BIO
Nina May is the Founder and Chairman of the nonprofit production and training program, Renaissance Women Foundation. Her latest film project, “Jesus Freaks,” is based on the true story during the Jesus Revolution era in the 1970s. She wrote and produced “First Lady,” created the TV series “Daily Bread,” wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning dramedy, “Life Fine Tuned”, and was the associate producer of “Beyond the Mask” and wrote 5 short films for the 168 Film Festival, receiving several nominations and wins. She has also written and edited the award-winning documentary, “Emancipation Revelation Revolution,” and the sequel, “Reparation: Who Should Pay?” Nina holds a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and, in her spare time, is a general contractor and has testified before the United Nations General Assembly and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, making her a true Renaissance Woman!
INNER VIEW
Kathleen Cooke: You are a Renaissance Woman, but I know that even though you’re an accomplished woman, God continues to teach you new things. What has God been teaching you recently and growing you in?
Nina May: Making a movie is like painting three-dimensionally. Movie production is problem-solving while juggling chainsaws. It is easy to stress over the smallest details of pulling a movie together, because that’s what it is … one small detail after another, like bricks in a wall. If you miss any, the wall will collapse. The most important lesson I have been learning during the production of “Jesus Freaks” is to be anxious for nothing. I always say that God sees around corners, and if Christ was slain since before the foundation of the earth, God knows how this movie is going to turn out, what the distribution model will be, if the actors are on their marks delivering flawless performances, etc. God wants to be involved in the sausage-making with us. He gets joy in our reliance on Him and calls us to be co-creators with Him. I always make Him my Executive Producer. I could not do this without relying on Him 100% of the time… being anxious for nothing.
Kathleen: Many in the media, entertainment, music, and arts industries are being challenged on many levels today due to work slowdowns and the intrusion of AI into creative areas. How do you stay inspired when challenged?
Nina: My problem with inspiration is that I can’t turn the spigot off. Everything inspires me to see possibilities and sparks my creative desire to produce, interpret, expose, and celebrate.
I have collected hundreds of movie ideas over the years and have turned many into books, but most sit on a shelf… waiting to be discovered. There is a term I have heard my whole life that I do not relate to at all: “writer’s block.” For years I had a one-minute commentary on radio and would write them all for the week, then go in and record five at a time. It was amazing how my timing was spot on… 58 seconds each. It became a kind of measuring stick for me, and the minute I start typing… the words and ideas just flow. I give God the glory, though, because I pray before writing for wisdom, discernment, and the right words to touch hearts. So, I guess the bottom line is, God inspires me through His creation and His desire to create with us.
Kathleen: The culture today is about being different, unique. We all want to set ourselves apart from the masses, but often to do that, we can be perceived as strange and weird – especially as Christians who make choices often different from the mainstream. Why is different OK?
Nina: I am fascinated by the idea of being unique and understanding what sets us apart, with our own gifts and talents. I have always loved being different, and many years ago, in college, I had a vision of myself as a flower in a field of flowers. In the field, all the flowers were the same. Mine was right in the middle and totally different, and it gave me comfort, whereas before it was uncomfortable and frustrating. So, after all these years, I was recently told the rest of the story that explained so much. Things that were hidden just below the surface, but are now being revealed. Without getting into a lot of detail, I recently discovered I have five sisters I knew nothing about. It helped explain a lot and answered the question I had for years about what my lineage is. One of my brothers did “23 And Me,” and we discovered our heritage, which explained so much. It was a perfect illustration of the one flower being different from all the flowers in the field, and I was finally at peace about the whole issue of identity and purpose. It explained so much, and the benefit of all this is that I have five new amazing women in my life, and we all share the title… “sister”, even though I was raised with three brothers.
But the most important part of all this is that I know I am a daughter of the King spiritually and historically. God is my Father, and I was fearfully and wonderfully made in the womb of another mother but raised by a Godly woman who made sure I knew Jesus as my Lord and Savior. The unraveling of the past and the truth revealed that I am a direct descendant of Rollo the Viking, who was the First Duke of Normandy and also the great, great, great, great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. It showed that I am also a direct descendant of the house of Hohenzollern, King of Prussia… double royalty. But the lineage that is most meaningful to me is that I am a daughter of the King of the Universe, who made me… and all of us… in HIS image. That is my identity. The earthly royal revelation confirms a lot of things I saw and experienced growing up that I could never explain, but it doesn’t define me. It just explains me.
Kathleen: Define how being an influence on others with your work has shaped your choices?
Nina: Influence is both a noun and a verb, and there is great responsibility to both. If one has influence because of one’s status in life, it can be either good or bad. Like a grammar schoolteacher, they can either inspire us to love or hate math, depending on how they teach … how they influence a student to learn. As believers, if we just choose to reflect the person of Christ in all we do, we will both be influencing others to follow suit and will find that we are a good influence on those around us. Humility is key because it allows our sin nature to be covered by the Grace of Christ.