Janelle’s Story

When Janelle was a little girl, she was surrounded by a great, big family. Her parents, grandmother, aunts, and uncles lived on the same street. She has 50 first cousins! Everyone lived in Kansas, where Janelle’s mom worked as a janitor, her dad worked as a truck driver, and Janelle wanted to be a performer. 

5 year old Janelle went to church with her aunt. Janelle liked performing so much that she started singing a Michael Jackson song right in the middle of the church service! [Watch Janelle act out this memory] As a teenager, Janelle performed in Juneteenth talent shows 3 years in a row and won all 3 times. She gave the talent show prize money to her family to help pay for bills. She was the star in school musicals until her senior year, because she had to leave during the audition to pick up her mom from work. [Watch Janelle react to old childhood photos]

Janelle left Kansas to study musical theater. She worked at Office Depot during the day to make more money, and performed at night. Janelle did not have a computer at home, so she used a computer at the store to send an email to her fans. That was against the rules, so she got in trouble! She made a song about it, and more artists and fans began to notice her.

Learning from her role models, Janelle has now become an amazing musician, movie star, and activist! In one of her famous movies, Janelle plays a woman who helped astronauts go to the moon with her math and engineering skills. In real life, Janelle loves stuff like robots, aliens, and time-travel. Sometimes she sings. Sometimes she raps. And sometimes she even speaks like a robot! At her concerts, she usually wears black and white suits, which she calls her “uniform” - just like how her mom and dad wear uniforms when they go to work.

Janelle says that being a successful artist “feels like when you get off from school early in the first grade and your grandmother takes you to get ice cream, and you eat ice cream all night and you don't have a tummy ache.” But even famous musicians can face challenges sometimes. For a while, Janelle wanted her songs to be perfect and became afraid to share them with other people. Janelle asked for help and she learned to embrace the things that make her unique, even when it makes her uncomfortable. 

When Janelle goes home after a concert and takes off the uniform and makeup, she reminds herself, “I still am a young, Black, queer woman who grew up to working class parents." She feels a responsibility to help others in her community and uses her art to bring people together.

Janelle’s story is still unfolding. You could see one of her concerts or movies someday!

Born December 1st, 1985