Welcome to the final episode of our three-part “Hearing from Black Creators” series for Black History Month. On today’s show, Heather gets to sit down with Kevin Olusola, a member of the three-time Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Pentatonix. Kevin shares his story, which he attributes solely to God and His call to “radical addiction.” Oh, Kevin acknowledges that he had to do his part in striving to become a masterful musician; however, it was God who ultimately opened the doors and provided incredible temporal coincidences that were actually not coincidences at all.
In this episode, you’ll learn how Kevin went from medical school at Yale, to playing cello beatboxing for Yo-Yo Ma, to creating a viral video that got him on a reality TV show, and eventually led to him becoming the fifth member of Pentatonix. This story is so crazy that only God could have orchestrated it.
But first, it’s time to move on to Social Toolkit. Heather continues to walk us through some of the obstacles Black creators face online. Today, she focuses on algorithm bias and pay gaps.
Guest bios
Kevin Olusola is a member of the Grammy Award-winning musical group Pentatonix, grew up in the small town of Owensboro, Kentucky, the son of a Nigerian psychiatrist and a Grenadian nurse. From a young age, Kevin began learning the piano, cello and saxophone. He has performed twice at Carnegie Hall as a soloist on cello and saxophone and appeared on NPR’s From the top. Kevin enrolled at Yale University where he studied pre-med and East Asian studies. He spent 18 months in Beijing and learned to speak Chinese fluently as part of his fellowship at Yale. While in college, Kevin began developing “cello boxing,” his innovative blend of complex beatboxing and classical cello performances. And in 2009, he won second place in the international competition “Celebrate and Collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma”. Mom would call Kevin’s cello-boxing version of “Dona Nobis Pacem” “inventive and unexpected.” In 2011, Kevin “Julie-O“The cello boxing YouTube video has been featured by CBS, AOL, the Huffington Post and the Washington Post, among others. Kevin was also named one of 100 “History Makers in the Making” by NBC’s TheGrio and was chosen by Quincy Jones to represent him in concert at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival alongside Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea.
Host biography
Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communications at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including I will see you tomorrow And It’s not your turn. Contact Heather on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, at @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Get Heather’s weekly inspirational email in your inbox every Friday evening at 7pm EST. Register now on: www.heatherthompsonday.com/links.
Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today
Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day
Executive producer: Ed Gilbreath
Producer: Loren Joseph
Mixing engineer: Alex Carter
Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper
