to speak publicly from Easter speeches and church Christmas pageants, growing to teach classes, preach sermons, and speak on stages. I learned to sing in church choirs and school musicals. I studied the Bible in Sunday School, in Bible study, in Christian schools, and at home -- memorizing verses for homework, quoting Scriptures at the dinner table, and winning Sword Drill youth group games. I learned to dance in studios and from watching MTV (because we couldn't dance at church or at school), and I performed tap, ballet, and hip hop routines on stage from early childhood. I developed my musical gifts with private piano teachers, was nurtured by loving mother-like gospel choir directors, and spent years in marching bands, jazz bands, winterdrums, and honor orchestras. I learned about romance from 90s RnB: Jodeci, Boys to Men, Bel Biv Devoe, Blackstreet, Xscape, SWV, and Destiny's Child. I learned to seek answers early, reading at four years old and devouring every page of the encyclopedias my parents purchased for me at a teacher's recommendation. I learned leadership by serving on student councils, ministry boards, holding elected positions, and presiding over meetings, all before the age of 17.

I have been blessed by Creator (Ohm) to possess a multitude of abilities: I am a musician, a singer, a dancer, a writer, a philosopher, a photographer, a graphic artist, a speaker, a motivator, an encourager, a minister, a sister, a friend, and a mother to many. Refusing to be placed within a box, I decided that I couldn't just do one thing and the only reasonable path for me was to "do everything." It took a few decades, but here I am, embracing my role as a multipotentialite and jack of all trades, and ready to change the world.