Queen Jolene

A little about Jolene

Self-titled Muse, Queen Jolene, (formerly known as Hannah), turned 50 on the day she launched this website in May 2023. Jolene is an Author and a self-taught, somewhat inspired Spoken Word Artist, having shared her original poetry and prose at many wonderful Spoken Word events around Huddersfield and beyond since 2012.

Jolene has also delivered numerous presentations at Bettakultcha and Pecha Kucha over the years. At one Bettakultcha event at The Shine Business Centre in Leeds, in 2012, Jolene was said to have received the biggest standing ovation ever witnessed at a Bettakultcha event, for her presentation, ‘What’s in a Name?’

More recently, Jolene has used her voice to narrate the thought-provoking, illustrated Audio Book; The Wise Ones, which is a 30 minute powerful story told in a vacuum of space.

Jolene is also incredibly proud to have achieved being Manager and Curator at Huddersfield On Tour.

Book Jolene

To enquire about collaborating with Jolene for Voice Work, to deliver an inspirational presentation at your event, or for Reiki, please use this contact form.

Education and Career

After studying on the WITS Access Course and subsequent Multimedia Design Bachelor of Science (BSc) at Huddersfield University in the late nighties/early noughties, Jolene then spent a year working at the Council’s Web Development Team. What followed was a tough but rewarding ten-year career in Huddersfield’s Voluntary Sector. Firstly she supported women to use the internet and email at Fe-mail Women’s Internet Project in the Media Centre. She then went on to support adults with substance misuse issues at Lifeline, where she also helped develop services and delivered group work, before facing redundancy. During much of this time she was dealing with her own issues behind closed doors. With the funding cuts, she was made redundant from Lifeline in 2011 and she then spent 2 years working as a Sales Executive for The Huddersfield Eye Magazine which was a job she loved for many reasons but struggled with the financial pressure.

In 2002 Jolene gained a qualification in Counselling Skills and in 2010 she gained a Diploma in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). During her time at Lifeline she gained an NVQ level 3 in Health & Social Care.

Volunteering

Since her employment ended, Jolene has become an avid volunteer. She has supported KRASSAC’s Management Committee for six months, Huddersfield’s Meditation Centre Café for a year, Huddersfield Literature Festival a number of times, The Jubilee Centre’s Christmas Day Celebration several times, and has more recently volunteered as a Promoter, Reviewer and Presenter for Kirklees Local Television’s Music In The Hudd Project.

Creative Futures

Back in 2008, Jolene completed the Accredited ‘Creative Futures’ course with the Creative Industries Development Agency at The Media Centre in Huddersfield, where she trained in DJ’ing, podcasting, acting, film-making, interviewing for radio, creating jingles for radio, and learning to develop social media skills. It was therefore wonderful for Jolene to be putting that qualification and her skills to use in her role at KLTV.

Passions

Jolene is incredibly passionate about supporting her favourite Musicians, Artists & Creatives from Huddersfield, as well as preferring to support local independent venues instead of the larger chains.

In 2004, Jolene completed the First and Second Degree in Reiki, and in 2017 she completed the Third Degree, therefore finally becoming a Reiki Master Teacher. She is really passionate about offering Reiki sessions from her home close to Huddersfield town centre (promotional video coming in the future).

Why ‘Queen Jolene’?

If you’re wondering ‘Why ‘Queen Jolene’? it’s a multi-faceted response…. partly because at 5 years old Jolene’s daughter bought her the world for a pound, making her feel like Queen of the world; partly because Adenico of Collective Sessions encourages us to be the Kings and Queens of ourselves; partly because when working at Lifeline, Jolene’s Manager would refer to her as the ‘Care Plan Queen’ because she was so good at Care Planning with her clients; partly because of Dolly Parton’s song, ‘Jolene’, which inspired her name change back in 2012; partly because of Tarrus Riley’s song ‘She’s Royal’, which was once dedicated to her;  and lastly because it simply has a nice ring to it!

Mental Health
While Jolene has endeavoured to promote herself positively on the HOT! site, she also thinks it’s important to acknowledge that she has diagnosis’ of Depression & Anxiety, Bi-Polar and Complex PTSD, for which she is receiving support. There will be a page of mental health support links coming to the site real soon.

With many Blessings.

Queen Jolene x