I recently had the pleasure of getting to know Yolonda Lavender. She is a real WMU campus celebrity and in my opinion, a great community leader. Her musical talents, as well as her passion for the community make her a great Western Michigan representative in the streets of Kalamazoo.
Yolonda Lavender is studying social work at WMU and has big plans to attend either U of M or the University of Texas-Austin to attain her Masters in Social Work degree. Though academics are very important to Lavender she still makes time to volunteer in the community and really step out and be a great community leader.
I was privileged to ask Yolonda some questions, diving into what makes her tick, and what keeps her motivated.
Q: What do you do?
A: I’m a vocalist (I sing a mix of everything, jazz, blues, R&B, soul, gospel and pop) my record label in an independent label based in Kalamazoo called Truth Tone Records. I’m a community advocate; I’ve worked for and volunteered with several nonprofit organizations in Kalamazoo that focus on youth development and youth advocacy. I’m a strong proponent of God, culture, diversity, heritage, the arts, natural hair, fashion and music. These are all things I’m passionate about and that’s what I do!
Q: When did you start singing?
A: I started singing in the choir at my church when I was 5 years old and I’ve been singing professionally since 2006.
Q: Where does you passion for seeing community change stem?
A: My passion for the Kalamazoo community stems from being a native of this community. I believe strongly in the village concepts that are highlighted through the Kwanzaa celebration. One, Ujima which means Collective Work and Responsibility, suggests that we aim “to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve them together.” And two, Kuumba, which means creativity and suggests we strive “to do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.” These two principles sum up my passion for my community and why I posses that passion.
Q: Why do you give back to the community?
A: I think it’s important for anyone who is apart of a community to put back into that community what they take out. I believe that college students have a great opportunity to execute this because they are on the ground level learning skills in the classroom that they can go and put into action right away in their communities. For example, if I’ve just learned the logistics of grant writing, I can go to a nonprofit organization in my community that may need assistance in this area and cant afford to pay a grant writers salary, and put into practice what I’ve learned and help the organization at the same time. To me, it’s simple…everyone wins!
Q: Do you have any words of wisdom for everyone?
A: My words of wisdom just come from experience. I’m obviously not a traditional student. I came to WMU right after I graduated from Loy Norrix High School but I didn’t last long because I didn’t have the necessary drive to take ownership of my education, I lacked very important skills that I needed in college like time management and proper study habits. But here I am years later facing less than a year left before graduation with those skills and so many more that God has blessed me with throughout my journey. So my words of wisdom are DON’T EVER GIVE UP and it’s NEVER TOO LATE!
Q: You are so motivated! What keeps you going?
A: My motivation to keep doing what I’m doing is the fact that I know I have a responsibility to utilize the skills and exercise the gifts that God has trusted me with. Knowing that I have a responsibility to God, to myself, to my family, to my community, all motivates me to keep pressing forward. When I get tired and don’t feel like facing a day full of classes, meetings, church, work and everything else, I do it anyway because my thought process is this, one, many of my ancestors were not given the opportunity to receive an education or work freely of their own will and two, there may be a young lady in my community who will one day face the decision of following the crowd and skipping school or getting on the bus and going to school and I may be the person she looks at to help her make that decision.
Yolonda Lavender is what a college celebrity should be; someone who knows the importance of school, community, faith, and motivation. I couldn’t be more honored to know such a powerful person. Her passion and drive is not just honorable but desirable. If more people realize their impact on others, as Yolonda does, I know the world would be a better place.