Self-Portraits by Rhonda Nunn

I grew up in a large family on Chicago’s South Side with eight brothers and sisters, including a twin brother. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to make people smile, and that I needed to find a way to make a career out of that desire. My father bought me a small camera when I was a teenager, but my love for film and photography exploded when I attended Chicago State University, where I majored in media arts and theater. As I was growing up, my parents and extended family provided stability through discipline. We had the mom that told us, if we were going to the store, “Don’t ask me for anything.” We enjoyed going to my auntie’s house, putting on talent shows with our cousins, visiting places in the city together. We knew there was stability there too. Being together was important, and I knew what it was like to have a family and to be loved. I try to extend that feeling of family to neighborhood friends and people I work with.

While I was younger, I knew I wanted to be better for myself. I knew that I wanted to go to college. This is how I think about things in life—this sense of self comes from within. For example, my favorite foods are pizza and chicken wings, and I’m African-American. If I were a different race, I would still love pizza and chicken. I’m a human, and I love what I love, regardless of who I am, or what I look like. I knew that mindset was going to help me in life because Roseland, the area we grew up in, is one of Chicago’s worst neighborhoods. Hopes and dreams can be hard to imagine. Young people like myself adapt to living and surviving in the moment. We knew people that were gang members. We had family members in a gang. We knew the people who were shooting. We didn’t embrace it, but we were in it. We saw things and had to learn to thrive despite the challenges in the neighborhood.

As kids, playing basketball was one activity that provided relief from the stress in the neighborhood. I remember one day, we had just finished shooting around, and some of the local gang members came into the backyard through the alley, and started shooting basketball with us. They told us that when the police came, we should say we had all been playing basketball. We knew these guys, and at the time, it was something normal that just happens. We didn’t want them to get in trouble. When something was going to go down in the neighborhood, they would warn us to go inside. Despite all of it, I still have many good memories from growing up in Roseland. The block club parties in the summertime were a way to get school supplies to the kids, as well as have fun. Playing in the stream of water released by fire hydrants, or playing street football and piggy with the kids in the neighborhood brought everyone together. Many of these events were hosted by the gang members and the neighborhood.

Nowadays, they don’t tell the kids to go home—it’s ridiculous now. Even though it was dangerous back then, I still felt safe. It was this background and experience that drove me to create my company, Just Keep Smiling (JKS), because I had been surrounded by so many bad things. I decided that I would be an example. I want to be the one to say there is hope and you can dream. I want to be the person in the middle of the negativity who starts a ripple effect of a positive force. I want to show young people like me to see that with God, hope, and positivity, I was able and blessed to live out my dreams working in the film industry.

Like basketball, my company has turned into another outlet for me. I thought if I could put the words “Just Keep Smiling” on a hoodie and someone saw it, liked it, and bought it, then imagine how many people would see those words and smile? It could have a domino effect of positivity on the Chicago State campus. I created JKS, which doubles as both a production company (photography/videography/cinema) and a clothing line, while studying for my degree. The name of my company means that even in the darkest situations you can choose hope, stay positive, and keep smiling because life can get better. My mission is to continue to spread my positive energy and a matching mindset, along with a lifestyle that is an example for my community.

It was because I imagined JKS could exist on a larger scale that it has worked. This same belief system extends to what I see through my camera lens. In this series of photos, I turned the camera on myself—to capture the many sides of my self. In my work on set, or with others, I try to capture their special life moments, like a wedding, or in a way that might change somebody’s perspective on things. My medium of choice is definitely visual, including documentary films, like the one I’m currently working on, which is my own spiritual journey to inspire others to tell their stories. The visual medium was just something that I grew to love over time, and I feel as though it was already in me. It was like God planted a seed in me, wanted me to be in Roseland for 18 years of my life to see the things I’ve seen, and realize that my thinking and attitude are different because I knew people my age who passed away. The things that I witnessed, the challenges, all made me who I am.

Recently, I closed on my first studio. The location is small and may not seem like much compared to the large production studios, but it means so much more to me and my community. I am excited to share this with my community, and I am very excited about the upward direction my company is headed. Right now, I am focused on my own production company, as well as continue to work in the film industry. I want to continue to showcase my perspective through visual art and stories, whether that’s by capturing a photograph or directing a documentary, music video, or feature film.

About the Cover Image: When Will You Know Your Worth (WWYKYW)
I first created the apparel collection “When?” to make others aware of their own worth. Some people stay in bad situations because they don’t want to start over, they have responsibilities, and need the money. But I believe the power is within, to know there are always better things ahead. I love the quote by Anna Taylor, “Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy is precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how you to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”

Sometimes we don’t know how to love ourselves. When we start learning to love and appreciate “self” unconditionally, we will attract better into our lives. WWYKYW challenges people to ask themselves: When am I finally going to choose myself? Do I love myself enough to follow my dreams? What better way to encourage people than by sending a positive message through my Just Keep Smiling Apparel?

Rhonda Nunn is a child of God and a spiritual being, born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. Her mission is to make others smile, and to spread faith and positivity energy through her gifts. Her gifts are: Directing documentary and feature films, creating music videos, and capturing special moments with photography. She is a freelancer in the film industry, an entrepreneur, and the founder of two companies in the film and apparel industries under the “Just Keep Smiling” umbrella.