It was a Thursday night with random plans for a Girl’s Night Out when we landed at the nightclub KooKoo Room to support a fellow AUC family member. Live music was on the schedule, but no one expected the room to stop. The voice cutting through the crowd belonged to Yoshi, The Voice Season 28. Smooth and soulful grounded, her sound carried confidence that felt intentional from the first note.
We felt like we were on the set of one of those jazz scenes in Tyler Perry movies, and the crowd and the groove oozed grown folks who pay their own bills. Yoshi was extremely charismatic with the audience.
It made me cheerful to watch her bring the audience into her private sanctuary of music. Listening to her belt notes only I could hit in my shower and watch her group of friends energizing the crowd with her line dances and love and support? Pure magic.
That voice belonged to Yoshi, a soul vocalist from Florida who competed on Season 28 of The Voice as part of Team Snoop. If you caught her performances of Deborah Cox’s “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” or the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell classic “You’re All I Need To Get By,” you already know she doesn’t play when it comes to delivering emotion through song.
But seeing her perform live in an intimate venue with her crew hyping her up? Different energy entirely. The woman commands a stage and carries herself with the kind of confidence that makes you want to take notes.
So naturally, I had to sit down with her to talk about life after reality TV, her no-nonsense approach to plus size fashion and why she’s letting God be her career GPS. Spoiler alert: this woman knows exactly who she is and she’s not apologizing for any of it.
Catching Up With Yoshi, The Voice Season 28’s Showstopper
Let’s get the obvious question out of the way: How’s life been since The Voice wrapped? “Everything has been exponentially better,” Yoshi tells us, and you can practically hear the smile through her words. “I already had traction and what the show did was just kind of take everything to another galaxy.”
Here’s what we love about that answer. She’s not claiming The Voice “made” her. She came in with talent, experience and a fanbase. The show just amplified what was already there. “Literally, people that needed to see me, that didn’t know they were looking for me or they were looking for my sound, they found me,” she explains. And isn’t that the dream? To be so authentically yourself that your people find you?
Plot Twist: She Never Wanted to Sing
Wait, what? A vocalist this talented didn’t even want to sing? “I wanted to be a dancer,” Yoshi confesses. “I never wanted to sing. I always wanted to be a dancer.” Music was always around (her grandfather was in a quartet band), but singing professionally wasn’t the plan.
The turning point came around 2014 or 2015 when her brothers asked her to fill in for a rehearsal. Their reaction? “Oh my God, you really sang. What are you doing this weekend?” And just like that, a career was born. “Once I realized people wanted to pay me to sing and it was like, no effort, I was like, sorry, let’s do it.”
Can we talk about that confidence? She recognized her gift, understood its value and said yes to the opportunities. That energy of knowing your worth and not being afraid to monetize your talent?
That’s exactly what we saw at KooKoo that Thursday night, and it’s the energy we’re all bringing into 2026.
The Plus Size Fashion Formula That Actually Works
Now let’s talk about what Yoshi was wearing during our chat: a dress from Amazon. The belt? Amazon. The shoes? Also Amazon. The hat was from H&M. Total budget-friendly queen energy, and she looked absolutely stunning.
When we asked if she’s always been into fashion, Yoshi keeps it refreshingly real. “Honestly, if I be honest with you, I have no idea about what is considered fashion since. I just know my body; there’s like a body solution calculation like a formula.”
This is where it gets good, folks. Yoshi isn’t following trends or trying to fit into someone else’s idea of what plus size fashion should be. She’s created her own blueprint based on what works for HER body.
Her styling philosophy? “As long as I can accentuate the two of them without looking trashy, that’s an outfit formula; let’s rock with it.” Before leaving the house, she runs through a mental checklist: “Am I confident? Am I sexy? Am I covered? Boom. Let’s go.”
Dressing for Performance (And for Her Kids)
When it comes to building performance outfits, Yoshi starts with her shoe collection. “Typically, I focus on the shoes because I have a lot of shoes. And so I try to match color block or color pattern with the shoes.”
But here’s what really drives her style choices: her two teenagers. “They’re on social media just as much as I am. And so when people see me online or in videos, I want my children if they come across that video to be like ‘Oh, that’s my mom and she looks good.’ I don’t want to be like ‘Oh my God that’s my mom.’”
She breaks it down even further: “How can I put something together that I’ll be covered; I’ll be cute; I’ll be classy but I’ll also be sexy because I’m a grown-ass woman. And I want to be sexy—not trashy.”
This balance between being age-appropriate for her kids while still owning her sexuality as an adult woman? That’s the conversation more plus size women need to hear. You can be a mom AND be sexy. You can be covered AND be confident. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s that same grown-folks-who-pay-their-own-bills energy from KooKoo translated into a wardrobe philosophy.
When we asked about fashion icons she immediately named Niecy Nash. And honestly? Perfect choice. Niecy Nash has been serving plus size fashion excellence for years.
Letting God Drive the Career Car
When we asked about her plans for 2026 , Yoshi’s answer was so refreshing we had to share it in full. “I would be facetious if I’d say I want to do this; I want to do that. God is driving this car. And every time I say I want to do something he takes my small teddy bear away; he gives me a huge-ass teddy bear that I can’t even hold.”
In an industry that’s all about five-year plans and strategic positioning Yoshi is choosing faith over force. “I’m going to let God continue to steer this car and lead me to where I’m going to be most beneficial and most fulfilled and most happy so that I don’t sacrifice my soul—and I haven’t done that yet.”
Her ultimate vision? “I trust that he’s going to continue to lead me to opportunities that are going to allow me to minister to people through secular music and still reach people around the whole world.”
The Takeaway
From that Thursday night at KooKoo surrounded by her friends showing her love to her powerhouse performances on The Voice with Team Snoop Yoshi’s journey is a masterclass in knowing yourself. She’s not trying to fit into anyone’s box; she knows her power and she’s unapologetic about all of it.
Whether she’s shopping Amazon for performance looks or trusting God with her next career move she’s operating from a place of confidence and authenticity. And in a world that’s constantly telling plus size women to shrink? That unbothered energy is everything.
Yoshi carries the kind of voice that glides from Deborah Cox to Marvin Gaye without missing a beat; her style feels effortless; her crew stays ready with the hype; and her faith anchors it all. Most of all she moves with that grown-folks-who-pay-their-own-bills confidence—the kind of energy that makes you order another lemon drop lean back in your chair and root for her like you’ve known her forever.
Keep doing your thing Yoshi; we’ll be over here taking notes and adding those Amazon finds to our carts.
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