In conversation with Alison O’Byrne

American writer, editor and publisher Yolanda Edwards reflects on her storied career, passion for collection and aspirations for the future.

When a 16-year-old Yolanda Edwards left North America for the first time in her life, bound for Europe, it would set in motion a train of events that would define her life and career. “The first thing that was so magical about it was that, at the time, in 1985, nobody knew where I was. I felt so free and that's the feeling I have been chasing since.”

The former creative director of Condé Nast Traveler magazine and founder and publisher of Yolo Journal, Yolanda Edwards was raised on the outskirts of Tacoma, Washington State. “I grew up in a pretty humble home—my parents were in their early 20s when they had me in the late 60s and they weren’t interested in the traditional markers of success. We lived on a tiny farm that belonged to my grandpa for a while: eating off the land, my dad milking the cow every day, that kind of thing."

For the young Yolanda, travel meant her grandparents’ house in California or the occasional camping trip but her wanderlust had already been sparked by family legends. “My Aunt Mary worked part-time for Club Med, going on trips once a month to places like Ixtapa, while my Grandma Joy was a war bride who came from Cheltenham when she was 18. So I knew there was somewhere else other than where I was and I wanted to get there. That’s where the fashion magazines came in—they showed me the places that I wanted to get to.” 

For Yolanda, those places would be reached through a career that would take her from Condé Nast Traveler to W magazine, Cookie magazine to Martha Stewart Living. In 2013 she returned to Condé Nast Traveler to take up the position of creative director—a role in which she could give free rein to her love of world exploration.

Leaving Condé Nast after 15 years was a turning point in Yolanda’s career, one that birthed the Yolo brand and resulted in Yolo Journal. She reveals it was hard, at first, to learn to work on her own. “I had such a great team at Condé Nast and I loved seeing them every single day. We really were a family, so it was sad for all of us to be broken apart. Little by little I got used to working on my own, at my kitchen table, and then I grew to love it. While I miss the collaborative environment, I don’t miss the arguing about how to approach stories. I also don’t miss office politics, asking for time off and worrying about face time."

According to its founder, Yolo Journal is a curation that aims to straddle photography and place. “It isn’t about detailed information, which while super helpful, isn’t pretty on the page. I started Yolo Intel to get all of that great juicy info out there—it’s everything from city black books to simple recipes that I’ve discovered on my travels, book recs for armchair travellers, to places I’ve found and am excited about! It is much more of a conversation, a community and a resource, whereas the magazine is more of an inspiration."

ALHAUS exists to tell real stories about real people so that the brands we work with can create cultural identities and maintain engagement within their communities—it's why we were drawn to the Yolo story. One of Yolanda’s main goals was to create a platform for “real storytellers, not just writers who are paid to tell stories. I love taking a photographer who thinks they are a terrible writer, interviewing them, and shaping a story from our conversation.”

The tagline of ALHAUS magazine is “Where curation meets content” and Yolanda’s keen interest in curation is obvious in her work but also in her personal spaces. “I love my shell and rock collections and my paper coaster collections from bars and hotels. Recently I’ve been collecting vintage souvenir books that have the most beautiful graphics on the cover and lovely black and white photos inside."

She believes that when she travels, she becomes the best version of herself. “I’m more open, more curious—everything is a discovery. I'm definitely happier when I’m on the road, but I’m also happy when I get home and get to settle into some routine. Then a couple of weeks go by and I am jonesing to hit the road again."

Grounded during the pandemic, Yolanda convinced herself that she was happy to stay locked down in one place for a while. “And I think I actually was until I took my first flight some six months later and started sobbing as soon as the flight left the runway. I realised how much I had missed the life I had taken for granted.”

During those months she experimented with different kinds of creativity, finding household objects to weave into still life photography projects and staging imaginary road trips with hotelier Marie Louise Scio and travel specialist Emily FitzRoy. “I think I’ve never been so creative—we’d decide we were going to Greece and would create a menu, playlist and a little vignette on the table to get us in the mood. Now that I’m travelling so much again, I think I miss those days a little.”

The global hospitality and travel industry is busy embracing new digital tools designed to improve customer experience and counteract the impact of travel restrictions but Yolanda sounds a note of caution. “I’m a lover of the old world, so I hope we don’t go all digital; there’s nothing that can replace human interaction. Sometimes it’s annoying to us as guests and it’s definitely harder to manage, but I can’t imagine not having that engagement. As for the future of travel, I hope we travel deeper—stay longer, immerse ourselves more and don’t have short, superficial relationships with places if we don’t have to.”

Looking ahead, Yolanda is determined, through the Yolo brand, to help busy parents access meaningful travel experiences. “When our daughter was young, I was the travel editor at Cookie (a parenting magazine). It’s so hard for parents to find the time to figure out the places that are actually worth making the effort/spending the money to get to—and I’d love to help with that.”

@yolandaedwards
yolojournal.com