Janora Rashon aka J. Kharma was born and raised in the Washington DC metropolis. She began to write poetry at age 9. She earned the opportunity to study Literary & Media Arts throughout middle school and high school.
Janora Ware graduated Duke Ellington School of Arts as an emerging DC voice. She went on to start a family and completed her Bachelor of Science integrating Film Studies, Professional Writing and Modern Languages & Culture with a specialized program. As a mother of 4, she completed her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
Her first short film, 40 Steps, was an official selection of the 2016 Maryland International Film Festival. She was also a funded finalist in the 2017 Mofilm Mountain Dew commercial competition as an associate producer. Her screenwriting portfolio includes a feature film, 2 short films, a webisode series, and a pilot.
Until COVID 19, she subsidized her artist career as a part-time college professor and tutor. Due to decreased availability, the nature of her battle with MS, and single motherhood under a Pandemic; she was unable to sustain or regain another teaching contract.
On August 30, 2020, teaching-artist-writer J.Kharma released The Vault, an independent debut hip-hop-spoken-word album, and an accompanying poetry book. Other publications include anthologies entitled Letters to Friends: Wisdom Through Storytelling and Awakening the Heart of the Beloved Community.
Inspired by the death of her singing father in late 2019, and after losing her teaching gig due to COVID, she acted on advice from audio engineer students of a former class, to get in the studio. Under quarantine, she made a home studio of recycled materials and created a collection. The Vault is a multimedia collection of hip hop, spoken word, and literary poetry. Her first single, Flamethrower, ranked #1 on local Reverb Nation charts for 9 consecutive weeks. Her passion for creative storytelling through music, film/TV, and literature is as vital to her as her own breath. She is only beginning to break through and share this with the world.
Since her debut album, she has released several singles, created an autobiographical musical short film entitled Miracle Seasonings, performed in over 200 live videos on the Bars app and been recognized for her efforts winning competitions. She is featured on Real Recognize Real Mixtapes 1,2, & 3, NGK Kompilation Relocked & Reloaded 1 & 2, and Hunger Pains by Young Dice on all platforms. By day she currently works as a post-secondary education support specialist and in the twilight she is working on her next multimedia release, Aquamarine.
Her passion for creative storytelling through music, film/TV, and literature is as vital to her as her own breath. She is only beginning to break through and share this with the world.
