By William Smith
Erin Campbell — better known as Titan Broadcasting DJ Jolene Jett — lived much of her life without even thinking about it.
Life just happened, and Campbell went along with it — until she just couldn’t anymore.
“Back in 2008, when I was living in Memphis, Tenn., I had my daughter, and I was on maternity leave, and I had a lot more free time to sit and think and reflect. And I got tired of watching daytime TV filling my mind with crap,” she said.
Campbell wanted to do something more with her life. She wanted to reinvent the way she looks at the world. She started watching religious channels and reading inspirational self-help books, searching out clues that would lead to self-rejuvenation.
“There’s got to be something more to this, right?” she said about her life at the time. “I’ve checked all the boxes. I bought the house. I graduated from school.”
That’s how Campbell developed her own method of positivity, which she calls JoyKwonDo. That translates to “punching with joy,” Campbell said.
But there’s no actual punching. JoyKwonDo is something completely different.
“There are three JoyKwonDo principles I’ve come up with over the years,” she said. “Number one — everything is fine. Number two — nice people get stuff. And number three — happy people can’t be defeated.”
It sounds simple, and Campbell noted that there is a distinction between acting nice due to obligations and politeness.
Finding joy in being nice requires more courage.
“The type of nice that comes from a place of confidence and fearlessness,” she said. “We already have it in us, but we only tend to use it when we feel safe and secure in our surroundings.”
Finding that confidence is the heart of JoyKwonDo, and it’s not easy. For most of her life, Campbell was a “don’t rock the boat” kind of gal. Like most people, she was more interested in keeping the peace.
It’s an informal art, and Campbell is happy to teach anyone — free of charge. JoyKwonDo is not a commodity, she said. It’s just a different way of living that anyone can adopt. She would like to open a studio in the future to teach.
“I was so vanilla. I was working a desk job, just doing what I was supposed to do. I was bored. I forgot how to be fun, and I wanted to be fun again, because I liked me when I was fun,” Campbell said.
Growing Up in Arizona
Campbell was born in Southern California and raised in Prescott, Arizona. She described it as “just like Burlington.” She was raised on MTV and saw a future for herself in the fringes of the music industry.
She studied music business and entertainment in college, and was obsessed with music videos. Ironically enough, she wouldn’t get a chance to use that knowledge until she became a DJ for Titan Broadcasting a few years ago.
“I could talk about that stuff for hours, which is why I’m uniquely perfect for this job. However, I have always loved popular music, even when riding my bike around. I even had a radio on it. I’d be listening to “November Rain,” right? That was my jam,” Campbell said.
Campbell moved with her family to Memphis shortly before starting high school and was surprised that it wasn’t the musical mecca she had expected it to be. Sun Studios, which hosted some of the first recordings from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, was the only major attraction, she said.
Campbell had grown disillusioned with high school by the time she became a senior, but she rebounded at the University of Memphis. She was aided by a scholarship for her proficiency with the clarinet.
Campbell found inspiration in one of her instructors and wanted to pursue a career further in the music industry. But she had a new husband and daughter, and pursuing music didn’t sound very practical at the time.
“I found myself stuck, because there really isn’t a lot of music in Memphis,” she said. “There’s some hip-hop stuff, some grassroots stuff, but nothing real big. I was working at a chiropractic office.”
When Campbell’s sister moved to San Diego, Calif., Campbell decided to take her daughter and join her. Her 1-year-old daughter had a whole life of discovery ahead of her. Campbell wanted to be the kind of person who would make her daughter proud.
“That meant telling my then-husband that we’re selling the house and everything, and moving to San Diego,” she said. Campbell was able to continue her work for the chiropractic business in California, and everything else fell into place.
Arriving in Burlington
Campbell and her daughter moved to Burlington in 2020. She was working remotely for a software company in California, but when the pandemic occurred, her role was gradually eliminated. She wasn’t asked to leave, but she felt her role was becoming less critical.
So Campbell came up with another idea while sitting in a Walmart parking lot. She does her best thinking in Walmart parking lots.
“I was thinking about everything I’ve done and what I want to do, and I wanted to get back into the music stuff and TV stuff. And it just like hit me. I need to be in radio,” Campbell said.
Three weeks after expressing her interest in a DJ job at Titan Broadcasting, someone submitted their notice. And Campbell began her radio career as an intern without a lick of DJ experience.
When she was promoted to DJ, Campbell had to decide between her remote software job — a choice between money and happiness.
She didn’t have to think about it long.
“I had to say goodbye to the corporate job, though, which was a significant pay cut. And I am completely at peace about it. Like I wasn’t scared about it at all,” she said.
Right now, Erin Campbell, or Jolene Jett, which she has adopted as a personality beyond the pseudonym, is exactly who she wants to be right now.
There’s no greater peace than that.
“I could do this (working as a DJ) all day. I could stay here until seven o’clock at night, and I’ve been here since 5:30 this morning. I love it,” she said.