We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jonene Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jonene below.

Jonene, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

Life isn’t about working. Now read that again. Vacations are a necessity, not a want. Yes, I take vacations and I close the gallery. I’ve done it 4 times in the last 2 years for a week straight and didn’t receive one complaint. I think people understand that I’m the only one running this business and either I’m going to take my vacations and recharge or I’m going to crash and burn. The latter isn’t an option in my mind, so I’m taking my vacations and I recommend it to everyone.

Jonene, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m not even sure how I got into this business. I live in a community made up of small businesses. Chestnut Hill, Philly was featured on Good Morning America as one of it’s favorite Urban Villages! Anyway after covid there were a lot of businesses that closed and I asked one of the landlords if I could have an art exhibit pop up. I had been working with Tiny Room For Elephants on some things for my photography … O my career is based in the hiphop culture … first as a dancer, then as a photographer and now as a gallery owner. But back to the story … Tiny Room is a Philly based mural arts activation/event collect and I think just being around them I thought “I know a lot of artists, maybe I’ll try having a pop up”. I wanted to bring the hip hop culture to Chestnut Hill through art and music. So I hired a couple DJs, got a bunch of artists and provided a space for the community to come together and it was a huge success.

I sell all types of art!! For your walls, books, housewares, jewelry … I try to have a little bit of everything here. I also have monthly First Friday events, painting classes, live activations, book readings and panel discussions! I’ve also partnered with the local Philly public school to teach classes and place artists in the school to paint murals.

I think that because my main focus is for people to FEEL GOOD while they’re in here, everything just falls into place. After covid I realized that life is around feeling good. Being in situations and around people where you feel good. You feel good in the gallery because it smells good, the music is good, the art is good and with those 3 senses triggered … you feel good. I think that sets me apart from other galleries.

I’m most proud of the fact that I’m showing my daughter what it looks like to turn something bad into something good. I was able to open the gallery because I was attacked by a dog and won a lawsuit. A dog jumped out of a car and attacked my dog in front of my daughter, who was 3 and myself. I broke my hand punching the other dog and tore my knee, needing surgery. The Chestnut Hill community helped me through it. A lot of people saw the attack because it was in the center of town so afterwards everyone brought me food, walked my dog (he ended being ok) and checked on me. So I used the money from the lawsuite to provide a space for the community that I’ve grown to love so much. My daughter is able to see what community is and what her mom, a community builder, looks like.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I tagged Spike Lee in an Instagram post and he bought an expensive piece from me. I did the same with Questlove, tagged him on Instagram and he bought art from me.

Social media works. People … or their people … are always watching.

There isn’t really a backstory … well maybe that I’ve always loved “marketing” I guess. Because of my photography background, I’ve loved sharing my experiences through photos and now that I own a business it comes naturally.

How did you build your audience on social media?

You are your brand. That’s the best advice I can give people. I tend to lean into humor, sarcasm and music when it comes to social media. Relatable content that I don’t have to try to hard to do. Be yourself because that’s what’s going to set you apart from other businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nonamegalleryphilly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonamegalleryphilly/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoNameGalleryPhilly