Meet Jackie Yangyuen of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Yangyuen

Jackie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My path to becoming a full-fledged artist has been a nonlinear one. My immigrant parents meant well when they said that being an engineer would be the best choice for me when it came time to choose a major for college, but my heart had always been with the arts. My mom and dad met at the MIT of the Philippines as Chemical Engineering majors, and my older brother was a Civil Engineering major from UC Berkeley – so the choice was not so much what kind of major I wanted and more of what kind of engineer I wanted to be. While I am grateful for the financial stability that this choice has offered me in the long run, I do grieve for the younger version of myself that felt invalidated for wanting what she wanted – to be an artist.

I went to UCLA for Electrical Engineering and was relieved to get my degree. My parents told me that I could do anything I wanted once I finished with a degree…so after quitting my first engineering job out of college, I became a couchsurfing musician! I drove to Nashville every other weekend and crashed on strangers’ couches, performing at open mics until 3 am every night with my ukulele named Shelly.

I toured Nashville and couchsurfed all across LA in 2019, performing at venues like the Bluebird Cafe and 626 Night Market both solo and with full bands. In mid-2019, I had secured a full-time engineering job in Los Angeles so that I no longer had to couchsurf, which was a miracle because I had no way of predicting that a global pandemic would strike in 2020.

With limited options to perform my music during the pandemic, I took up new hobbies and ways of expressing myself, in baking and cake decorating, but also in voice acting. Listening to podcasts and audiobooks saved me from feeling trapped and alone in a time that was so isolating. The intimacy of listening to a voice that could take you through an hours-long adventure was the audio equivalent of a hug from a long-time friend. I really needed that. I wanted to give back in that kind of way with my voice. I started to take classes in voice acting and then started auditioning, and I am proud to announce that my first audiobook is coming out this year.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of my biggest challenges has been navigating my mental health journey. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, and I have learned as much as I can in my adulthood to better understand how to meet my body’s and mind’s needs. It has been a gamechanger to learn how to work with my neurodivergence rather than against it.

To ensure I can balance all of my artistic priorities and a full-time engineering job without burning myself out, I take care of my physical and mental health with a morning routine. This morning routine consists of daily movement, meditation, journaling, and a wholesome breakfast. Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is a non-negotiable priority for my body to function at its best, which also starts the night before with a wind-down routine.

Before I learned about my diagnosis, I carried a lot of shame. I blamed myself for not being able to handle more like how everyone else seemed to be able to. Now I realize that I get overstimulated more easily, that I need more rest and recovery time, and that I thrive on routine and daily movement, even though I struggle to steer clear of chaos at times. I am much gentler with myself these days because I have this understanding and compassion, and that has made a huge difference with how I speak to myself and approach my creative work.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a storyteller. Through the years, I have traversed through many mediums, from songwriting to baking to voice acting to novel writing to dancing to even writing my own one woman show, and each has allowed me to access different sides of myself. It’s like I get to slowly turn the kaleidoscope of who I am and see how each artform resonates within me.

My first love was music. I was a choir kid from middle school all the way through high school, then I did a cappella in college and even after graduation in a semi professional group. But it wasn’t until 2018 that I started my solo career as jly, a pop-singer-songwriter, releasing original music that told my own stories of self love and empowerment. Up until that point, I had always done YouTube covers of other peoples’ songs, sang about other peoples’ love stories or heartbreaks. But when I took my first songwriting class, it hit me – I had so many of my own stories to tell, and nobody except me was going to tell them. I was on it.

One work I am especially proud of is my one woman musical, Hold Me Down, which debuted last year as a part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It had 7 black box theater performances, and it was a raw and vulnerable retelling of the most powerful moments in my life from my childhood all the way until to the present day. Told through song, stand up comedy, dance, and shibari, the practice of Japanese rope bondage, this show explores the soft sides of kink and how, through the BDSM scene, I found my sense of self and new ways heal my past traumas. The tagline is “through bondage, she found freedom.”

I also learned how to dance over Zoom during the pandemic. My friend, Jeffrey Liang, an incredibly talented Heels dance instructor, and I did a skills swap. Over Zoom, they taught me private Heels dance lessons, and in exchange, I taught them vocal techniques and songwriting skills. They later became the choreographer and director for a future music video that incorporated a full original dance segment.

Last but not least, I will be launching vlogs on my YouTube channel this year. I will be publishing videos documenting my mental health journey and behind the scenes content about how all of the fun and creative magic comes together!

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I have somewhat embarrassing but precious memories of me, 11 years old at the time, clutching a book in my sweaty hands as I sat on the toilet in pain from IBS symptoms. Since I was trapped in the bathroom for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, I decided to narrate my book of choice out loud. It distracted from the pain, and I wanted to impress my classmates whenever I was called on to read out loud in English class.

If there was ever an early indication of me being an aspiring audiobook narrator, here it is!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jlymusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jlymuse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlymusicofficial/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jlymuse
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jlymuse
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5UYZfcRomXHvLdCmamgBjG

Image Credits
Tristan Nguyen
Raelene Rizo
Rio Aguirre