Crafting the ‘Harlem Queen’ Podcast with Bundles Scholar Yhane Washington Smith

Writer, producer, and alumna of the A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars program, Yhane Washington Smith (Cohort 8), has long channeled her love for Black history and folklore into her work. For the acclaimed podcast, Harlem Queen, Washington Smith found inspiration in the historical figure Madame Stephanie St. Clair, a Harlem entrepreneur who thrived off the underground economy during the height of the Harlem Renaissance. 

Though Washington Smith was born and raised in southern New Jersey, her deep reverence for Harlem—a community she’s called home for the past 20 years—has shaped her creative vision. In the spirit of International Podcast Day on September 30, Columbia Neighbors sat down with Washington Smith to speak about Harlem Queen, folklore, and her reverence for Black culture and history. 

Tell us about your audio drama, Harlem Queen.

The show is a fictionalized historical drama loosely based on the life and times of Madame Stephanie St. Clair, who was a Harlem entrepreneur and “policy” banker during the Harlem Renaissance. “Policy” was a kind of illegal lottery, where players picked three numbers, hoping to match numbers drawn from sources like the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve’s end-of-day credit balance, and others.

Originally, when I became an A’Lelia Bundles Scholar, I was working on a story about Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, but I knew the script needed some pop. I had the idea to shift gears and tell the story of a female gangster from Harlem when I found Madame Stephanie St. Clair. I was so excited to dig into her story because she was a Black woman in the 1920s and 1930s who was a millionaire, businesswoman, and philanthropist—and she did it all by herself. I dropped my old script and started writing Harlem Queen. 

How did you create Madame Stephanie St. Clair’s story?

Honestly, there’s not much history out there about Madame Stephanie St. Clair. I like to say she came from French Guadeloupe, but some people say Martinique. She came to the U.S. alone as a teenager and built a fortune out of nothing. She had a brilliant mind and was great at math. I took those things I knew about her history, and also her brilliance, arrogance, grit, and fortitude, to create her character. But there are a lot of gaps in her story—she often lied about her age, her race, and her background—so in order to tell a story with conflict, drama, and narrative, I had to indulge a bit.

For example, she had a child who died, but in my story, I wanted the child to be alive. Since she was so strong, I wanted her to have a weakness and vulnerability about her too from being a mother. I also had her daughter as "white-passing" in the story, which to me is a symbol of life during that time period. With this added layer, I’m able to also tell the story of what it would be like for someone with that characterization to live in the 1920s.

I also have her running in the same social circles as Harlem Renaissance figures like Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois because Harlem’s inner circle had to have known about her! These are just some stories that I’ve created in order to tell a larger narrative. There’s one book by Shirley Stewart called, The World of Stephanie St. Clair, that I love and that’s helped me fill in the gaps as well. 

Your thirst for knowledge and love for folklore is so apparent in Harlem Queen. Could you tell us about how this interest developed?

The town I grew up in was very small. I think the population is just around 300, even today. I was raised in the 1970s, and at that time a lot of people had just migrated from the South—and mine were from South Carolina. Though we were technically in the North, it felt like a southern town, so everyone’s stories were so rich with history. And I loved that we all had this collective narrative from our migration. Those stories that we carry from generation to generation are so important. 

I even interviewed all the women in my church because I wanted to collect their stories, and you can find elements of them in the characters I created for Harlem Queen. I named one of my characters, Ms. Ruby, after one of the women I interviewed. I love incorporating people, recipes, food, music, all the “isms” that my family would say, right into the stories. 

The production behind Harlem Queen is fantastic. Could you tell us about how the podcast comes together? 

I love my team—they’re like family. Many of the actors come from my writers' groups, and some I found through backstage postings or recommendations. The actors are incredibly committed to their roles and to getting the historical accents just right. My audio engineer, Xperience J., is amazing. She creates immersive soundscapes, like finding the perfect sound for a wooden bat in a stickball game, which took her a week. Her attention to detail really brings the world of Harlem Queen to life. I think sound is essential to storytelling, especially in audio dramas.

When did you first realize your dream of becoming a writer and producer? 

I’ve always been a writer, but I specifically wanted to write for film and television—I just didn’t know how to get there. I like to say, if it was a big-budget production, I was the production assistant. If it was low-budget, I was the producer. I did that for many years, learning how to write and create my own short films. I would submit to fellowships and contests, but never win. Then, after having my children and raising them at home, I started listening to audio dramas and fiction podcasts. That’s when I realized this was my ticket back into production and storytelling and I released my first audio drama in 2019, Harlem Queen. 

Did your experiences in the television and media industry bring you to Harlem, or was that a separate journey?

Though I grew up in South Jersey, I always wanted to live in New York. To me, Harlem is a cultural mecca. It was always my dream to live in Harlem. Fortunately, I was able to find a place with my husband and settle here, where we’ve been for 20 years. 

What are some of your favorite places in Harlem, and how do they inspire your work?

I live near Riverside Park, which I love. I know the path between my home and Grant's Tomb like the back of my hand. I also love the Schomburg Library and Columbia’s Butler Library, which I had access to during my time as a Bundles Scholar. Becoming a scholar during the pandemic was a game-changer.

I couldn't physically access libraries, but I had online access to collections from Columbia and universities across the country. This was invaluable for researching Harlem Queen. I especially love using old newspapers like The Amsterdam News to get a feel for the language and life of old Harlem. I also took courses in fundraising and public relations, which have been essential for promoting my work as an independent artist.

What podcasts do you listen to that inspire you?

Xperience J. is an audio drama creator as well and her show Past Due Audio Series inspires me. I also love the audio drama The Axe & Crown, which motivated me to pursue my own projects. It’s a fantasy audio drama that’s really funny and, because I love history so much, it’s a nice respite from my usual genre. 

What are your future plans for Harlem Queen and beyond?

I’m excited to be developing Harlem Queen with a writer and producer who worked on Boardwalk Empire. I sent him a fan letter, telling him how his show inspired mine, and now we’re working together to develop it for television. It's a dream come true. I'm also working on more audio dramas, including one about the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm and Angela Davis. I’ve also started a new project about a successful Black businesswoman from southern New Jersey—who actually owned the first integrated country club in the nation that was right in my hometown. There's so much more to explore, and I’m excited to keep telling these stories. 

Learn more about the A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholar program on the Community Scholars website.