Self-taught as a saxophonist at the age of 14, YolanDa confesses to loving a challenge. She was Head Girl at her Essex high school before she joined Kent Business School and could already play several instruments to a good standard \u2013 including the drums and piano.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was 13 I asked my music teacher to try a new instrument \u2013 she gave me a saxophone. I took to the instrument straight away (even though I had my sights set on the oboe!). Learning music in a formulaic way took out the magic. I used to listen to my dad\u2019s sizeable record collection: Opera, jazz, funk, soul and folk music. I was learning music by ear. I didn\u2019t see music as genres but more, moods.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many musicians, YolanDa excelled at mathematical topics. And like many 18-year-olds in sixth form she had no idea what she wanted to do with her future.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents have a place in Menorca and on one trip there a family friend was asking what I wanted to do with my life. \u2018I like business and maths,\u2019 I said. She suggested I look into Management Science, which I’d never heard of!’<\/p>\n YolanDa found the course at Kent Business School and went for a tour.<\/p>\n She says: \u201cWalking around the campus, it just felt so warm and diverse, full of friendly people studying such varied and interesting things.\u201d<\/p>\n Carrying on playing music \u2018for herself\u2019. YolanDa practiced in music rooms in Keynes on her own \u2013 barring a chance gig, where she was nursing a knee injury and was carried on the stage by two friends \u2013 for the Afro Caribbean Society.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI loved all the Union events, The Venue and all the parties at Parkwood. I loved the Templeman Library. Even the launderette holds so many happy memories for me.\u201d<\/p>\n But with the partying came hard studying, too. After a Year Abroad in Spain in 2004, she received a First-class degree and moved on to study for a PhD.<\/p>\n “Learning methodology within Management Science was fascinating. How an algorithm can help make deliveries, and simulation to aid decision making. I loved all that. I also loved that you could diversify \u2013 I did computer programming and Spanish alongside my modules. When I did finally become an artist and needed a website I could follow and troubleshoot the coding with the programmer, he was shocked, to say the least!\u201d<\/p>\n It was in 2008 when her PhD research was heading into the writing up stage. The very same year, her music career exploded.<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking into multi methodology \u2013 an area in which Professor John Mingers<\/a> was the pioneer and I was supervised by him and Professor Maria Paola Scaparra<\/a>. I loved the idea of bringing something new to the field \u2013 combining the hard and soft sides of Management Science.\u201d<\/p>\n But that year she also received her first MOBO Award and her debut album reached no1 in the iTunes Jazz charts. YolanDa started to question if she could continue to juggle music and academia.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen gigs came in, I had to make a choice between my studies and a career in music I had sent so many emails to John apologising and rearranging deadlines that year that I dedicated the song \u2018Dear John\u2019 on my album to John Mingers! Around this time, someone broke into my car when I was gigging in London and I lost reams of research materials (in the days before The Cloud). I started to wonder if I could really do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n YolanDa admits that she found abandoning her research \u2018painful\u2019 and \u2018the hardest decision of her life\u2019. But, it\u2019s one she has never regretted.<\/p>\n \u201cI sat in John\u2019s office and said: \u2018I\u2019ve got to follow music\u2019. He said, \u2018YolanDa take these opportunities, I am right behind you, go\u2019. I was in floods of tears after I left; the level of support was just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Since that moment, YolanDa has toured with the likes of The Temptations, Billy Ocean, Mica Paris and Jools Holland\u2019s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra as well as being awarded another MOBO in 2009.<\/p>\n As well as these pinch-me moments she has also carved out a successful TV presenting career with Cbeebies Show YolanDa\u2019s Band Jam<\/em> and Songs of Praise <\/em>and national radio channels. On top of this, she works tirelessly for children\u2019s charities including her role as Chair of Youth Music<\/a>. She still credits her business degree as helping her get there.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a record label who found me \u2013 I did it as an independent artist. I had to be business-minded. Also, I am self-taught, I play alongside musicians that have studied music in depth. I have to give talks and teach masterclasses, but I do it in a very different way – combining the hard with the soft \u2013 just like the multi methodologies I researched at KBS.\u201d<\/p>\n Her new focus, when she isn\u2019t being mum to her two daughters, is writing scores and recording for animations and children\u2019s TV \u2013 including the dizzy heights of Sesame Street<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI began by drawing my name in a circle and thinking about all the things it could be. It was something I\u2019d learnt through my degree, we called it Mind Mapping. We wrote down TV shows, charity work, animation, books, touring and more. I am still very much a businessperson, using all the lessons I picked up at Kent every day.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/files\/2022\/04\/YolanDa-Brown-Photo-by-Agenda.jpg\")
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