Today we’d like to introduce you to Yolanda Gates.
Hi Yolanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory
I began my poetry career in the wee hours of the morning on January 7th, 2012. My best friend’s boyfriend was murdered outside of a nightclub in Chicago, IL, which is where I was born and raised before moving to Memphis. As you may know, the constant state of Gang activity, crime, and distress in Chicago, IL is sometimes unbearable, especially when you are brought up there. I wrote my first poem that night in a state of pain and anger. I was tired of the senseless violence that plagued my community. I knew when I wrote the poem “In My Neighborhood” that I had reached a new level in my writing. It birthed a voice for me to speak to and for my community.
Before this day, I had never written poetry, only short stories and articles, as I had just dropped my major in college for Journalism. Funny story about this first poem, When I spoke the words, my voice changed. I carried the weight of each word, each inflection, each pause. Creating a demand for the attention to this poem to be felt in one’s soul. That quote came from my mother, who was extremely shocked to hear me speak with a power such as the one I use daily now. She crowned me “Quiet Storm” as my stage name because, upon the eye, I am very reserved and calm, but when I open my mouth, there is a shaking, a catastrophic wordplay that rains down on my audience. Quiet Storm was born.
I started early on doing church gigs and open mics. Really unsure of exactly where I wanted to be with this newfound gift. Then I met the poetry community in Memphis, TN and they were absolutely amazing. They helped me cultivate my art and perfect it by performing at different showcases. I was a sponge, constantly learning the craft and putting in my own style and message. I quickly became a suggested name in Memphis for opportunities and gigs. In 2016, a vigil for Alton Sterling changed my entire view of my gift. As I stood there, I saw the despair on my people’s faces and I had to do something, I stood in the middle of the crowd and performed my piece “Sons,” which speaks on Mother who loses sons to police brutality and gun violence. That landed me on the front page of the Commercial Appeal as The Voice of the Millennials. I was then asked to be apart of Congressman Steve Cohen’s Young professional roundtable to speak about issues that plagued the black and brown communities, won the National Civil Rights Museum’s Drop the Mic Poetry Slam with my piece “Justice for All”, I release my first book “Eye of the Storm”, and the road to walking in my purpose was LIT! There are several other stepping stones and achievements but this is where I got started and how those moments propelled me to be here today.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t believe in smooth roads *laughing* cause Lord knows I haven’t had any. My life is set up a bit differently. My first obstacle on this journey was that when I got started with poetry, I was a mom of two, 22 years old, still trying to finish my Bachelor’s degree. Juggling is an art form and I felt like that’s exactly what I was doing. Motherhood is a journey in itself, I didn’t have a manual, I was winging it and I learned that so much of what I knew was not what I wanted my children to know. That gave me the fuel to keep going and walking in my purpose. I used to tell myself every day in the mirror, “Keep going, Yo, it’s more to life than this”. So I suited up for a battle. Shortly after starting poetry, I had another child.
Then four years later, I had another child. So now I’m a mom of four! Whew. I’ve struggled with the balance of personal life, professional life, and purpose. I took on too much at one point from shows to my children’s extracurricular activities to overtime at my 9-5. I was constantly pushing myself in every area of my life until burn out was all I could do, and I did just that. In the middle of my book tour for my second book, “Embracing The Journey,” my body just gave in. I wasn’t taking care of my physical health, trying to balance everything else, I was in a battle with hypertension after having my last child, plus I got caught up in the light of the traveling and performing that I didn’t notice how much I had been missing out on in my health and family interactions. Some days were a blur, they just all ran together. I wasn’t enjoying life anymore, I was more of a machine. I’m a feel-good artist so the absence of energy that radiates and improves the feeling of our people wasn’t in tune with what I was doing.
The struggle was already present in my art because being a poet/spoken word artist doesn’t come with a big $ or flashing lights, many of us are not in it for the money. We love what it is we do and would do it for free. That’s called purpose. Favor is when those checks come with the performance! Haha! Getting your name out or booking a gig, that’s the grind. I believe art is going to live as long as I deliver my part as an artist. The time you put into anything will give you the best result, even if you have to go back to the drawing board a few times. It’s an honor to have struggled for my success, and I’m not even halfway there. I told God I wanted this gift, we talked about it, I cried about it, I asked God to take it away, I wrestled with quitting, I did quit, I came back, I humbled myself, I stood in that gift again… From those struggles, I know this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an Author, Spoken Word Artist, Podcast host, Teaching Artist, and Poet. I have written three poetry books, “Eye of the Storm,” “Embracing the Journey,” and ” Thoughts of a Woman”. I am known for my poetry to be real and raw content about the black experience, Women’s experiences on motherhood, self-love, and generational cycles and traumas, and Purpose. Many have said my performances as a spoken word artist commands attention, make you feel every word, and leaves you shook. (I am thankful for this description because I’m always very hard on myself about delivery). I am most proud of starting The Writerz Bloc’ creative writing collective, which is a program I created a curriculum based on several different areas of creative writing like short stories, playwriting, songwriting, poetry, etc. to promote literacy efficiency amongst youth ages 8-18. I started this program when my oldest child was in 4th grade, she was struggling with reading and I felt so terrible because as a lover of reading and a writer, you expect your children to have that same love.
As I researched ways to assist my daughter, I found an article about Memphis, TN and their literacy scores being extremely low and how reading test scores for 3rd graders determine how many jail cells to build in the future. I was devastated and angry at this, my community has so much against it already and to think these kids are being placed into boxes before they ever have a chance to be great in life. I had to do something about it, I couldn’t let these kids be sucked into the system. So I set out to change those odds and I’ve been running the program since 2017. I depend on sponsors and the community to keep this program alive and soon, we will be a 501c3. I am the host of my podcast “Embracing Our Journey’s” that highlights millennials and their journeys to success. I don’t only want to share my journey with others but I want to share the dope individuals I meet and those who inspire and influence a whole generation. We are two seasons in and I love it here! I believe what truly sets me apart from others is I’m a servant to my purpose in life, all areas of my purpose result in the service of my community and the legacy of my culture.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Just talk! Engage with others at shows, at events, in the elevator, on the street. You never know who you’ll meet just in random conversation. A supporter of mine wrote that people gravitate towards me after a performance and I talk to each person until I’m the last one in the room. It’s true. Whether we are talking about my outfit, personal struggles, spirituality, a poem I just spit, or the state of our country. I talk with each person I encounter with intrigue and a servant mindset. Sometimes what gets your foot in doors you never dreamed of is not what the person you’re speaking to can do for you, but what you can do for them. I’ve booked shows, created friendships (both business and personal), became a client of someone I spoke to or they’ve become a client of mine. Word of mouth is the best networking tactic possible!
Contact Info:
- Email: quietstormpoetry@gmail.com
- Website: www.quietstormpoetry.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialqspoetry
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/quietstormpoetry
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/qspoetry
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/quietstormpoetry
