About the Author

With her Christian faith as her guide, Yolanda F. Johnson has had an outstanding career, crafting a life as a performing artist and philanthropy thought leader, as a composer, as an educator, and as a supporter of the arts and inclusion, equity, and diversity. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, she began studying classical piano at an early age. Soon after, Yolanda’s vocal talent was discovered when she joined the choir at her late grandfather’s church where he was an associate pastor. Yolanda began her first classical vocal study at age nine and began composing at twelve. She has a performance degree and a master’s degree in arts management with a philanthropy focus. Along with this, she has a wealth of experience in the non-profit sector, where she has developed training methods for boards and leadership groups in effective fundraising strategy and racial and gender equity. She has successfully launched fundraising and marketing initiatives, created streams of earned income and special events and has developed fundraising strategies to raise more than $1 billion for nonprofit organizations.

Yolanda has performed nationally and internationally in opera, concert, oratorio, and sacred music. She is an active recitalist/lecturer on several musical subjects, specifically spirituals as related to the Underground Railroad and the works of women composers. Yolanda has recorded an album of Spirituals, Feel the Spirit! and co-created Music She Wrote, a celebration of women composers, with colleagues, Dr. Brooke Bryant, and Dr. Michael Eisenberg. She also actively composes new sacred musical works and Easter, Christmas, and Advent musical productions. Yolanda made her New York City debut as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and has performed in many venues and with various presenters across the United States.

Yolanda has more than a decade of experience as a worship leader and church music director, and she has led worship for Christian conferences and gatherings across the country. She is also a sought-after keynote speaker and educator in the realm of Faith and Philanthropy. She has trained clergy at Princeton Theological Seminary, given keynotes at the Faith and Fundraising Conference, Moderated and Curated panels on Faith, Philanthropy and Women at the Women’s Philanthropy Institute Symposium and the Parliament of the World’s Religions. She has been a featured presenter at Performing the World International Performing Arts Conference. She was also on the voice and music composition faculty at the Mozartina Music Conservatory. Yolanda is the Resident Soprano of Westchester Chamber Soloists.

Yolanda is also a current International Advisory Board member of and the former Representative for the Foundation for Post-Conflict Development to the United Nations, exploring cultural preservation after times of conflict; a member of the board of directors of the Hudson River Museum, Special Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra, board of directors of PowHer NY, board of directors of the Lehman College Art Gallery and was the first African American President in the more than 40-year history of Women In Development, New York. She was recently appointed to the Women’s Philanthropy Institute National Council and to the Leadership Network of the Amplify Her Charitable Foundation. Yolanda is also the Founder and CEO of YFJ Consulting, LLC and Founder of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC) and Allies in Action Membership Network. With her successful performance background as the basis, Yolanda created All the World’s A Stage, a workshop that uses performance practice for confidence building, public speaking, and making the ask for yourself both personally and professionally.

Yolanda was raised in the church, accepting Christ at a very early age. She loves the Lord and has been amazed to see just how active and alive His Word is! She absolutely adores celebrating Christmas and entertaining and loving people through gathering them together over delicious food. In fact, for the longest time, her greatest struggle to understanding something in the Bible was not Revelation, although she is a fan of Eschatology. Not the deep sayings of Solomon or the Prophets. It was the greatest conundrum of all time: Why Mary did not help Martha in the kitchen when she was trying to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus and the disciples! Of course, the Holy Spirit has been gracious enough to illuminate things over time, and so she gets the lesson: Jesus, and spending time with Him, is more important than anything else, ever.