Meet R. Jahan

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful R. Jahan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

R., so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

My optimism comes from being raised under a powerful matriarchy of three women—my aunt, my mother, and my grandmother. They banded together to raise their children, and our home was built on an abundance of love. I grew up with warm hands always reaching out to embrace me, ovens already preheated to 450° before I was even awake for breakfast, and wide smiles whenever I had a story to tell.

Having that kind of love poured into you, consistently and without question, shapes you. It teaches you to lead with generosity, to expect goodness, and to recognize possibility even in difficult moments. Their love created a home where optimism could take root and eventually, it became part of who I am.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m grateful to be invited back and to have the space to share more of my story. Thank you, Bold Journey, for holding that room for me.

At this point in my life, I am an artist trudging forward. Making art in this world can feel nearly impossible, but I promise you it isn’t. Opportunities do exist— sometimes they’re scarce, sometimes they feel distant, but what I’ve learned is that opportunities also live inside you. Your life, your ideas, your memories, your point of view… those are all ingredients for creation. You are the one who must give yourself the license and the agency to see that.

Finding that sense of self and narrative gives you a mirror to hold up to the world, especially in moments when the world needs reflection the most.

I began as an actor. It took time to understand that the stories I carried: the what-ifs, the memories, the flashes of imagination were all forms of play. And when I finally put those stories on paper, I became a playwright. The studying, the training, the practice came later. What had to come first was permission. Me telling myself that my being, my Black queer being, is not only allowed to create but worthy of being heard.

Once I embraced that, I became the artist I am now. My first play, Baldwin et Lucien, has made its way into the world, and it’s being met with open arms. I’m acting in it, I’m shaping it, and I’m witnessing people respond to the work. Audiences are craving new stories, stories that speak to our time, that stretch our attention, that challenge us to love more deeply, that allow us to feel.

I am an artist working to make work that rises to meet that desire.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Three qualities have been especially impactful on my journey: my ability to adapt, my competitive nature with myself, and my curiosity.

Adaptability has carried me through every transition: personal, artistic, and professional. The world shifts constantly, and the arts world even more so. Being able to read a room, adjust my expectations, and meet the moment where it is has allowed me to keep moving forward instead of feeling stuck. Adaptability made space for resilience.

My competitive nature, but specifically with myself, has been just as important. I’m always trying to step head of the last version of who I was, to take one more risk, to find one more layer in a character or a draft. It’s not about comparison; it’s about expansion. That quiet internal competition pushes me to refine my craft and hold myself to a standard that keeps rising.

Curiosity is the heartbeat of my work. Curiosity leads me to ask “why,” to explore the “what if,” to observe people more closely, and to imagine worlds beyond what’s directly in front of me. It’s the quality that turns a thought into a scene, that turns a question into a character, and that keeps the creative process alive even when it feels difficult.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

When I feel overwhelmed, I get busy. I channel that energy into movement and purpose. I put myself in the gym, I practice a new language, I revisit books that once lit my heart on fire, and I call the people I love— family and friends who remind me of who I am outside of the pressure.

So much of accepting alignment is understanding the rhythm of hurry up and wait. Your moment will not miss you, but you can lose yourself while you’re waiting for it. Filling that in-between space with intention gives my mind peace and keeps me grounded in the process.

Staying busy doesn’t distract me from my life, it keeps me connected to it, and it makes room for clarity to find me again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rjahan.com
• Instagram: @rodneyjahan
• Twitter: @rodneyjahan
• Youtube: R. Jahan

Image Credits

Danny Bristoll – Photographer