We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenise La Vonne Wright. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenise La Vonne below.

Jenise La Vonne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents shared God’s word, but more importantly they lived God’s word. Being the daughter of a Bishop comes with its own set of difficulties but one thing that I never had to struggle with was whether or not God was real and if it was truly possible to live for Him and be happy and successful. Their example helped me to truly fall in love with God and not just what he could do for me. As a result, I am a gospel artist who loves God more than the music or the industry. It’s HARD being an artist especially an independent artist but I LOVE creating music for God’s people because I love God. So even when the music business gets hard and I want to quit, my love for God pushes me to remember that His people need to be inspired, encouraged and reminded of His goodness. That is my biggest motivation for being a gospel artist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I began singing when I was 2 year s old in the children’s choir of my home church and I began writing songs at age 11. I started taking vocal training at age 13 and recorded my first song at age 16. I ALWAYS knew I wanted to be a singer but as I matured I realized that there was so much more to being a gospel singer. I’m a minister in my music and in my life.

Being born and raised in church I was exposed to primarily gospel greats like The Winans, Fred Hammond, and Vanessa Bell-Armstrong, Vickie Winans, Tramaine Hawkins and I wanted to be just like them. I’m set apart because I understand that as a musician especially in 2023, I sell more than music but a lifestyle and a culture, and my music simply serves as the soundtrack to that life. I am dedicated to living what I sing and write about.

My music comes from a place of constant conversation with God, and helps its listeners to connect to God in a very relatable way. I yield myself to be a vessel for God to speak through in my lyrics as I diligently seek and ask God what He wants to say to His people through each song.

I am most proud of the fact that I have been able to stay focused on my goal as a gospel music minister. Working in the music industry (gospel industry especially) is extremely hard and many people quit or get thrown off course but I am laser focused on my goals. I am also extremely proud of the music I have written for other artists. Creating music and then seeing how someone else interprets it is one of the most exciting things I’ve experienced in music.

In addition to music, I host a women’s ministry called War Like A Woman and I run a self care brand LoveDoneWrite where I sell prayer journals, prayer cards and much more. Through this ministry I host a community of women and girls dedicated to growing their relationship with God through prayer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There is a really BIG misconception that being a gospel artist or working in the business of gospel music is a lot easier or than doing any other type of music. The gospel music industry is no different from the music industry at large. ESPECIALLY for women. It was a bit of a shock at first for me but my father always taught me to own your creative works and work hard to learn the business and never let anyone take advantage of you. I learned very quickly that no one was going to freely teach me the music business so in my journey I have persisted to read, research and and learn as much as I possibly can in order to reach my goals.

I remember early on in my music career I was working with a new male vocal coach that showed a lot of interest in my creative abilities. I was very young and ambitious at the time and as he coached me and saw my gifts developing he began to open opportunities for me to perform locally. I remember distinctly one day right before a showcase he set up for me, he encouraged me to begin telling people he was my manager and to relay all business opportunities to him exclusively. I immediately had a bad feeling about it because at the same time he was also trying to become a little more than just my vocal coach.

After the showcase I was still having a VERY bad feeling about it so I had a conversation with my siblings and they confirmed what I was feeling. Since then my father has worked as my manager, and later my husband has joined the team as well. I have read and heard hundreds of stories of young women working hard to achieve their musical goals and men of influence and power manipulating them financially, emotionally, and even sexually.

That experience could have scared me away from the business completely, but I thank God for my father and the drive within me to keep going and to learn from every experience.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think that we live in a society of instant gratification and because of that people have forgotten that it takes time to create and even more time to create something great. So while we have a lot more tools for creating music and art, there is a lot less creativity and originality now because everyone is rushing to put out something/anything versus developing and carefully crafting a masterpiece and then releasing it into the world.

One thing that consistently frustrates me is when I drop a single and someone listens to it and says something like, “That song was so good, when are you putting out another?” It frustrates me because I remember a time when we heard a song or an album and put it on repeat for hours (I still do this). We would live with it and enjoy it and really dissect it and meditate over it. Now people hear a song or an album once and they’re already bored and looking for the next song or album.

As a result many musicians are putting out subpar music and steadily racing to release the next single. Songwriters are story tellers, We share stories about the world, our experience with, about relationships, and all of our discoveries within this life. If there’s one thing we want when people listen to our music it is for them to get it and understand and relate to it.

My prayer is that society would slow down and really take in the art and music. Really understand what you are listening to and try to understand what point the musician is trying to drive home and examine how or if you can relate with it. When the music is looked over and not fully appreciated it causes the musicians to either join the bandwagon of creating less meaningful work or causes them to give up. I would love for people to really appreciate the music more and in turn that will demand the best of musicians.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jeniselavonne.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeniselavonne
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeniselavonne
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeniselavonne
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JeniseLaVonne/videos
• Other: [email protected] Journals & Prayer Cards: www.lovedonewrite.com Women’s Ministry: facebook.com/groups/womenwhowar

Image Credits
SWTpix Photography Alexz Roze | Photographer Cedric Wooten Photography