We were lucky to catch up with Rhonda Brunson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rhonda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The Choose Courage Foundation 501(c)3 began as a personal photography project. I was volunteering at SafeHaven of Tarrant County each week and I admired the strength, courage and perseverance of the women in the shelter. They were inspiring. I began a personal photography project “I See You” to capture and celebrate survivors of domestic abuse. To show them the incredible beauty I saw in them.

Rhonda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

When my son was born 15 years ago I left my teaching position to be a stay at home mom. Within the first year I fell in love with my new camera and started a photography business. My passion has always been to show people the beauty I see. The amazing that is in everyone that can be captured with my camera. I was especially drawn to those that couldn’t see their own value and I wanted to show them what I saw.

I began to photograph survivors of domestic abuse as a personal photography project. It was to celebrate their courage and show them proof of their worthiness. I was inspired by their hard choices and healing. The images were powerful and had a message of hope. We used those images in a charity art show benefitting SafeHaven of Tarrant County and brought together the DFW community to celebrate survivors.

From the personal photography project The Choose Courage Foundation 501(c)3 was created and is dedicated to breaking the shame, stigma and silence of domestic abuse. Beauty has the power to inspire hope and survivors are reaching back to inspire those still in the cycles of abuse. The photoshoots themselves are empowering and a way for victims to become advocates.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The mission driving my creative journey is to make a difference. To use images, videos and the words of the survivors to paint a complete picture of healing. There is life after abuse and there is help for those still in the cycles of domestic violence.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Our secret weapon to building our social media is our nationwide volunteer group the “Butterfly Ninjas”. This is a private facebook group with the intention of supporting and growing the Choose Courage Foundation. It creates a place of connection, a place for survivors to be advocates, and for advocates to give back. We run contests, post inspiring content and connect the Butterfly Ninjas back to our nonprofit organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: ChooseCourage.org
• Instagram: @choosecouragefoundation
• Facebook: @choosecouragefoundation
• Linkedin: Choose Courage Foundation
• Other: Request to join the private facebook group “Butterfly Ninjas”

Image Credits
All survivor photographs by me. Headshot Credit: Bev Childress