17 Questions With Yolanda Johnson
17 Questions With Yolanda Johnson
An Orange Beach resident since 2000, Yo Johnson is a busy woman. Married to husband Jerry (an Orange Beach city councilman) for 21 years, she works full-time for the University of Alabama as a business counselor with the school’s Small Business Development Center Network. She also has her own company, J Divine, through which she markets her artwork, which she describes as “fun, beachy impressionism. There is nothing realistic about what I paint,’’ she said. Yo also serves on the board of directors with the Coastal Alabama Chamber and the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, and she is on the church council at Orange Beach United Methodist Church and a member of Baldwin’s Impact 100. A fifth generation native of Baldwin County, she was class president at BCHS before matriculating at Auburn and then earning a masters at the University of West Alabama. She has completed post graduate classwork at Missouri, Oklahoma and Auburn. And she still occasionally finds time to ride her bicycle.
1. What is one thing that most people do not know about you?
Jerry and I were married on a glacier outside Juneau, Alaska; I am a fifth generation Baldwin county native.
2. Considering anyone dead or alive, with whom would you like to have a conversation?
Jesus, followed by the 4 great men of Mt Rushmore.
3. Other than parents, who is one person that has greatly influenced your life?
Grandparents and my maternal great grandmother who lived next door.
4. What is one thing that you would like to change about yourself?
Have more wisdom.
5. What is one thing you would not want to change about yourself?
I’m aggressively friendly.. Jerry has always said it’s like I work for Disney all of the time.
6. How do you cope with stress?
Pray, put paint on a canvas and walk.
7. What is your favorite childhood memory?
So many revolve around pets such as dogs, cats, horses, rabbits and a cow named LuLu.
8. What are your biggest pet peeves?
Hearing people eat.
9. What was your first and your worst job?
First job outside working at my grandparents country store was as a cashier at Winn Dixie in Gulf Shores, the first grocery store on the island; The worst had to be catering at War Eagle Cafeteria.
10. If you had the political pull, what is one issue you would address?
Restore dignity to all Americans by providing everyone that has the ability, even those in prison, with a job with a fair wage. Prayer in schools and prisons. Eliminate Obamacare with its overbearing burden on the poor. Increase engagement of people in life and give everyone a conscience by eliminating political correctness, because how can something so corrupt as politics be the measurement for correctness? Everyone needs to develop their conscience that is thought provoking.
11. What is the dumbest thing you ever did?
Stood on top of a wooden barrel as if I were 20 again and weighed 40 pounds less. I fell through the barrel, ripping down both sides of my legs, and I have the scars to prove it.
12. What is your greatest fear?
Safety of the people I love.
13. What is your greatest extravagance?
House.
14. Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could sing.
15. What is your motto?
Love of people and their successful participation in life.
16. What is your most treasured possession?
Pictures and Grandmother’s quilt
17. A perfect day is …
Jerry, the grandboys and myself playing in the sand and surf of the Gulf.