Loud City is a state of mind and a chance to show off her authentic self for Paycom Center usher LaVonna Joubert.
Every game she brings high-level energy for Oklahoma City fans sitting in sections 107 and 108 where she’s responsible for guiding people to their seats and controlling the flow of traffic while the ball is in play.
Joubert has worked at the arena off and on for a decade now, since she first answered a call for open interviews in 2016.
“I’ve always been team Thunder,” Joubert said. “They hired me on the spot and just being at the arena and being in the live action of the Thunder games made me love the team even more.”
Joubert’s time working at the arena means she’s seen the team through its ups and downs, its periods of rebuilding and watched games grow from sparsely attended to sold out, like the 108-90 defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers on May 5.
“I went through a lot of eras working at the arena, so it’s been cool to actually see the transition of how small we were at first and how big we’ve become and being champions as of last season,” Joubert said.
In 2024, while working a game on her birthday, Joubert grabbed a button and a crown from one of the kiosks at the Paycom Center and put them on. She let her personality truly begin to shine during the pregame DJ set, and the arena’s cameramen took notice.
“They captured me dancing randomly while that was going on or whatever and the crowd was loving it and they just kept putting me back on there the whole pre-game. And it wasn’t just one time they just kept putting me back, kept putting me back and it was cracking me up,” she said. “I love to dance, and music just moves me. So if I find a good beat, I just start dancing. And they would, after that, just every game, just start putting me on there randomly.”
Making an impact through joy
Now, after two years of her “dancing usher” antics, fans who attend games regularly have come to know and love Joubert and her infectious, positive attitude.
“We have company seats in her section, and so even if I’m not sitting there, I always come by to say hi to her at the top of the stairs,” said Thunder fan Stephanie Pickett, when she stopped by to see the usher during the May 5 game. “She always has a smile and a hug. My family’s favorite is when she ends up dancing on the Jumbotron. She’s so much fun and brings so much energy to every game.”
Knowing she’s had an impact on fans in such a way makes Joubert emotional, and also encourages her, she said.
“Sometimes I think we go through transitions where we question ourselves, saying we’re not enough or we’re not doing a good job, but people like [Stephanie Pickett] and a lot of other people that come see me regularly makes me feel like I am doing enough,” she said. “So that’s the best part of her and other people that come and see me, that I’m doing my job and I’m doing it well and I’m getting recognized for it now. So it’s been very humbling, but very encouraging as well.”
Joubert is also a single mom to 8-year-old son, King, a full-time student studying Organizational Leadership at Southern Nazarene University, where she’s on the dean’s list, and holds a full-time day job as a director at a Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma County location on the south side of OKC.
In fact, she said that despite her love for her day job, if there was a way to be an usher full-time, she might consider a shift in careers. She definitely doesn’t have any plans to go anywhere when the new arena opens, if she has a say.
“I think I’m a people person, so I just like connecting and being able to see different faces every game and getting the excitement from people and hyping ’em up and stuff,” she said. “That’s what I enjoy about the arena the most, so I’m really excited about the new one they’re building, as well.”
For Joubert, working alongside the Thunder organization through the arena has meant she gets to show and embrace parts of her personality that are not always highlighted in a more corporate setting.
“I want to thank the Thunder for the opportunity to shine my light in a way that I kind of have to hide when it comes to professionalism,” Joubert said. “But the Thunder has allowed me to be myself and that’s been the best thing working at the arena, as well, just being able to be myself and accepting who I am.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Dancing Paycom Center usher lights up the arena with her moves, smile